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Mohamed Bazoum will be sworn in on Friday as the new president of Niger during the country’s first democratic transition of power. In an exclusive interview in Niamey with RFI and our sister channel France 24, he evokes clashes, inter-community conflicts, the prospect of France’s withdrawal from its Barkhane forces and projects for the emancipation of young girls.
The swearing-in ceremony of new President Mohamed Bazoum at the Mahatma Gandhi Conference Center in Niamey will take place amid unprecedented security measures, involving the Presidential and National Guard and the police.
The event comes at a particularly difficult time for the country, which has faced a coup attempt, violent elections and hundreds of deaths in terrorist attacks in recent weeks.
The presidential elections on February 21 in Niger saw an unprecedented power transition between two elected presidents. And yet the electoral process was marred by violence in the streets of Niamey and elsewhere. Several deaths were reported and hundreds of opposition supporters arrested. This could have cast a shadow over Mohamed Bazoum’s honeymoon period, but he insisted the clashes were “artificial”.
“There were tensions in Niamey and they lasted less than two days,” he said. “I think it shows how artificial the troubles were. After these two days, things just calmed down. If he regretted the disturbances, he considered that it was now “behind us”.
Opposition candidate Mahamane Ousmane challenged the election results and on March 25, 53 opposition MPs boycotted the first session of parliament, suggesting a difficult start for the new leader.
In an exclusive interview in Niamey with RFI and our sister channel France 24 earlier this week, Bazoum spoke of the challenges the country faces and his hopes for the future as he prepares to take over from his predecessor Mahamadou Issoufou.
To note: This interview was conducted before the coup attempt on the night of March 30 to 31 and has been edited. You can watch the full version in the video here.
Terrorist attacks
Niger has suffered terrorist attacks: Jihadist groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) have launched attacks on military camps. Civilians were also targeted.
More than 300 people have been killed in three attacks in the west of the country since the start of the year. Asked whether the ISGS was deliberately challenging Bazoum while taking the reins, he said the current situation was “unrelated to the elections and the results”.
“What we are seeing today is what is happening on the ground, the relationships between the jihadists and the communities they are trying to control.
He took the example of the recent attack in the Tillabéri region in which 137 people were killed. The jihadists used a tithe system known as “zakat” to control people, but this system was disrupted when “heavy National Guard patrols” meant locals were “less willing to pay.” Punitive attacks followed.
Inter-community conflict
A recent report by the International Crisis Group revealed that two terrorist attacks in March were revenge attacks by ISGS jihadists. He hinted that Niger, like some of its West African neighbors, was falling into a spiral of sectarian violence.
Bazoum acknowledged that there was a real risk of “inter-community conflict”.
“When you see this kind of action, widespread killings against a particular population […] this of course leads to a risk of community conflict, ”he said,“ because jihadists come from particular communities. And the people they attack unfortunately also belong to specific communities.
“Our challenge is to make sure that the situation does not escalate. We have to defend the people against these rogue operations and that is what we are doing as a state and we will meet this challenge.
Niger is not Mali
Meeting this challenge means strengthening the army, but in neighboring Mali, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane has recognized that there are limits to a strong armed solution and is open to negotiations with jihadist groups. Bazoum says that you “cannot compare” the situation in Niger and Mali because there are no Nigerien jihadists with whom to negotiate.
“We cannot open a dialogue with them because there are no jihadist commanders in Niger, there are no bases for jihadists in Niger and there have been no statements from the main commanders of ISGS linked to Niger, ”he said.
“We have North Africans commanding the ISGS forces leading the jihad in Mali – at least that’s their position – and sometimes having operations that spill over into Niger.”
French withdrawal
With the French presidential elections just over a year away, the question of maintaining France’s controversial Barkhane force is becoming a hot topic. The military operation in the Sahel, both costly and costly in human lives, is increasingly unpopular in French public opinion. The question of the partial or complete withdrawal of French forces is now on the table.
If that were to happen, “we would not feel abandoned by the French,” said Bazoum, seeing Barkhane as a “primarily Mali-based operation”.
A “partial” withdrawal of French forces from Niger would not necessarily change the balance of power on the ground.
“If some troops were withdrawn, it would not have a great operational impact, it would be more symbolic and political”, he said, given that the French army “has no boots on the ground for fight against jihadists ”.
What matters is that France maintains its air force.
“What we need is the air superiority of the French forces which, if I understand correctly, would be guaranteed regardless of the number of soldiers withdrawn from the country, if that happened.
Fight against poverty
Niger remains one of the poorest countries on the continent: 40% of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. Its birth rate – an average of seven children per woman – is the highest in the world. Bazoum said it was crucial to promote the education of young girls.
“It seems to me fundamentally important to stress the importance of educating young girls […] We want to make sure they stay in school. “
Her new approach is to create boarding schools in colleges close to where the girls’ families live, thus encouraging parents not to take them out of school.
“By building many boarding schools at these local colleges, keeping girls in school until the age of 18, we will protect girls from early marriage,” he said.
77 percent of Nigerien girls are married before the age of 18 and 28 percent by the age of 15.
The new president of Niger hopes that “if we educate young girls and keep them in school for a long time, we will have an effective way to fight against these early marriages and protect them against childbirth before the age of 15”.
While acknowledging that this was “a big challenge”, he vowed to “stay strong and make sure we discuss the issue openly.”
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