The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, arrived this Sunday in Niger to discuss with the authorities the ongoing transformation of the French military system in the Sahel, in which the Niamey air base could play a role in the future. increased.
The minister was to meet with her Nigerian counterpart as well as with Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum.
A tightened device
This visit, “planned for a long time” according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces, “should make it possible to move forward on the place of Niger in the future French system”, in “close political coordination” with the authorities. The reorganization of the French military system in the Sahel, announced in June by President Emmanuel Macron, recently began on the ground with a view to achieving a system tightened to 2,500 or 3,000 men against 5,000 today.
Their missions will be refocused on counterterrorism operations and combat support for local armies, in partnership with Europeans. In Niger, not far from the Malian border, the planned French air base of Niamey should become more important in the coming months, subject to the agreement of the host country, with “combat capabilities that will allow us to intervene in the whole region ”, one explains to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
“Three borders”
This grip of Niamey, which currently has 700 French personnel, accommodates six fighter jets and six armed Repaer drones, is already serving as a forward command post for major operations launched with local forces in the so-called “three borders” area, on the borderline. from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. This area of the “three borders” is, along with central Mali, the most affected by jihadist attacks in the Sahel.
The dead, both civilians and soldiers, number in the thousands. The presence of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) has been grafted onto long-standing tensions between communities, some of which have formed into armed groups fueling the violence. . Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently estimated more than 420 civilians have been killed since the start of the year in western Niger in jihadist attacks that have forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.