Nigeria’s response is compromised by the decade-long war with jihadists in the north-east

According to Selim Meddeb Hamrouni, a reporting officer at the UNHCR refugee agency in Maradi in south-west Niger, the armed groups have grown more active there, spreading north from Nigeria.

“This 20km band inside the Nigerien border is where we’re seeing attacks happening time and again,” Hamrouni said.

The UNHCR is moving refugees in Niger into towns further inside the country. Niger is already struggling to contain jihadist violence on its soil, and is overburdened with refugees from surrounding countries and internal displacement.

Bandit attacks have forced a steady exodus from areas such as Sabon Birni, said Abdu Dan Ige, a 40-year-old health worker. 

His village had been peaceful for all his life but is now restless. “We cannot hold even wedding ceremonies without bribing the bandits for them to allow the social events to be held without violence,” he said. “Hardly a day passes without a village being attacked.”

Nigeria’s response is compromised by the decade-long war with jihadists in the north-east. With security forces stretched, armed groups have been able to operate with little resistance in the north-west.

Murtala Rufa’i, a politics and security researcher in Sokoto, said the vast, mineral-rich forests that stretch across northern Nigeria into Niger and the Sahel have become a haven for the groups.

“The forests are vital,” said Rufa’i. “It is vast and not well understood except by the groups that use them, particularly Fulanis because of their pastoralist roots. They’ve used forest tracks to import caches of heavy weapons.”

Nigeria’s north-west and its porous border with Niger is gradually reconfiguring into a nexus for armed groups, he said. In many cases the groups are becoming more heavily armed than local police forces. 

A growing concern is that jihadists fleeing pressure in the north-east and coming south from Niger could establish roots in the north-west.

“We’ve seen some jihadist elements try to establish connections with bandit groups,” Rufa’i said. “They’ve so far been unsuccessful but jihadists could see the region as ripe for gaining a foothold and exploiting local grievances.”