Niger still plagued by terrorism three years after coup

Niger’s junta is facing renewed criticism over its failure to counter terrorism and instability three years after the 2023 military coup, according to RFI and agencies on July 26th.

On July 26th, 2023, the military overthrew the pro-Western, democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, and installed General Abdourahmane Tchiani as junta leader.

Bazoum and his wife, Hadiza, have remained in detention at the presidential palace in Niamey since 2023, despite calls from the European Parliament, ECOWAS and the African Union for their release.

Despite vowing to counter Islamist terrorism, Niger’s junta has struggled to contain escalating violence from groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Jihadists are particularly active in the western Tillabéri region, which borders Mali and Burkina Faso, where Islamist terrorists have also become increasingly entrenched.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are junta-led allies that have increasingly rejected Western ties in favour of security and strategic partnerships with Russia.

All three are former French colonies and founding members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a cooperation pact designed to counter terrorism through shared military and intelligence resources.

On July 3rd, the Sahel allies officially began their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), denouncing the court as a “tool of neocolonial repression.”

Human Rights Watch has described Niger’s junta as “an authoritarian regime”, citing the dissolution of trade unions, the suspension of civil society groups, detention of journalists and criminalisation of homosexuality.

Despite rejecting Western ties, Niger has resumed contact with the US, which delivered military equipment worth $2.3 million to Niamey in May.

Niamey resumed ties with Benin following the election of President Romuald Wadagni; however, the countries’ border remains closed.

On June 15th, the UN warned that terror attacks in the Sahel were at a “dangerous tipping point”; data from the Global Terrorism Index indicates that the Sahel accounted for nearly half of terror-related deaths in 2025.

The UN also has warned against the creation of self-defence groups in Niger, citing concerns about “serious risks of abuses and intercommunal violence.”

Self-defence groups in the Sahel are controversial; in Burkina Faso, they have been implicated in mass killings of civilians, particularly from the Fulani community, which is persecuted throughout the Sahel over suspected Islamist ties.

RFI and agencies, Maghrebi.org