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RECENT EVENTS
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"On 23 January, the nomadic and sedentary communities of the province of Banibangou in the Tillabéri region signed a peace agreement ending two decades of conflict. Over 300 people were left dead and thousands were displaced as a result of this conflict. Facilitated by the Swiss Center for Humanitarian Aid after two years of mediation efforts, the agreement was signed by representatives from Zarma and Fulani communities, and witnessed by Arab, Tuareg, and Hausa communities, as well as local government officials. Community conflicts are fueled by competition over natural resources and exacerbated by the presence of armed groups in the past years, leading to population vulnerability. More than 120,000 people were displaced in the Tillabéri region in 2022 alone. "
https://mailchi.mp/0454d394ae6e/weekly-news-from-the-sahel-15749676?e=8f99da809a |
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SCENE SETTERS
CIA World Fact Book Niger is a landlocked, Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Agriculture contributes approximately 40% of GDP and provides livelihood for over 80% of the population. The UN ranked Niger as the second least developed country in the world in 2016 due to multiple factors such as food insecurity, lack of industry, high population growth, a weak educational sector, and few prospects for work outside of subsistence farming and herding. ACLED The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project. ACLED collects information on the dates, actors, locations, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events around the world. The ACLED team conducts analysis to describe, explore, and test conflict scenarios, and makes both data and analysis open for free use by the public. Fragile States Index The Fragile States Index (FSI; formerly the Failed States Index) is an annual report mainly published and supported by the United States think tank the Fund for Peace. UCDP The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) is the world’s main provider of data on organized violence and the oldest ongoing data collection project for civil war, with a history of almost 40 years. Its definition of armed conflict has become the global standard of how conflicts are systematically defined and studied. Sahel Research Group Weekly News Brief, University of Florida Subscribe: https://us19.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=6553b94ce388f4ca7c6cdc6a0&id=852afb640f |
ACADEMIC WORKS
The impact of security force assistance in Niger: meddling with borders
Nina Wilén
International Affairs, Volume 98, Issue 4, July 2022, Pages 1405–1421, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac119 Published: 05 July 2022
How does Security Force Assistance (SFA) impact Niger's security sector and beyond? I draw on extensive fieldwork in Niger and identify and analyse two developments taking place in Niger's security sector: the development of an expanded Special Forces Command and the elaboration of multiple mobile hybrid units. I build upon, and contribute to, existing studies related to the politicization and securitization of borders in the Sahel and research discussing the blurring of borders between internal and external security forces. The aim is twofold: first, to unpack SFA efforts and effects through a focus on both geopolitical borders in Niger, and borders between and within corps and units in the security sector; and second, to contextualize and compare the developments in Niger's security sector with broader, global security trends. I find that both of the SFA projects constitute and feed into institutional games and inter-agency rivalry regarding task division, equipment and training. The overuse of the newly created Special Forces Command mirrors global trends of the latter as an ‘easy button to push’, while the multiplication of hybrid units to secure geopolitical borders reinforces the status and power of intermediary agencies that are at the interface between internal and external security forces. On an overarching level, the two trends of meddling with borders are found to be co-constituted by external and local actors who decide which developments that should be considered threats and how they should be addressed, questions that are deeply intertwined with power and control.
Analysing (In)formal Relations and Networks in Security Force Assistance: The Case of Niger
Nina Wilén
Pages 580-597 | Published online: 20 Sep 2021
Studies on Security Force Assistance (SFA) have hitherto been dominated by different iterations of the principal-agent perspective to explain relations between provider and recipient. Yet, while such frameworks aptly illustrate these dynamics from a macro perspective, they are inadequate when analysing the complexity of practices on the ground. To mitigate this short-coming, the present article uses a Social Network Analysis framework to provide an in-depth micro analysis of relations between different SFA providers and the recipient state: Niger, focusing on the Belgian Special Forces. Drawing on field observations and more than 40 interviews in Niger, the present study increases our understanding of how dynamic (in)formal social networks impact the development of SFA. It points to the importance of timing, contingency and individual encounters as central in the understanding of how SFA develops and at times strays from strategies.
