One of the world’s poorest countries, Niger, is rife with acute hardship. The lives of the populace are being made worse by West African sanctions meant to compel a return to democracy following a coup.
Food and medication are in short supply, prices are increasing, and companies are idle due to outages caused by Nigeria, the region’s superpower, cutting off its electricity supplies.
The UN said earlier this month that 7 300 tonnes of food aid bound for Niger was halted in transit due to border barriers.
“Almost all prices have risen due to the sanctions,” shopkeeper Elhadj Ali tells his customers defensively at the bustling Dar-es-Salaam market in the capital Niamey.
Following the overthrow of Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president, by rebel elite soldiers on July 26, the regional bloc ECOWAS—the Economic Community of West African States—banned commerce with Niger.
The junta’s desire for a three-year transition and ECOWAS’s demand for Bazoum’s immediate return have prevented negotiations to restore civilian authority from moving on.
A 25-kilogram bag of imported rice, a national staple, now costs 14,500 CFA francs (approximately $25) as opposed to 11,500 CFA francs before the coup.
“For the moment there are no shortages and the prevailing stocks will see us through till December,” said Chaibou Tchiombiano, general secretary of the main association of Nigerien exporters and importers.
But he issued a warning that decreased imports of rice from Thailand and China could eventually result in shortages.
There are also fewer available medicines. The primary source of supplies is Cotonou, the economic hub of the bordering country of Benin, which has closed its border with Niger.
About 80% of Niger’s imports pass via Cotonou in transit.
“Medicine stocks have fallen by 30 to 55 percent since September 19 while the acceptable level is seven percent,” said Amadou Seyni Maiga, the general secretary of Niger’s main association of pharmacists.
Maiga called for an immediate lifting of a ban on medical supplies.
- Smugglers Thriving
The only bridge over the Niger River is obstructed by parked trucks and containers near the border with Benin, where hundreds of trucks are blocking the border.
Niger borders the ECOWAS nations of Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Benin to the south, but it also trades extensively with other neighbours in the region, including Togo, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast.
Smugglers operate a thriving business on its southern border with Nigeria, smuggling in supplies, people, and even cattle despite the gates being closed.
A resident in Maradi, which borders Nigeria, said: “Smugglers use motorcycles and small cars to bring in large quantities of essential goods.”
However, the situation is very different in the north of the sprawling arid country.
“Thanks to the corridors with Libya and Algeria, we are very well stocked,” the mayor of the key northern city of Agadez, Abdourahamane Tourawa, told AFP.
“Trucks come in regularly loaded with cereals, oil, wheat, electrical goods and construction materials,” he said.
A freeze on the assets of the national bank of a nation that is a major producer of uranium as well as oil and gold is another issue the military leaders are battling.
The regional central bank of ECOWAS has froze Niger’s state assets, and commercial banks have also frozen state and state-owned firm assets.
Recently, Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, who was chosen by the junta, was able to pay all of the security forces’ and state employees’ wages for the months of July and August using only internal funds.
According to Seydou Asman, minister of commerce, the government is “exploring all means possible” to assure supplies.
Burkina Faso, which is also governed by a junta, has shown support for Niger by maintaining an open border.
Following the coup, Niger’s new rulers were swiftly supported by juntas in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, whose presidents were likewise forced out after failures to stem a jihadist insurgency.
There have been several demands outside Niger seeking an end to the sanctions, including by medical charity MSF or Doctors Without Borders, which called it a “collective punishment”.
