Niger troops accused of revenge killings after jihadist atrocities

MORE than 100 men are missing and dozens feared dead after soldiers in Niger allegedly went on a rampage to avenge a spate of jihadist attacks.

Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph allege that Niger’s security forces took part in a series of massacres, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances over the past few months in the western Tillabéri region. In total, the documents allege that at least 150 people are dead or missing.

If proven, the allegations mark a turning point in the battle for the Sahel region raging south of the Sahara.

Niger is a key Western ally in the fight against jihadism in Africa and has, up to now, refrained from major human rights abuses.

According to a document compiled by local residents and human rights activists, at least 52 people were killed or died after being tortured by members of the security forces in Tillabéri, a region that borders Burkina Faso and Mali, from Jan 28 to April 12. It claims some people died from torture or beatings, while others were shot and then crushed by military vehicles.

The bodies of some of those killed were left by the side of the road, while others were buried in mass graves. The 52 deaths allegedly occurred around villages in the Banibangou, Ayarou, Torodi and Inates rural communes.

A second document is a five-page handwritten list of another 102 names of men from villages in Inates.

The text, stamped by a local mayor, says the men were arrested by security forces and taken away from March 27 to April 2. Assalag Ag Alhamadou, the deputy mayor of Inates, confirmed the list was legitimate and that the families of the men were still looking for them.

The news follows allegations from the United Nation’s peacekeeping mission in Mali last month that soldiers from Niger had crossed into Mali and killed at least 34 people in several villages from Feb 23 to March 5.

Tillabéri residents contacted by The Telegraph have been reluctant to talk about the disappearances.

However, one source in Ayorou alleged that the military had come looking for individuals and threatened to kill people who did not help them.

One international human rights researcher, who is investigating the alleged abuses and asked to remain anonymous, said people were frightened to speak out because they thought the army would accuse them of supporting jihadists and punish them.

All the people who have been taken away are “almost certainly dead,” the researcher claimed.

Khardiata Lo N’diaye, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Niger, said the situation was being taken “very seriously”.

Humanitarian groups, rights groups and embassies in Niger are scrambling to investigate the allegations but the country’s coronavirus lockdown has complicated inquiries.

The governments of Mali and Burkina Faso are under pressure from daily attacks by a myriad of armed groups, some aligned to al-qaeda and Isil. In the past year, thousands were killed and almost one million forced to flee their homes.

Despite sharing porous borders with both countries, Niger had managed to avoid the worst of the violence until recently. Its military – trained by French and US troops – has proven a relatively capable fighting force.

The country also receives hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and development money from the EU, France, the US and the UK.

While soldiers in Mali and Burkina Faso have committed well documented extrajudicial killings, Niger has a better overall human rights record.

However, in recent months the country has come under massive pressure from jihadist groups flitting across the border from eastern Burkina Faso and central Mali. In December and January, it suffered two devastating attacks on army bases in Tillabéri by suspected Isil-allied militants. Hundreds of jihadists surrounded the bases on motorbikes and massacred soldiers. At least 160 Nigerien soldiers were

killed in the attacks, leaving the government shaken to its core and prompting concern about military reprisals.

Corinne Dufka, the West Africa di- rector at Human Rights Watch, said: “Allegations of abuse by Sahel’s armies are trending up dangerously. Increasingly lethal jihadist attacks are too-often followed by apparent reprisal attacks. Soldiers – grieving the death and mutilation of their colleagues – avenge their deaths by killing unarmed civilians or suspects.”

She added: “The dearth of investigations into the mounting incidents and lack of strong public démarches by international partners, have been perceived as a green light by the armies in question, whose leaders appear to feel no fear of being held to account.”

Niger’s ministry of defence did not reply to a request for comment on the allegations.

‘Soldiers – grieving the death and mutilation of colleagues – avenge their deaths by killing unarmed civilians or suspects’