NIAMEY, 12 Apr. (DPA/EP) –
The German Defense and Development Ministers, Boris Pistorius and Svenja Schulze, respectively, began a joint visit to Niger this Wednesday, where they arrived by surprise after the Government decided not to reveal details of the displacement for security reasons.
The objective of the trip is for both of them to get an idea of the situation in the country before the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) withdraw from neighboring Mali and with a view to redefining the German commitment in the Sahel, as stated in the German news agency DPA.
The two Social Democratic politicians have landed at the airport in the capital, Niamey, where the Bundeswehr maintains an airlift base and where missions involving German soldiers are concentrated together with partners from the United Nations or under the direction of the European Union (EU).
Germany plans to increase its cooperation with Niger, unlike Mali, where the more than 1,100 Bundeswehr soldiers deployed in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) will withdraw in May 2024.
Schulze herself assured on Monday that Berlin will strengthen development aid in the countries of the Sahel region. “We cannot sit idly by and watch terrorism continue to spread unchecked in the Sahel,” she said, before arguing that “many people join extremists because they need a job and don’t see other prospects.”
Niger faces a terrorist threat in the west from al Qaeda’s branch in Mali, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Likewise, the Diffa region, bathed by Lake Chad, is the scene of relatively frequent attacks by Boko Haram and its splinter, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA).
