Leaning on foreign assistance and restoring sovereignty: analyzing Niger’s strategy of conflict management

With this presentation, we aim to enlighten the specific position held by Niger in the management of the conflicts on its borders. The Sahelian State combines an armed response seeking a military victory with a "softer" answer based on the principles of the counter-insurgency doctrine. Throughout these joint strategies, the country relies deeply on its foreign partners, states and international organization, at both a regional and international level. Since the 2010s, Niger has been plagued by insurgent conflicts questioning its sovereignty on two fronts. Originating in neighboring countries, the conflicts with non-state armed groups have spread into Niger’s territory. In the Lake Chad region, the Nigerien government is battling with the branches of the former Boko Haram group. On its Western border, in the Liptako-Gourma area known as the "three borders zone" (cross-border region between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso), Niger has been suffering attacks from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims and the Islamic State in the greater Sahara since 2018. My analysis rests on two research stays conducted during the springs of 2022 and 2023, before the putsch of July 2023. Some of my interviewees from the heads of administrative institutions are now in exile or removed from power, and we do not know to date if their policies are to be pursued under the new authorities. Moreover, it should be noticed that the recent reconciliation between the Nigerien and the Malian and Burkinabe governments may influence the conflict management in the Liptako-Gourma region. Nigerien authorities readily present Niger as suffering from the hardships coming from its "turbulent" neighbors whose crises spill over the Nigerien borders. Hence a military response that fits into the trend of the regionalization of the securitization in Africa. In the Lake Chad region, the Multinational Joint Task Force (composed of militaries from Benin, Cameroun, Nigeria, Niger, Chad) has obtained significant results against Boko Haram. In the "three borders zone", despite the G5 Sahel pitfalls, armed securitization has been apprehended as a regional matter and has rested on an international support (especially until July 2023 on the French operations). But Niger also stands out for its original approach to conflict management. Despite a narrative stating that the instability is a foreign one exported in Niger, the High Authority in Peacebuilding (a unique institution in the region, with a Ministry statute) recognizes that the insurgents are "Nigerien children" who should be guided back on the right tracks. Therefore, the answer to the conflict is not only a military one. The High Authority leads several projects which aim at de-escalating the conflict: hands outstretched towards the repentant, disarmament and reintegration. Some actions are explicitly inscribed in counter-insurgency methods, ironically learned from the experience of French colonizers, targeting the civilians to prevent further recruitments. All these programs depend on Niger’s donors, the country being highly dependent on international fundings. The issue of the Nigerien sovereignty is therefore multifaceted: we propose to explore here these tensions between peace-making, peace-building, dependance and the restoration of State sovereignty.