NIGER: As Niger prepares its troops to support the French mission in Mali, villagers living on the border are hoping that the military operation will bring a lasting peace

Record ID: 235909

  • Title: NIGER: As Niger prepares its troops to support the French mission in Mali, villagers living on the border are hoping that the military operation will bring a lasting peace
  • Date: 18th January 2013
  • Summary: AYOROU, MALI-NIGER BORDER, NIGER (JANUARY 17, 2013) (REUTERS) NIGERIEN MILITARY VEHICLES ON THE ROAD VARIOUS OF CHILDREN RETURNING HOME FROM SCHOOL AYOROU MAYOR ENTERING HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (French) ZAKARIA MOUSSA, MAYOR, SAYING: "The French army intervention is truly welcome. It's a relief for us. It chases out bandits from our border. Our neighbours will be free, and as long as they find peace, we find peace. If they don't have peace, the peace here will be difficult to obtain too." VARIOUS OF TUAREG MEN SELLING WOOD (SOUNDBITE) (French) ZAKARIA MOUSSA, MAYOR, SAYING: "The fact that there's no communication between us, there's no traffic up and down. And you see that our markets are usually frequented by our neighbours. Particularly our livestock, we get our supplies from the Malians. And as they are not coming now we are going to feel it." VARIOUS OF BOUTIQUES IN MARKET VARIOUS OF DONKEY MARKET (SOUNDBITE) (French) ZAKARIA MOUSSA, MAYOR, SAYING: "We are really proud of our army. These guys, we've never seen fear in their eyes, ever since they're there. We know these are the people who can truly defend us." NIGER FLAG PIROGUES ON THE NIGER RIVER NIGER FLAG NIAMEY, NIGER (JANUARY 16, 2013) (REUTERS) NIGERIEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (French) HAMA HAMADOU, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SAYING: "Niger doesn't know how to stay with our arms crossed and look with indifference or cowardliness to where peaceful Malian Muslims are being massacred or mutilated in cold blood by people who practice a cult that idolizes cruelty, obscurantism and uneducated fanaticism. That's why Niger's troops must, without delay, line up at the side of ECOWAS which is already on its way to north Mali." NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING NIAMEY STREET (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) SOULEY MOUNKEILA, NIAMEY RESIDENT, SAYING: "We think it's salutary that we are sending Niger's troops to Mali. We think it's salutary because for us Nigeriens, after Mali it would have been us Niger." VARIOUS OF NIAMEY STREET SCENES
  • Embargoed: 2nd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Niger
  • Country: Niger
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVABEX5YNLNZ6DJV6WGSCBJL6MEJ
  • Story Text: Only 20 kilometres separate this village in western Niger from Mali, and Nigerien troops are already amassing at the border.
    Soldiers were looking for last minute provisions on Thursday (January 17) in the border town of Ayorou, waiting for reinforcement troops from Chad.
    Their convoy of armoured vehicles, fuel tankers and ambulances with around 200 Nigerien soldiers was positioned at the border according to residents.
    It's only 200 km from here to the key town of Gao, and the troops are waiting for a strategic moment to make their advance.
    They are also getting support from the people who know all too well the threat next door.

    "The French army intervention is truly welcome. It's a relief for us. It chases out bandits from our border. Our neighbours will be free, and as long as they find peace, we find peace. If they don't have peace, the peace here will be difficult to obtain too," said Zakaria Moussa, mayor of Ayorou.
    Niger and Mali have for centuries shared the Sahelian trade routes, with goods travelling freely in and out, as they depended on each other's commerce. The Islamist regime put a stop to all that. Big busses or trucks are not travelling through the border, as Niger is worried about Islamist infiltration.

    "The fact that there's no communication between us, there's no traffic up and down. And you see that our markets are usually frequented by our neighbours. Particularly our livestock, we get our supplies from the Malians. And as they are not coming now we are going to feel it," Moussa said.
    The first West African regional forces arrived in Mali on Thursday to reinforce French and Malian troops battling to push back al Qaeda-linked rebels after seven days of French air strikes.
    A contingent of around 100 Togolese troops landed in Bamako and was due to be joined by Nigerian forces already en route.
    As Nigerien and Chadian forces were massing in Niger, at the border with Mali, residents felt proud and reassured.

    "We are really proud of our army. These guys, we've never seen fear in their eyes, ever since they're there. We know these are the people who can truly defend us," Moussa said.
    The scrambling of the U.N.-mandated African mission, which previously had not been due for deployment until September, will be a boon for France, the former colonial power in Mali.
    In a National Assembly meeting in Niamey on Wednesday, Niger said it could not be left behind, and it will support its neighbour.

    "Niger doesn't know how to stay with our arms crossed and look with indifference or cowardliness to where peaceful Malian Muslims are being massacred or mutilated in cold blood by people who practice a cult that idolizes cruelty, obscurantism and uneducated fanaticism. That's why Niger's troops must, without delay, line up at the side of ECOWAS which is already on its way to north Mali," said Hama Hamadou, Niger's President of the National Assembly.
    French forces, numbering some 1,400 soldiers, began ground operations on Wednesday against an Islamist coalition grouping al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and the home-grown Ansar Dine and MUJWA militants.
    The rebel push into central Mali was last week halted by bombings by French aircraft and the deployment of ground troops.

    "We think it's salutary that we are sending Niger's troops to Mali. We think it's salutary because for us Nigeriens, after Mali it would have been us Niger," said Souley Mounkeila, a resident from the capital Niamey.
    END
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