Stabilizing Niger: The Challenges of bridging Local, National and Global Security Interests

This paper investigates international security intervention in Niger, a key country in western strategy against global Jihad and trans-border activities (including criminal activities and migrations toward Europe). A few actors, in particular France and the EU, but also the US, dominate international intervention in Niger. Their main objective is to secure their own strategic, economic and political interests by strengthening the Nigerien authorities through direct intervention and capacity building activities. For western states reinforcing state security institutions and stabilizing elite rule constitute the only realistic path to defend their own interests. The report suggests that international support of Nigerien security forces could be counter-productive for the re-establishment of state authority and legitimacy in the long-term. Brutal repression and violation of human rights in the name of state security has already severely undermined the legitimacy of the Nigerien government.