Niger president to offer amnesty to Touareg separatists

Niger president Mamadou Tandja conferred with several Touareg separatists’ leaders in the region of Agadir (northern Niger) and promised them to grant them an amnesty if they give up their rebellion against the central power in Niamey and lay down their arms, official source revealed

• Talking on the state ran radio after his meeting with 10 individuals representing the three rebellious factions the president has declared “ We have offered them the opportunity since a long time to lay down their arms and join us to build our country… we forgive them, because we want peace in Niger”. This declaration was reported on “Al Jazeera” website.
• The president, who refused over the last two years to start negotiations with the rebels, qualifying their leaders of “drug dealers” and “gangs’ chiefs” went on saying “ We cannot build a country with arms.. Come back to work in order to develop your country”.
• However, he denied giving a fixed timetable for a likely peace treaty or arms’ lay down and nothing has leaked concerning the rebels’ reaction to the president’s offer. He is looking forward to reach a peace truce with separatists similar to that sealed between the Malian government and the rebellious Touareg in this region thanks to the Algerian mediation led by its ambassador in Bamako Abdelkarim Gherib.
• The northern regions of Niger are considered one of the outlets used by the terrorist organization “Salafit Group for Call and Combat” whose activities were expanded to reach the Sub- Saharan region over the last period.
• One of the last terrorist operations in the region was that abduction of four tourists including a British national on the Mali- Niger borders last January and two Canadian diplomats.