Niger has suspended hundreds of national and international rights groups and aid agencies, in the ruling junta’s latest crackdown targeting NGOs in the West African country, authorities told AFP Thursday.
Since taking power following a July 2023 coup, General Abdourahamane Tiani has regularly accused NGOs of lacking transparency and of supporting the jihadists waging a long-running insurgency in the Sahel nation.
In late January, Interior Minister General Mohamed Toumba announced the adoption of “important measures to ensure the monitoring and supervision of NGOs and development organisations”.
Last week, Toumba authorised around 100 NGOs and organisations out of more than 4,000 operating in Niger to continue their operations.
The rest must “suspend” activities as, according to the minister, they failed to officially publish their 2024 financial statements.
He granted them 60 days to comply. The number of international NGOs affected has not been specified.
There are 4,122 NGOs and development associations operating in Niger, including 332 foreign ones.
Together, they mobilised more than 250 billion CFA francs (around $440 million) in 2024, according to official figures.
Several local and international NGOs had already been banned.
“Many NGOs are in contact with these partners who bring us war through subversion missions… through the support they often provide to terrorists,” Toumba said in January.
The junta has trumpeted a Niger-first approach since taking power, expelling US and French soldiers from its territory along with the French and EU ambassadors.
It has meanwhile strengthened ties with other partners such as Russia and Turkey.
On Thursday, General Tiani again levelled accusations at Paris — Niger’s former colonial ruler — that it was trying to “destabilise” Niger.
“This war we are waging is a total war, initiated by France and its leader Emmanuel Macron,” he told soldiers in the southeastern Diffa region, an epicentre of jihadist activity.
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