NIAMEY (Reuters) -Gunmen killed 69 people including a mayor in an attack in a remote area of southwest Niger, the interior minister said on Thursday, part of a wave of violence against civilians that has swept the country this year. The area is overrun by militants associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in rural communities this year. Fifteen people survived and a search operation was underway, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada said on state television.
Scrawled onto a cement gravestone in the village of Tchombangou is the date when the calm of the remote community in southwest Niger was shattered: Friday, 22 November, 2019.
Niger: Government must investigate post-election crackdown and release protesters
Also available in: French
Protests followed the recent elections, with widespread reports of police brutality
Following on from Niger’s new president, Mohamed Bazoum, being sworn in on 2 April 2021, ARTICLE 19 calls for an independent investigation into the continued detention of hundreds of people, including children, in connection with protests over preliminary election results. It also deplores the brutality police used against protesters, including use of bullets, which resulted in the death of a protester. We condemn the arbitrary arrests, as well as the 10-day internet shutdown designed to restrict people’s access to information.