Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Monday, February 10, 2025

A new humanitarian organization has been asked to pack its bags in Niger: the government has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to leave the country with immediate effect.
According to a source close to the matter, Niamey has “denounced the agreements” with the ICRC and some expatriates have begun to leave the country.
The delegation’s office in Niamey has been closed since Tuesday, it added.
The Nigerien media outlet Aïr Info confirmed that the Nigerien government had ordered, in a verbal note, the closure of the offices and the immediate departure of expatriate staff.
No reason for this decision has yet been given.
The government has made national sovereignty one of its priorities.
In particular, it has asked the French and American soldiers involved in Operation Barkane to leave its soil, expelled the French ambassador and then that of the European Union.
In addition to the ICRC, certain humanitarian organizations are also in their sights.
At the end of January, the Minister of the Interior, General Mohamed Toumba, stated that he was taking “important measures to ensure the monitoring and supervision of NGOs and development organizations”.

“Our investigations have revealed that many NGOs are in cahoots with these partners who are waging war against us through subversive missions (…) through the support they often give to terrorists”, he added, explaining that he advocates ‘sovereignty’.
In November, the French NGO Acted and the Nigerian association Action pour le bien-être (ABPE) had their licenses withdrawn, without specifying the reasons.
However, Niger continues to receive aid from international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in November signed an agreement with Niamey for the disbursement of $43 million.
The ICRC has been present in Niger since 1990. For the past ten years, the country has been confronted with attacks by groups affiliated to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, particularly in the Liptako-Gourma area (southwest) and the Lake Chad Basin (east).
On Monday, ten soldiers were killed in an “ambush” in the Tillabéri region, according to the army.
This region has become the epicenter of jihadist violence in the country. Two major army operations have been deployed there.
It is also the transit point for thousands of freight trucks from Niger arriving every month from the port of Lomé, in Togo, via northern Burkina, under escort from the armies of both neighbors.

In early December 2024, 21 civilians returning from a weekly fair in a vehicle were coldly murdered by suspected jihadists on this road.
With its two neighbors, Burkina Faso and Mali, also facing similar violence, Niger has announced the forthcoming creation of a 5,000-strong joint force.
The three countries, which have formed a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) at the end of January.

Humaniterre

AFP extracts