Nigeria’s top military commander has met Niger’s army chief to strengthen security cooperation as violence from a Sahel jihadist war worsens following a series of coups in the region.
Relations between Nigeria and its northern Sahel neighbor Niger have been tense since the military took over in Niamey in 2023 and broke away from the regional bloc ECOWAS.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is head of the Economic Community of West African States, initially took a hardline but has since been trying to persuade the three junta-led states Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to return to the group.
Nigeria’s chief of defense staff, General Christopher Musa, on Wednesday 28 August, met in Niamey with General Moussa Salaou Barmou to discuss security cooperation, a Nigerian military statement said.
“Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to resuming and strengthening collaboration, with a view to ensuring regional stability and security,” it said on Thursday.
The statement said Niger’s chief of staff would visit Nigeria to finalize cooperation, and a Niger advisory group would be created to improve communication between the two militaries.
“Niger affirmed its readiness to resume active participation in security cooperation under the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJT),” the statement said.
The task force, involving Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, has been key in battling jihadists active along the border areas of the four countries.
Niger’s military government is battling jihadists linked to the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram in the western Tillaberi region and in the southeastern Diffa area near Nigeria.
ECOWAS has unsuccessfully tried to return democracies in these countries. Their best shot with now-lifted economic sanctions resulted in the three coup-hit countries withdrawing their membership and opening more windows for Russian mercenaries in the region.
Defense chiefs of West Africa on Thursday, June 27 proposed a plan to deploy a 5,000-strong “standby force” to fight the region’s worsening security crises.
The plan, which will cost $2.6 billion annually, was proposed to heads of state at a meeting of defense officials in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. The plan was also aimed at preventing further coups following a string of military takeovers that have destabilized the region, Nigeria’s Defense Minister Mohammed Badaru said.