By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has announced the closure of its offices in Niger and the departure of its foreign staff, four months after the ruling junta ordered the organisation to leave the country.
The ICRC confirmed the closure and departure in a statement on Thursday.
“We reiterate our willingness to maintain constructive dialogue with the authorities of Niger with a view to resuming our strictly humanitarian protection and assistance activities,” Patrick Youssef, the ICRC’s regional director for Africa, said in the statement.
In February, Niger’s Foreign Affairs Ministry had ordered the ICRC to close its offices and leave the country.
No official reason was given for the military junta’s decision to shut down the organisation’s operations in the country at the time.
The ICRC said it had been in dialogue with Niger’s authorities since February to understand the reasons for their decision and provide any necessary clarification, but that these efforts were unsuccessful.
On 31 May, Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahamane Tchiani, justified the ICRC expulsion on Nigerien state television, accusing the organisation of having met with “terrorist leaders” and funding armed groups.
The ICRC refuted the accusations in its statement on Thursday, saying that dialogue with all sides in the conflict is necessary to carry out its humanitarian mandate and that it “never provides financial, logistical, or any other form of support” to armed groups.
The humanitarian organisation had been active in the West African country since 1990, mainly helping people displaced by violence by Islamic extremists, food insecurity, and natural disasters. According to the organisation, it provided humanitarian aid to more than 2 million people in Niger.
Niger’s military rulers took power in a coup two years ago, the latest of several military takeovers in Africa’s Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that has become a hotspot for extremist violence by militant groups.
Last November, the country’s military junta banned the French aid group Acted from working in the country amid tensions with France.
