AFRICA/NIGER - Army and traditional leaders called to collaborate in the fight against jihadists: a hope for Fr. Maccalli

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Niamey (Agenzia Fides) - The western part of Niger, on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, has become in recent years the scene of operations by terrorist groups that carry out deadly attacks in these three countries against armed forces and civilian populations. "It is in this area that two Nigerian soldiers were killed in recent days due to the explosion of a mine; it is the same area where the Italian priest, Father Pierluigi Maccalli, was kidnapped by armed men last September", reports the Chinese Xinhua news agency, which has a considerable number of correspondents from Africa. Last week, Niger's Interior Minister, Mohamed Bazoum, said in Parliament that bandits close to jihadist groups were responsible for murders, robberies and kidnappings of civilians.
Meanwhile, popular protests continue in Niamey. On November 12, several thousand people demonstrated in the capital of Niger against the electoral law approved by the government in 2017. The demonstrators, led by former president Mahamane Ousmane, marched through the streets of the capital chanting hostile slogans against the government and then demonstrating in front of Parliament. The opposition in particular disputes four articles of the law, including Article 8 which provides for the ineligibility of those sentenced to at least one year imprisonment.
Official sources in Niamey reported that Nigerian Defense Minister Kalla Moutari invited local leaders in the area to collaborate with the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) operating against terrorists. Moutari, on a patrolling trip to the western part of the country, visited, in particular, military units engaged in tracking down armed bandits operating in the area between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. The Minister told the troops: "The groups that want to impose their will by force will lose the battle, because they do not defend any value. Their cruelty and their cowardice will not get the upper hand". During the meeting with the traditional leaders of the villages in the region, Moutari asked them to collaborate with the army and "provide all the information possible to permanently neutralize these barbaric individuals". (MP/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 14/11/2018)