After preventing its agencies and other organisations from operating in military “operation zones,” the United Nations stated on Friday that it was trying to get in touch with the coup leaders in Niger.
We are aware of the reports. Alessandra Vellucci, a UN spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva, “We are in contact with the de facto authorities in Niger to better understand what this means and the implications for the humanitarian work.”
Her remarks followed a late-Thursday announcement by the Niger interior ministry that it will prohibit UN agencies, NGOs, and other foreign groups from operating in military “operation zones.”
Although it didn’t say which areas were affected, it did state that the actions were necessary “given the current security situation”.
In the zones of operations, “all activities and or movements are temporarily suspended,” it said.
The military overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and seized control of Niger.
The severe security situation in the landlocked, former French colony in the Sahel’s centre was one of the arguments they used to depose the democratically elected leader.
The long-running violence in neighbouring Nigeria has spilled over into southern Niger, while terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso are launching an attack in the southwest. Together, these two jihadist insurgencies are giving Niger trouble.
Stranded migrants
The UN refugee agency said earlier this week that more than 20,000 people have been displaced by such violence in the last month alone. However, since the coup, the attacks have persisted.
Already displaced within the nation are more than 710,000 individuals, including refugees and asylum seekers from surrounding nations as well as uprooted Nigeriens.
The migrant transit shelters managed by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration in Niger are now overcrowded, the organisation said on Friday.
Around 5,000 migrants are housed by the group in seven transit facilities located along Niger’s migratory routes.
More than 1,400 refugees, mostly from Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria, were reported as being unable to enter the packed institutions and waiting outside for help.
IOM is urging the creation of humanitarian corridors so that refugees can go back to their home countries and lessen the burden on the facilities.
Christopher Gascon, the IOM’s regional director for West and Central Africa, told media in Geneva that there are currently no options for organising charter flights, meaning that individuals will stay there for weeks or months.
He said that by opening up humanitarian corridors, relief workers would be able to transport migrants to the airport and arrange charter flights out.