The American way of war in Africa: the case of Niger
LTC Joseph Guido
Pages 176-199 | Received 06 Jan 2018, Accepted 25 Nov 2018, Published online: 25 Apr 2019
ABSTRACT
Increasing attention paid to US casualties in far-flung places such as Tongo Tongo, Niger, and headlines claiming ‘secret wars’ have fueled discussion about American military’s involvement in Africa. Though the continent has been a part of the American way of war since the beginnings of the US – consider the early combat actions of US Marines in Tripoli –, current African conflicts are challenging our understanding of war and approaches to winning it. This article examines the ways America seeks to achieve its ends in Africa with a particular focus upon the last 10 years of US counter-terrorism and stability operations in Niger and the Sahel Region. The author proposes unifying American, Allied, and partner efforts through a strategy of Active Containment.
‘I’ll take two.’ Migration, terrorism, and the Italian military engagement in Niger and Libya
Michela Ceccorulli & Fabrizio Coticchia
Pages 174-196 | Published online: 16 Apr 2020
In January 2018, the Italian parliament approved a new military operation in Niger and an extension to the existing deployment in Libya. Italian leaders explicitly cast this as a ‘pivot’ to Africa, a ‘relocation of troops’ from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Sahel and Northern Africa. What factors underlie this strategic shift? Despite the importance of this question, to date, little analysis of the decision-making process underpinning the recent change has been forthcoming. The article seeks to address this gap through an analysis of the parliamentary debates on the missions. Specifically, it examines the ‘relative importance’ of the two threats/challenges motivating the interventions: irregular immigration into the E.U. (and the related smuggling phenomena) and transnational terrorism. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the evolution of the Italian foreign, security and defence policy in the broader Mediterranean, offering insights for comparative analyses with other states engaged in those contexts.
Operationalizing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) | PKSOI SOLLIMS
Women, peace, and security is an internationally recognized term that includes protective and participatory dimensions and addresses the disproportionate and unique impact of conflict on women. Sexual violence, and other gender-based violence, frequently occurs during conflict and in fragile societies. It is usually, but not always, directed against women and girls. When women lead and participate in peace processes, peace lasts longer. Since the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325, calling for women’s participation in peacebuilding was passed 18 years ago, there is mounting evidence that women are powerful actors in sustaining peace in their communities and nations. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with outbreaks of conflict.
The impact of security force assistance in Niger: meddling with borders
Nina Wilén
International Affairs, Volume 98, Issue 4, July 2022, Pages 1405–1421, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac119 Published: 05 July 2022
How does Security Force Assistance (SFA) impact Niger's security sector and beyond? I draw on extensive fieldwork in Niger and identify and analyse two developments taking place in Niger's security sector: the development of an expanded Special Forces Command and the elaboration of multiple mobile hybrid units. I build upon, and contribute to, existing studies related to the politicization and securitization of borders in the Sahel and research discussing the blurring of borders between internal and external security forces. The aim is twofold: first, to unpack SFA efforts and effects through a focus on both geopolitical borders in Niger, and borders between and within corps and units in the security sector; and second, to contextualize and compare the developments in Niger's security sector with broader, global security trends. I find that both of the SFA projects constitute and feed into institutional games and inter-agency rivalry regarding task division, equipment and training. The overuse of the newly created Special Forces Command mirrors global trends of the latter as an ‘easy button to push’, while the multiplication of hybrid units to secure geopolitical borders reinforces the status and power of intermediary agencies that are at the interface between internal and external security forces. On an overarching level, the two trends of meddling with borders are found to be co-constituted by external and local actors who decide which developments that should be considered threats and how they should be addressed, questions that are deeply intertwined with power and control.
Analysing (In)formal Relations and Networks in Security Force Assistance: The Case of Niger
Nina Wilén
Pages 580-597 | Published online: 20 Sep 2021
Studies on Security Force Assistance (SFA) have hitherto been dominated by different iterations of the principal-agent perspective to explain relations between provider and recipient. Yet, while such frameworks aptly illustrate these dynamics from a macro perspective, they are inadequate when analysing the complexity of practices on the ground. To mitigate this short-coming, the present article uses a Social Network Analysis framework to provide an in-depth micro analysis of relations between different SFA providers and the recipient state: Niger, focusing on the Belgian Special Forces. Drawing on field observations and more than 40 interviews in Niger, the present study increases our understanding of how dynamic (in)formal social networks impact the development of SFA. It points to the importance of timing, contingency and individual encounters as central in the understanding of how SFA develops and at times strays from strategies.
