Niger asks Algeria to help fight desert rebels

Reuters
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger's prime minister and military chiefs met neighbouring Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Sunday to discuss cross-border cooperation against Tuareg-led rebels in Niger's desert north, officials said.

The rebel Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) has killed at least 36 soldiers and taken dozens hostage since launching an insurgency in February to demand greater autonomy for the vast region around the ancient Saharan caravan town of Agadez.

The government refuses to negotiate with the group, saying they are drug traffickers and common bandits, but has called on its neighbours to try to stop the flow of weapons, fuel and food thought to be reaching them from other Saharan armed groups. Some officials and civil society organisations in Niger have accused Libya of supporting the insurgents, who have also targeted mining interests in a region which contains some of the world's largest uranium deposits as well as reserves of oil.

"The delegation has not gone to ask Algeria to play any sort of mediation role, as was the case in the past, but to explain the situation and ask its authorities to bolster border security," one senior military official in Niger told Reuters. "Of course, if Algeria can convince the authors of these attacks that Niger will not negotiate and that they should put down their weapons, that would be very helpful," he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Niger's Prime Minister Seyni Oumarou, Foreign Minister Aichatou Mindaoudou, armed forces chief General Moumouni Boureima, and President Mamadou Tandja's national security advisor General Abdou Kaza were among the delegation. The group was received on Sunday by Bouteflika, according to Algeria's official APS news agency.

Algeria has in the past acted as a mediator between Tuareg rebels in northern Niger and the government. The light-skinned nomads, famed for their blue turbans, staged a rebellion in the 1990s to demand more autonomy from a black African dominated government following a brutal clampdown by the security forces in which scores of civilians were killed.

Most Tuareg groups signed a peace deal in 1995 which promised more development for the north, strengthened local government and promised the incorporation of thousands of former fighters into the security forces.

The rebel movement, which says it numbers close to 2,000 fighters, argues that those peace accords have not been fully respected and that the north remains marginalised. The government says the vast majority of Tuareg demands from the 1990s have been met.

Algeria and Nigeria seek Europe's support for trans-Saharan gas pipeline

Algeria and Nigeria sought European support Monday as they laid out plans for a trans-Saharan gas pipeline that could supply the EU with 6 percent of its future gas needs. Europe currently depends on Russia for up to two-fifths of its gas and is seeking new sources and new routes as it worries about a growing reliance on oil and gas imports.

Algerian and Nigerian state-owned gas companies Sonatrach and NNPC want to build a US$10 billion (€7.36 billion) pipeline to bring another 20 billion to 30 billion cubic meters of gas to European consumers — mostly in Spain and Italy — starting as early as 2015.
But the European Union's energy chief, Andris Piebalgs, was reluctant to promise much beyond warm words for the project, saying it was possible the EU could allocate funding — but money could also come from the private sector. "We could encourage European financial institutions to look toward the project," he said.

Algeria, Nigeria and their neighbor Niger promoted the event in Brussels to seek future customers and investors. Algeria and Nigeria currently provide western Africa with gas and turn some into easier-to-transport liquefied natural gas. But they are also keen to sell to wealthy European markets if they can get the project up and running.

The 4,300-kilometer trans-Saharan gas pipeline would run from southern Nigeria, through its northern neighbor Niger to Algeria and then under the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Plans are at an early stage following viability studies.

IHT