“’The force was never that effective,’ said Ulf Laessing, the Bamako-based director of the Sahel programme at Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German thinktank.”
Indeed. We have noted many times that the various governments of Africa seem unable and/or unwilling to confront and destroy jihad groups. Niger’s withdrawal from this force will make those government forces even weaker.
The possibility cannot be discounted that the leader of the junta in Niger, Abdourahmane Tiani, is sympathetic to the jihad forces.
“Niger’s junta withdraws from Lake Chad anti-Islamist force,” by Eromo Egbejule, Guardian, April 1, 2025:
Niger’s ruling junta has quit a regional force fighting armed Islamist groups in west Africa’s Lake Chad area, cementing an acrimonious split from former allies in the region.
The decision to exit the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was announced in a bulletin on state television over the weekend. The move “reflects a stated intent to reinforce security for oil sites”, the bulletin stated, without providing further details.
The MNJTF was formed in 2015 by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria in the wake of increasing jihadist attacks across their territories. At its peak, it had an estimated 10,000 troops and fought many armed groups, especially Boko Haram and its offshoots. But any serious progress has been hampered or even undone by poor collaboration and equipping, analysts say.
“The force was never that effective,” said Ulf Laessing, the Bamako-based director of the Sahel programme at Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German thinktank. Its decline, he added, was “good news for jihadists and it is bad news for villagers on the lake side, fishers or farmers who just want to go about their business but who will now get less military support”.
Niger’s exit from MNJTF came days after the junta’s leader, Abdourahmane Tiani, was sworn in as president until 2030 under a new charter that suspended the constitution and dissolved all political parties….
ploome says
regarding:
” We have noted many times that the various governments of Africa seem unable and/or unwilling to confront and destroy jihad groups.”
Various governments (if not all governments) in the west seem unable/and unwilling to identify “terrorists” as the jihadis they are, and refuse to understand the agenda of the massive muslim migration into our countries.
OLD GUY says
It appears it’s all about oil, money and more money. The little people are on their own and will bear the cost and blood shed. The world leaders and economic typhoons could care less about what happens to the farmers and villagers.
The EU and the WEST are playing at the same table.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Unlike Nigeria, which is, or at least was, 50-50 muslim, Niger is a completely muslim country. There is no reason to believe that its ruling regime was a force against islamization. Only such militia I have noticed in North Africa is Marshal Haftar’s LNA in Libya, which is secular, anti-jihadist and is supported by a combination of secular regimes like Russia, as well as some Arab regimes like Egypt and Emirates, and at one time, even the US. Other than him, I don’t see any militia that’s seriously combating jihadist forces
Jon Q says
Niger is ONLY 96.7% muslim (and 3% ethnic religionist).
I think accuracy strengthens your statements…