NIAMEY - After the fall of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, southward arms flows from Libya rose significantly. In 2012, this enabled Mali’s Tuareg rebels and armed groups operating in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin to acquire weapons and ammunition in a period of widespread regional turmoil.
The weapons, transported from the Libyan south-west by Tuareg fighters and traffickers, were moved along the Algerian and Nigerien borders. They were transported along the roads that cross the Agadez, Tahoua and Tillabéri regions, joining Mali via the Niger-Mali-Burkina Faso tri-border area and Lake Chad Basin via Niger’s Diffa Region.
But the military presence in northern Niger and the outbreak of Libya’s second civil war in 2014 saw arms flows to the south slow down. As demand for guns in Libya increased, Jihadist groups looked elsewhere – escalating attacks on army barracks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to loot their arms and ammunition stockpiles.
Several drivers of insecurity in northern Niger facilitate the trafficking of Libyan arms. Vehicles of civilians and gold transporters have been attacked in the Aïr area. On 21 March 2021, armed bandits killed 137 people in various attacks in the Tillia commune. The violence prompted the population of the Agadez, Tahoua and Tillabéri regions to arm themselves in self-defence. Infuriated by the state’s failure to keep them safe, some civilians have explored the creation of militias for protection.
