Key western ally accused of dozens of killings, as over 100 men go missing in Niger

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

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

If true, the allegations mark a dangerous turning point in the battle for the Sahel region raging south of the Sahara desert. Niger is a key Western ally in the fight against jihadism in Africa and up to now, it has refrained from major human rights abuses. 

The Telegraph has been told that multiple humanitarian groups, rights groups and embassies in Niger are scrambling to investigate what has happened. However, many have been struggling to do so because of the country’s coronavirus lockdown.

According to one document which was compiled by local citizens and human rights activists, at least 52 people were killed or died after being tortured by members of Niger’s security forces in Tillabéri region, which borders both Burkina Faso and Mali, from January 28 to April 12.

The document says some people died from torture or beatings, others were shot and then crushed by military vehicles. Some of those killed were left dead by the side of the road, while others were buried in several hastily dug mass graves. The 52 deaths allegedly occurred around various villages in the Banibangou, Ayarou, Torodi and Inates rural communes of Tillabéri. 

A second document seen by The Telegraph is a five-page handwritten list of another 102 names of men from different villages in Tillabéri’s rural commune of Inates. The text says the men were arrested by the security forces and taken away from March 27 to April 2. It is stamped by a local mayor. The Telegraph contacted Assalag Ag Alhamadou, Deputy Mayor of Inates commune. He confirmed the list was legitimate and that the families of the men are still looking for them.

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

The Telegraph has contacted multiple sources inside Tillabéri over the last month. Several seemed too scared to talk about the issue. However, one source in Ayorou commune 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 currently investigating the alleged abuses and asked to remain anonymous, said that people were too scared to speak out publicly 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.

The head of the United Nation’s in Niger, Khardiata Lo N’Diaye, told The Telegraph that the situation was being taken “very seriously”.

The governments of both Mali and Burkina Faso are buckling under daily attacks from a myriad of armed groups, some aligned to Al Qaeda and Isil. Thousands were killed and almost one million were forced to flee their homes last year alone.

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

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

While soldiers in both Mali and Burkina Faso have committed well documented extrajudicial killings, rights groups told The Telegraph that Niger has a much better overall human rights record.

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

At least 160 Nigerien soldiers were killed in the two attacks, leaving the government shaken to its core. Multiple sources have told The Telegraph that the Nigerien military has been out for revenge in western Niger.

Reacting to the news Corinne Dufka, West Africa director 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 demarches 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.” 

France has 5,100 troops based across the Sahel on a counter jihadist mission. After 13 French soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Mali, President Emmanuel Macron called a meeting of the leaders of Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania in the southern French city of Pau in January.

In Pau, Mr Macron publicly threatened to withdraw French troops from the Sahel unless the leaders publicly disavowed rising anti-French feeling in their countries and worked out how to stop the extremists’ rapid advance. Héni Nsaibia from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an organisation tracking violent incidents, says that even by low estimates there has been a ‘sharp rise’ of Sahelian state forces attacking civilians since the summit took place. 

“There are strong indices that these [154] people have been killed,” Mr Nsaibia said, citing circumstantial evidence, testimonies of mass graves, and multiple documents and reports.

It is understood that Niger’s National Human Rights Commission is currently trying to gather evidence in Tillabéri. 

The Telegraph contacted Niger’s ministry of defence for a comment on the allegations but did not receive any.

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