The American way of war in Africa: the case of Niger
LTC Joseph Guido
Pages 176-199 | Received 06 Jan 2018, Accepted 25 Nov 2018, Published online: 25 Apr 2019
ABSTRACT
Increasing attention paid to US casualties in far-flung places such as Tongo Tongo, Niger, and headlines claiming ‘secret wars’ have fueled discussion about American military’s involvement in Africa. Though the continent has been a part of the American way of war since the beginnings of the US – consider the early combat actions of US Marines in Tripoli –, current African conflicts are challenging our understanding of war and approaches to winning it. This article examines the ways America seeks to achieve its ends in Africa with a particular focus upon the last 10 years of US counter-terrorism and stability operations in Niger and the Sahel Region. The author proposes unifying American, Allied, and partner efforts through a strategy of Active Containment.
‘I’ll take two.’ Migration, terrorism, and the Italian military engagement in Niger and Libya
Michela Ceccorulli & Fabrizio Coticchia
Pages 174-196 | Published online: 16 Apr 2020
In January 2018, the Italian parliament approved a new military operation in Niger and an extension to the existing deployment in Libya. Italian leaders explicitly cast this as a ‘pivot’ to Africa, a ‘relocation of troops’ from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Sahel and Northern Africa. What factors underlie this strategic shift? Despite the importance of this question, to date, little analysis of the decision-making process underpinning the recent change has been forthcoming. The article seeks to address this gap through an analysis of the parliamentary debates on the missions. Specifically, it examines the ‘relative importance’ of the two threats/challenges motivating the interventions: irregular immigration into the E.U. (and the related smuggling phenomena) and transnational terrorism. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the evolution of the Italian foreign, security and defence policy in the broader Mediterranean, offering insights for comparative analyses with other states engaged in those contexts.
Operationalizing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) | PKSOI SOLLIMS
Women, peace, and security is an internationally recognized term that includes protective and participatory dimensions and addresses the disproportionate and unique impact of conflict on women. Sexual violence, and other gender-based violence, frequently occurs during conflict and in fragile societies. It is usually, but not always, directed against women and girls. When women lead and participate in peace processes, peace lasts longer. Since the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325, calling for women’s participation in peacebuilding was passed 18 years ago, there is mounting evidence that women are powerful actors in sustaining peace in their communities and nations. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with outbreaks of conflict.
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THINK TANK PIECES
The Growing Complexity of Farmer-Herder Conflict in West and Central Africa Leif Brottem, ACSS https://africacenter.org/publication/growing-complexity-farmer-herder-conflict-west-central-africa/#author Niger: A Bulwark against Further Instability in West Africa Daniel Mahanty and William Meeker, CSIS 2019 https://www.csis.org/analysis/niger-bulwark-against-further-instability-west-africa OP-EDS Explainer: the role of foreign military forces in Niger https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-role-of-foreign-military-forces-in-niger-102503 |
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“If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren't broad enough to sustain you.” ― Jim Mattis, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead DOCUMENTARIES/FILMS
Orphans of the Sahara 1 | Al Jazeera (YouTube) In late 2011, thousands of Tuareg workers and fighters, many of them mercenaries for slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, return to their Saharan homeland in Niger and Mali. Orphans of the Sahara 2 | Al Jazeera (YouTube) Early in 2012, as the massive Tuareg rebellion sweeps northern Mali, defeated Mali Army officers stage a coup d'etat in the south leading to the total collapse of government in the country. Orphans of the Sahara 3 | Al Jazeera (YouTube) The final episode of this three-part series goes inside the French uranium mining zone in Niger - the most deprived nation on earth. |
BOOKS
Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel Jeffrey Tayler, 2005 RELEVANT FICTION Brotherhood | Amazon Mohamed Mbougar Sarr In this brilliant analysis of tyranny and brutality, Mbougar Sarr explores the ways in which resistance and heroism can often give way to cowardice, all while giving voice to the moral ambiguities and personal struggles involved in each of his characters’ search to impose the values they hold most dear. Things Fall Apart | Amazon Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities. Things Fall Apart, Part I | Crash Course Literature (YouTube) Things Fall Apart, Part II | Crash Course Literature (YouTube) Waiting for the Barbarians | Amazon Waiting for the Barbarians centers on the crisis of the conscience of the Magistrate—a loyal servant of the Empire working in a tiny frontier town, doing his best to ignore an inevitable war with the "barbarians." After he witnesses the cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war, he reconsiders his role in the regime and carries out a quixotic act of rebellion. |
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Climate Change and Violent Conflict in West Africa: Assessing the Evidence, SIPRI
West Africa is widely cited as a hotspot of climate change and insecurity. This SIPRI Insights uses a systematic literature review of academic research to build a better understanding of the relationship between climate change and violent conflict in the region. Its findings are structured around four established ‘pathways’ of climate insecurity: (a) worsening livelihood conditions; (b) increasing migration and changing pastoral mobility patterns; (c) tactical considerations by armed groups; and (d) elite exploitation of local grievances.
