On Monday evening, March 15, 58 villagers returning from a massacre were shot by gunmen in Niger. On Wednesday, the head of state, Mahamadou Issoufou, chaired an extraordinary Security Council. The increase of military personnel in Tillabéry and the dispatch of a high-level ministerial mission on the ground have been decided. Emotions run high in the streets of the capital Niamey.
With our Special Correspondent in Niamey, Gaelle Laleix
Today was the second national day, today in Niger, announced on Tuesday evening, March 16 after one attack on the town of Banibangou in the Tillabéry region, in the western part of the country. The charge is very heavy: 58 dead.
In the Yantala district, on the road to Tillabéry, minibuses are filled with passengers. Soon they will travel to Tillabéry with great concern. Harouna sells the tickets. “Buses running to Tillabéry are afraid of those who may cut the road,” he says. At night there are coupéurs de route. They say they are in the villages, that they are everywhere. We’re scared. We need help. ”
“We kill Nigerians like dogs, we burn their houses, we hunt them”
On a bench next door, Boubacar is waiting. He often takes this route to visit his family. Fear he got used to it. “We are used to it,” he explains. Every week or every other or three days they say they attacked a certain place. We take you, we kill you like that. Families have been affected. ”
At the station, Maiaki takes his tea. He has just heard the news: the military staff will be expanded in Tillabéry, where his family is located. This measure does not comfort him. “Why increase the soldiers? he asks. Those who are there, what are they doing? We kill Nigerians like dogs, we burn their houses, we hunt them. The state has left Tillabéry, so it hurts a lot. ”
Last November, the Nigerian National Assembly passed a law aimed at doubling the size of the army. The goal is to reach 50,000 soldiers within five years.
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