What’s the secret to Niger’s security resilience?

“Consolidate and move ahead”: Mohamed Bazoum’s campaign slogan has found its incarnation in the approach to Niger’s security and the fight against terrorism. When he took over from his predecessor Mahamadou Issoufou on 2 April 2021, the Nigerien president inherited a country that has shown surprising resilience in the face of exceptional threats in the Sahel.

Of all its immediate neighbours, indeed of all the Sahelian states, Niger is the only one that has to deal with pervasive insecurity on three borders: in the south-east with Nigeria (Boko Haram), the north-west with Burkina and Mali (jihadist groups) and in the north with Libya (Islamic State and the collapse of the Libyan state).