In Niger, a new massacre of civilians has been committed in the western country by suspected jihadists. At least 37 people were killed Monday afternoon in an attack in Darey-Daye, a village 40 km east of the town of Banibangou, near the border with Mali. It is a locked-in area in the Tillabéri region where atrocities perpetrated by armed Islamist groups have increased since the beginning of the year.
According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, more than 420 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year in the western part of the country. A number that is added the victims of the attack from Monday to Darey-Daye. This village 40 km from Banibangou was attacked twice in 6 months by armed men on motorcycles. At the beginning of the year, 250 families lived there, explains a locally elected official. Today there are only a hundred left.
Attacks on the fields This elected official admits that he has also fled this area due to insecurity. Since the beginning of the year, civilians have become increasingly targeted, laments Adamou Oumarou, a member of Tillabéri’s civil society.
“Today, they use the work in the fields to go and kill civilians in the fields. It used to be in villages and hamlets. Now it is also in the fields and we do not know for what reason. Because at the beginning of the insecurity in the region, only the soldiers were attacked. ”
Armed Islamist groups appear to be waging a war against the civilian population, Human Rights Watch states. Among the victims are women, village chiefs, imams and many children.
We must equip our army with advanced logistical means so that we can finish it.
Amadou Oumara, Civil Society
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