Nigeria denies collaborating with terrorists or French military to destabilize Niger

Niger’s military government has accused its neighbor Nigeria of acting as a base for destabilizing actions by terrorist groups or French military and of being implicated in sabotaging its pipeline.
Relations between Niger and neighboring Nigeria have soured after the former’s foreign minister, Bakary Yaou Sangare, summoned the Nigerian embassy’s chargé d’affaires, accusing his country of serving as a base to destabilize Niger with the help of former Nigerian government officials and outside forces. Niamey also alleged that Nigeria was involved in the recent pipeline vandalism it suffered. “Recent revelations point to a certain complicity of the Nigerian security apparatus in the pipeline attacks,” the foreign minister said.

However, Nigeria’s government has firmly denied accusations of involvement in the 13 December attack on the Niger-Benin oil pipeline in the city of Gaya in Niger’s Dosso region. A spokesperson for Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry expressed over the weekend sympathy to the Niger government for the tragic attack on the oil pipeline, but it also made it clear that Nigerian authorities did not support or aid the Lakurawa terrorist group or whoever the attackers were. “The Government of Nigeria is strongly committed to the fight against terrorism and will not condone or support the activities of such groups,” it added. The spokesperson also refuted claims about French military involvement, stating that “there are no French military troops in the northern part of the country preparing to destabilize the Government of Niger.”