Author: Ousmane Tandja

On August 21, 2026, a chilling new chapter unfolded in Niger’s security crisis. As worshippers streamed out of Friday prayers, heavily armed militants surrounded multiple mosques, sealed exits, and forcibly marched nearly 500 civilians into dense forest terrain. Days later, their fate remains unknown—a haunting symbol of the military regime’s crumbling promise to protect its people. When friday prayers turn into mass abductions Just after 1 p.m. that fateful Friday, tranquility gave way to terror. Dozens of well-armed assailants executed a coordinated operation, trapping defenseless congregants—young boys, elders, and adults…

The turning point: how military operations reshaped the conflict The Nigerian military’s sustained campaign in the Lake Chad region has delivered a major blow to Boko Haram and ISWAP, raising a critical question: Can Africa’s most populous nation finally end the jihadist insurgency that has plagued its northeast for over 15 years? In a recent briefing from Maiduguri, the outgoing commander of Operation HADIN KAI, Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar, unveiled staggering statistics that underscore the intensity and scale of the recent offensive. Record losses for insurgents: over 1,100 fighters neutralized…

A helicopter gunship belonging to the Algerian air force opened fire on an artisanal gold-mining camp sitting astride the Niger-Algeria frontier, killing at least 48 civilians. The strike was carried out in full daylight, and the toll has left communities across this remote Saharan corridor in shock. In Niger itself, the reaction has been even more striking than the attack: the ruling military junta has yet to utter a single public word about it. Broad daylight over the goldfields: how the raid unfolded The aircraft appeared without warning over a…

A showcase project that turned into an industrial wreck Sold to the public as the definitive proof that Niger had finally taken back control of its own resources, the transfer of the Société des mines de l’Aïr (Somaïr) into exclusively national hands has produced a very different outcome than the one promised from the podium. The economic note issued by the finance ministry lays out the damage in cold figures: uranium output tumbled by 83.3% during the first quarter of 2026, landing at a skeletal 31.2 tonnes, when the previous…

Eighteen months after the 26 July 2023 putsch, the patriotic showcase built by Niger’s military leadership is visibly splintering. Behind the sovereignist speeches and the parades staged by the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), conditions on the ground describe something else entirely. Niger’s armed forces are not merely buckling under suffocating security pressure along the borders — they are crumbling from the inside. The scale of desertion now stands as the clearest proof that General Abdourahamane Tiani has lost the confidence of a large share of…

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — the three governments that make up the Alliance of Sahel States — remain heavy users of the regional financial market. At the close of 31 July 2026, their combined stock of outstanding public securities stood at roughly 7,727 billion CFA francs. That number complicates the narrative of a financial sovereignty resting entirely on national resources. The political message has not changed: sovereignty, a clean break with old dependencies, national efforts funded by national means, and a rejection of mechanisms presented as imposed from abroad.…

Burkina Faso’s Texforces-BF textile programme has been presented to the public as a cornerstone of economic sovereignty and home-grown industrialisation, and official enthusiasm for it has been loud and unwavering. Look beneath the speeches, however, and the way the venture is financed — together with the conditions attached to its rollout — raises uncomfortable questions. Money pulled straight out of the retirement system, thousands of beneficiaries still waiting for pensions already owed to them, an active terrorist threat across much of the country and no visible industrial maintenance blueprint: taken…

In Niamey, official statements continue to present a picture of economic emancipation and severed ties with former partners. The consolidated accounts of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), however, sketch a very different portrait. As Niger closed the 2024 financial year, its international investment position stood deep in the red, laying bare a structural reliance on foreign capital that has not diminished. A yawning gap between what Niger owns abroad and what it owes Niger’s financial obligations towards non-residents reached 12,933.5 billion FCFA by the end of 2024.…