Panafrican News Agency

Niger needs strong democratic institutions to meet security challenge, says President Issoufou

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Niger needs strong democratic institutions for its long-term transformation, but especially in the immediate future to meet the security challenge, President Mahamadou Issoufou said in a message to his countrymen on Monday to mark the country's 60th independence anniversary.

The Nigerien head of state noted that his country continued to "face several serious threats: Boko Haram, active in the Lake Chad Basin, terrorist and criminal organizations on our borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, armed bandits on the border between the Maradi region (Niger) and Nigeria and traffickers from all sides in the Sahara Desert, especially at the Libyan border".

According to him, the fight against all these terrorist and criminal organizations will take time.

He therefore called on his compatriots to "continue to prepare accordingly", notably by increasing the strength of the defence and security forces, and also by focusing on training and equipping special forces and strengthening alliances with other countries.

According to him, to address all these threats, security integration must also be promoted in the Lake Chad Basin through the Multinational Joint Force  and in the Sahel through the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

Above all, he gave the assurance that his country "will continue to contribute to the establishment and operationalization of the Sahel coalition against terrorism".

"The establishment of Operation Takuba, the contribution of African forces in coordination with Barkhane, the national armies and  G5 Sahel Joint Force are all the more a source of hope that the implementation of the roadmap for the Pau Summit (France) of 13 January 2020, recently updated by the Nouakchott Summit on 30 June, has enabled us to record great successes against the enemy" President Issoufou added.

He congratulated and encouraged Niger's defence and security forces who "take their share with honour and dignity, thus confirming that they deserve their rank among the best armies of our continent". He saluted the memory of those who fell on the field of honour, to whom a memorial will be dedicated.

He said Niger was continuing to advocate for greater international attention on the security situation in the Sahel, the enlargement and strengthening of MINUSMA's mandate, the search for sustainable funding from the G5 Sahel Joint Force, funding for the G5 Sahel priority investment programme and the resolution of the Libyan crisis.

President Issoufou stressed that "the fight against terrorism is global: political, military, economic and ideological".

For him, "this global character is reflected by the four pillars defined at the Pau Summit and confirmed by the Nouakchott Summit: the intensification of the fight against terrorism, the strengthening of the military capabilities of the G5 Sahel states, the support for the return of the state and administrations to areas threatened by terrorist armed groups, development assistance".

-0- PANA SA/JSG/BBA/MA 3Aug2020