In the poor Sahel countries, the jihadist groups are becoming more and more aggressive. The military cannot cope with the threat. The Bundeswehr in Mali was also the target of an attack.
Niamey / Bamako – Around 140 people were killed in attacks by alleged Islamist rebels in Mali and Niger. An attack on a Bundeswehr camp went off lightly.
79 attackers and 29 soldiers alone were killed when rebels attempted to storm an international army base in the West African crisis state of Niger. The armed men drove to the base in the Tillabéri region with “hundreds” of motorcycles on Saturday, an army spokesman said on Sunday.
It was a base of the G5 Sahel, in which Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Mali and Burkina Faso are fighting together against insurgents in the Sahel region.
At least 31 people had previously been killed in a terrorist attack on a truck with dozens of people in Mali. At least 17 other people were injured in the attack by armed men on Friday near the village of Songo, the Malian interim government announced on Saturday. The victims were on their way to a market in the city of Bandiagara in the center of the West African crisis state, which has suffered three military coups since 2012.
Initially, no one confessed to the two attacks. A number of armed groups are active in Chad, Niger and other Sahel countries. Some have sworn their allegiance to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network or the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. Other Islamist or ethnically organized militias are also active.
Attack on “Camp Castor”
In northern Mali, the Bundeswehr’s Camp Castor at Gao airport was attacked on Sunday. The soldiers belong to the UN stabilization operation Minusma. The Bundeswehr announced on Twitter that the attack was carried out “with steep fire”. “No hits within the camp were found. There was no damage to property or personal injury. “
Germany still has around 1,300 soldiers stationed in Mali. In addition to the Minusma contingent, this also includes more than 300 soldiers from the European training force EUTM Mali.
Mali and Niger are former French colonies. In Mali, with its around 20 million inhabitants, the military overthrew the transitional government in May, which was supposed to be in office until the presidential election in 2022. The putschist leader Assimi Goita was proclaimed the new interim president. In the country, more than a million people are currently at risk of starvation due to a drought.
As in Mali, the government in Niger has little control over the desert-like expanses outside the cities. The country with 23 million inhabitants ranks last out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). dpa
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