Niger President Denies His Country is Sanctuary for Terrorists, Blames Libya

Il Presidente del Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, ha respinto l'idea che il Niger stesso sia diventato ultimamente un santuario per i terroristi islamici. Diversi commentatori sostengono infatti che alcune centinaia di combattenti jihadisti avrebbero trovato rifugio proprio in Niger, dopo che le forze francesi - con l'Operazione Serval in Mali - hanno cacciato i militanti di al-Qaida all'inizio del 2013.

President Mahamadou Issoufou put some of the blame on Libya and said he feared the country could become a failed state.

“Our fear is that Libya falls into the hands of Salafist terrorists and that the state becomes like Somalia,” Issoufou told reporters ahead of a Franco-African summit in Paris.

Issoufou also called for the creation of multinational African brigades, with the support of Libya, to boost border security in lawless zones where jihadist fighters roam.

“Sadly, we’re seeing that the terrorists are there and that armed Salafist militia are in Benghazi, with people being killed almost every day. We must stabilize Libya.”

He pressed the issue Friday as France welcomed dozens of leaders for a summit on African security.

Issoufou, whose country has seen a string of attacks this year, including on a French-run uranium mine, said there was no time to lose for countries in the Sahel desert region to pool their resources to create “mixed brigades” that could enter each other’s countries to combat Islamist fighters.

“We talk a lot and act very little,” Issoufou said. “We (Niger) are fighting to create an organization that brings together Sahel countries so that solutions are in place to face our common (security) difficulties,” he said.

“We have to bring together the means of different countries so that there are mixed brigades on frontiers such as on the Libyan border. I’m optimistic,” Niger president added.(agencies)

Source Tripoli Post