The Niger authorities announced their intention to increase the number of armed forces by 10,000 to a total of 100,000 people to protect uranium and oil deposits, as well as the nearly 2,000 km Niger-Benin oil pipeline, through which Niger's oil is exported, local media reported.
The size of a new “Protection Force” is planned to increase by 2030. The recruitment will reportedly begin in early July.
“The aim is to prevent acts of sabotage, terrorist attacks, and all other security threats to sites of strategic interest […] to respond to pressing security needs,” Colonel-Major Moukaila Sofiani, Director of Strategic Studies at the Ministry of Defense, was quoted as saying.
Several regions of Niger's territory have been under terrorist threat for years, particularly in the west and in the area of the three borders (with Mali and Burkina Faso), where numerous attacks by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb* and groups affiliated with Daesh* have been recorded in recent years. Boko Haram* elements have also been reported in the southeast, near Lake Chad.
Just last Wednesday, the aforementioned oil pipeline suffered a terrorist attack at the Tibiri site in the Maradi region in the south, with several vehicles destroyed and six Nigerien soldiers killed, according to local media.
* Terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia and many other states.