The literature review highlights a number of important variables in the relationship between climate change and violent conflict in West Africa: maladaptation to livelihood insecurity; migration away from climate-exposed areas; escalating farmer–herder conflicts; and sometimes weak, sometimes divisive, sometimes exploitative governance. Despite these findings, the literature review reveals current research and policy discussions on climate change and violent conflict in West Africa are informed by a very limited amount of academic research.
Monitoring Desertification in the Tillabéry Landscape (Sahel Region) using Change Detection Methods and Landscape Metrics
Mansour Mahamane, Volker Hochschild, Alfred Schultz, Jude Kuma
Abstract
This paper seeks to investigate and monitor desertification processes by using remote sensing based change detection methods as well as landscape metrics approaches. The analysis of land use/cover between 1973 and 2007 was conducted using one Landsat Multispectral Scanner (1973-09-30) image, a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (2001-09-18) image and two Landsat Thematic Mapper (1989-09-29 and 2007-09-27) images. The results of these classifications revealed an increasing trend in desertification throughout the study period. A set of indices (Mesh Index, Landscape Shannon’s Diversity Index, Mean Patch Area and Shape Index) were selected to investigate multi-temporal change in the Tillabéry landscape (Western Niger) an area affected by desertification. The results show that the landscape is highly fragmented, with a corresponding high number of patches with smaller patch sizes, indicating that the original landscape has been converted gradually into bare and desertified area. To further understand the trend and status of desertification in the Tillabéry landscape, a desertified index
was developed.
Assessing soil erosion risk in the Tillabery landscape, Niger
Mansour Mahamane
Article Number - F15378F50829 Vol.9(3), pp. 176-191 , March 2015 https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2014.1731
Abstract
To combat desertification, it is indispensable to understand soil erosion processes in the Sahel zone. The objective of this study was to develop a simple model that uses soil texture data from the field and Digital Elevation Model parameters to predict soil texture. This study also assesses soil erosion research in the Sahel region, illustrated by a case study from Tillabéry landscape (Niger). The most sensitive areas and trends of land degradation processes were identified using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and Unit Stream Power-based Erosion Deposition models. The models used depict a rational evolution of soil loss distribution during the study period from 1973 to 2007. The results show that soil erosion output scenarios predict greater soil erosion in the study area from 2070 onwards. They suggest that human disturbance and topographic factors are the main impact factors in the affected areas.
Climate Change and Violent Conflict in West Africa: Assessing the Evidence, SIPRI
West Africa is widely cited as a hotspot of climate change and insecurity. This SIPRI Insights uses a systematic literature review of academic research to build a better understanding of the relationship between climate change and violent conflict in the region. Its findings are structured around four established ‘pathways’ of climate insecurity: (a) worsening livelihood conditions; (b) increasing migration and changing pastoral mobility patterns; (c) tactical considerations by armed groups; and (d) elite exploitation of local grievances.
