Nigerien
83 stranded migrants rescued in Sahara desert
Reuters Eighty-three migrants were saved last week after their smugglers abandoned them in the Sahara desert in northern Niger, the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday. A team from the IOM and Niger’s Civil Protection service found the group 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the crossroads town of Dirkou on September 3, the agency said on Facebook. The 83 comprised 75 Nigerians, 41 of them women, including twin four-year-old girls, as well as four Togolese, three Ghanaians, and a Malian. They had left the Nigerien town of Agadez, the main stepping-off point for African migrants trying to cross into Europe via Libya, a week earlier. On September 1, the migrants were abandoned by their four drivers, after first taking all their belongings, when they spotted military vehicl...
Presidential elections in Ghana, others top agenda at ECOWAS meeting
The 44th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States has called attention to the ongoing insurgency in Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea Bissau as well as the political crisis in Mali. The Council at its meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Friday, also focused on forthcoming presidential elections in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger. The meeting was presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Mediation and Security Council, Kalla Ankourao. Ankourao recalled the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon the region coupled with the breakdown in democratic governance in Mali. He urged the ECOWAS body to take the necessary steps for the preparation and smooth conduct of the upcoming presidential electi...
75 Boko Haram insurgents killed in border security operations
Nigerian and allied forces from neighbouring states killed 75 Boko Haram insurgents in security operations earlier this week in the region where the borders of Niger, Nigeria and Chad converge, Niger Defence Ministry said. The Islamist Boko Haram insurgency erupted in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 and continues to grind on, with attacks frequently spilling over into Chad, Niger and Cameroon a little further to the south. The operations on Monday followed a series of Boko Haram attacks on military positions near the southeastern Nigerien border town of Diffa, the ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday. It said 25 insurgents were killed in fighting around 75 km (46.6 miles) south of Diffa and a further 50 in air and artillery strikes by joint Nigerien, Nigerian and Chadian forces in the...
