Main Tuareg rebel movement in Niger hand over weapons

APA - 06/01/10

Main Tuareg rebel movement in Niger hand over weapons
Wednesday 6 January 2010
APA-Niamey (Niger) The main faction of the Tuareg rebellion in Niger, the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), has officially surrendered its weapons during a ceremony near the mining town of Arlit (1300km north of Niamey) in the presence of the Interior Minister and the president’s chief of staff, the national television Tele Sahel reports here Wednesday.

This operation follows the decision of the rebel movement to lay down its arms which symbolically happened in October at a first ceremony in Sebbha on Libyan territory with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, the mediator in the conflict in Niger, in attendance.

"We thus complete disarmament (...) and urge all to join the peace process that can develop northern Niger," said Albade Abouba, senior minister in charge of Internal Affairs and Public Safety.

Albade Abouba pledged the Nigerien government’s commitment to support efforts towards a lasting return to peace in the northern part of the country, plagued by almost lingering insecurity.

On the other hand, MNJ president Aghali Ag Alambo expressed his "willingness" to work for the return of total peace in northern Niger, shaken over the past two years by an uprising, on three fronts, all of which have laid down their arms.

Alambo arrived in Arlit with 60 four-wheel vehicles. He returned an important armory consisting of heavy weapons, anti-tank mines and various types of ammunition.

Created in 2007, the MNJ claimed some 3,000 combatants that give up the armed struggle, accepting the Libyan offer to help their social and economic reintegration within the framework of a disarmament programme after their surrender sanctioned by an amnesty by President Mamadou Tandja.

The Niger Patriotic Front (FPN) and the Recovery Forces Front (FFR) of the historical Tuareg figure (1990s) Rhissa Ag Boula have also accepted the Libyan mediator’s offer to surrender.

The Agadez region, where there are several foreign companies, is rich in uranium. Since February 2007, the region is facing an armed rebellion led by Tuareg group that demand better conditions for the population of northern Niger.

Clashes between the army and Tuareg rebels, heightened by many landmine cases attributed to insurgents, have so far unofficially killed over 80 soldiers, about 200 rebels and caused several injuries and deaths among civilians.

The mineral wealth, exploited for 40 years in northern Niger, usually triggered the Tuareg rebellion in early 1990 and the uprising in February 2007 of the MNJ-led insurgency.

Niamey has officially begun meetings with rebel factions in April 2009 when Interior Minister Albade Abouba, leading a strong delegation to Libya, said that the Tuareg rebels, made up of three factions, agreed to disarm and participate in peace negotiations.

DS/od/ad/daj/APA 2010-01-06