The Department of Homeland Security is following "up to the minute and with great concern" the situation in Niger after the coup d'état suffered by the African country last week by a group of Nigerien soldiers – who are keeping the country's president kidnapped. Niger, according to sources from the advisory body to the President of the Government on National Security matters, is for Spain the "last great ally" in the Sahel in the joint police fight against the mafias that traffic in human beings and against jihadist terrorism. There are national police and civil guards deployed there in European missions, which could be in danger if the country does not return to a democratic path.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has spent years championing the maxim that in order to prevent irregular immigration, collaboration with the countries of origin and transit of migratory flows is essential. Niger – whose president retained by the military is the only civilian leader left in the Sahel – is an obligatory checkpoint for the vast majority of migrants bound for Spain or Italy. For this reason, Niger –considered by the Government of Pedro Sánchez as “a great partner”– is among the African countries that have seen the subsidies received by the Ministry of the Interior multiply to contain irregular immigration.
But not everything is direct aid, like the one headed by Morocco. In Niger, a European police project is underway to fight criminal organizations that traffic migrants. Four agents of the National Police and as many Frenchmen participate in it. A month ago now, Interior reported with great expectations that the project was starting its third phase – with a budget of 13 million euros. This new phase, now at risk of being suspended, should last five years. In the first two, carried out between 2017 and 2022, 824 people have been arrested -753 imprisoned- and 57 national networks and another 196 international ones have been identified.
On behalf of the Civil Guard, a commander and a sergeant from the Armed Institute are part of the EUCAP Sahel Niger mission of the European Union, designed to provide advice and training to the Nigerien authorities in strengthening their police capabilities in the fight against terrorism and organized crime. Despite the fact that the European Union extended this mission until September 30, 2024 with an adapted mandate, from the Interior they explain that the two Spanish soldiers are already in Spain on their vacation period and will not return to Niger because their period ended precisely this month of August. From the department that Marlaska directs, they do not specify, at this time, if the two Spanish uniformed men will be replaced by two other colleagues.
The other great scourge against which European teams with a Spanish presence are fighting is terrorism, now that the Sahel has become a hornet's nest for jihadist organizations. At a time when countries like Spain have reduced their military presence in African countries to the maximum, like the rest of their European partners, Niger was emerging as the last fortress where to establish the operations center for the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. The coup adds more uncertainty to the future of the military detachments, according to the same sources.
Given the lack of certainties, the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has already asked the Spaniards in Niger to contact the embassy now "for any eventuality that may arise, any need."