The literature review highlights a number of important variables in the relationship between climate change and violent conflict in West Africa: maladaptation to livelihood insecurity; migration away from climate-exposed areas; escalating farmer–herder conflicts; and sometimes weak, sometimes divisive, sometimes exploitative governance. Despite these findings, the literature review reveals current research and policy discussions on climate change and violent conflict in West Africa are informed by a very limited amount of academic research.
Monitoring Desertification in the Tillabéry Landscape (Sahel Region) using Change Detection Methods and Landscape Metrics
Mansour Mahamane, Volker Hochschild, Alfred Schultz, Jude Kuma
Abstract
This paper seeks to investigate and monitor desertification processes by using remote sensing based change detection methods as well as landscape metrics approaches. The analysis of land use/cover between 1973 and 2007 was conducted using one Landsat Multispectral Scanner (1973-09-30) image, a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (2001-09-18) image and two Landsat Thematic Mapper (1989-09-29 and 2007-09-27) images. The results of these classifications revealed an increasing trend in desertification throughout the study period. A set of indices (Mesh Index, Landscape Shannon’s Diversity Index, Mean Patch Area and Shape Index) were selected to investigate multi-temporal change in the Tillabéry landscape (Western Niger) an area affected by desertification. The results show that the landscape is highly fragmented, with a corresponding high number of patches with smaller patch sizes, indicating that the original landscape has been converted gradually into bare and desertified area. To further understand the trend and status of desertification in the Tillabéry landscape, a desertified index
was developed.
Assessing soil erosion risk in the Tillabery landscape, Niger
Mansour Mahamane
Article Number - F15378F50829 Vol.9(3), pp. 176-191 , March 2015 https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2014.1731
Abstract
To combat desertification, it is indispensable to understand soil erosion processes in the Sahel zone. The objective of this study was to develop a simple model that uses soil texture data from the field and Digital Elevation Model parameters to predict soil texture. This study also assesses soil erosion research in the Sahel region, illustrated by a case study from Tillabéry landscape (Niger). The most sensitive areas and trends of land degradation processes were identified using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and Unit Stream Power-based Erosion Deposition models. The models used depict a rational evolution of soil loss distribution during the study period from 1973 to 2007. The results show that soil erosion output scenarios predict greater soil erosion in the study area from 2070 onwards. They suggest that human disturbance and topographic factors are the main impact factors in the affected areas.
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"Malnutrition is a major threat to children’s health and development in Niger. According to 2018 data, 15.0 per cent of children are acutely malnourished in Niger (unchanged since 2006). Stunting, which has consequences for a child’s survival and cognitive development as well as economic development of the country, affects 47.8 per cent of children, similar to the situation in 2006. Micronutrient deficiencies are rampant, and more than 70 per cent of children under 5 are anemic." |
SUPPLEMENTAL ACADEMIC PIECES
Micro-Entrepreneurship in Niger: Factors Affecting the Success of Women Street Food Vendors
Miriam Otoo ,Germaine Ibro,Joan Fulton &James Lowenberg-Deboer
Pages 16-28 | Published online: 04 Apr 2012
Micro-entrepreneurship in the informal sector plays a vital role in generating employment and income in West Africa. In this article, the authors examine business success factors for micro-entrepreneurs involved in the production and sale of street foods in Niger, drawing on the resource-based view theory. Business success was measured by size of firm and vendor's perception of enterprise growth. Their results indicate that business experience is an important success factor, while the need for cash is a constraint for business success. A rare resource, limited access to financial assets translates into limited opportunities for growth of these informal micro-enterprises into viable businesses.
Micro-Entrepreneurship in Niger: Factors Affecting the Success of Women Street Food Vendors
Miriam Otoo ,Germaine Ibro,Joan Fulton &James Lowenberg-Deboer
Pages 16-28 | Published online: 04 Apr 2012
Micro-entrepreneurship in the informal sector plays a vital role in generating employment and income in West Africa. In this article, the authors examine business success factors for micro-entrepreneurs involved in the production and sale of street foods in Niger, drawing on the resource-based view theory. Business success was measured by size of firm and vendor's perception of enterprise growth. Their results indicate that business experience is an important success factor, while the need for cash is a constraint for business success. A rare resource, limited access to financial assets translates into limited opportunities for growth of these informal micro-enterprises into viable businesses.
