(Adnkronos) – In Niamey, the capital of Niger, a thousand people took to the streets to demonstrate “solidarity” with the neighboring “Malian people,” following last Saturday’s unprecedented attacks in Mali. Mali and Niger, along with Burkina Faso, are part of the Alliance of Sahel States. The Niamey initiative was organized by “Niger’s Living and Patriotic Forces,” with slogans in favor of the Alliance of Sahel States. Images were spread on social media. “Down with terrorists and their sponsors” was one of the slogans displayed in the square. In front of the demonstrators was a photo of General Sadio Camara, the Malian Minister of Defense killed in Saturday’s attacks by the Jnim group, linked to al-Qaeda, and the Tuareg independentist rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front.
Effred Mouloul, one of the representatives of “Niger’s Living and Patriotic Forces,” called on the population to mobilize because, in the face of the “events” in Mali, it is necessary to “intensify and reactivate surveillance brigades in villages and border areas and along the routes used by terrorist groups.” African leaders are criticized for the “lack of solidarity in the face of the targeted assassination of our leaders in Mali” and a “withdrawal of French companies and businesses from the Alliance of Sahel States area” is demanded, whose “presence” is considered “incompatible” with “sovereignty.”
