Suspected jihadists have killed 39 civilians, including women and children, in two separate attacks in the conflict-torn border areas of western Niger in recent days, the defense ministry said, quoted by Reuters and BTA.
The attackers attacked the towns of Kokoru and Libiri, according to the same source, who did not specify details about the date of the bloodshed.
Niger and its neighboring countries in the Sahel region of West Africa - Mali and Burkina Faso - are on the front lines in the battle to deal with the insurgent threat, which has been steadily growing since 2012. That was when Al Qaeda-linked militants first seized parts of Mali, Reuters recalls.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS approved the creation of a special court on Wednesday for crimes committed in Gambia during the military dictatorship, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The landmark decision was announced at a summit of heads of state from the region in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
The court will deal with alleged crimes committed under military dictator Yahya Jammeh, whose rule from 1996 to 2017 was marked by arbitrary detentions, sexual assaults and extrajudicial killings. He lost the 2016 presidential election. and a year later went into exile in Equatorial Guinea after initially refusing to step down.
Calls for justice for the victims of the dictatorship have been growing for years in Gambia, a country surrounded by Senegal except for a small section of its Atlantic coast. In 2021, the country’s truth commission concluded its hearings with strong recommendations, calling on the government to prosecute the perpetrators.
In May, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity. In November, a German court convicted Gambian Bai Law, of murder and crimes against humanity for his role in the killing of government critics in Gambia. The man was a driver for a military unit sent against Jammeh's opponents.
The Gambian justice ministry described the move as a historic event that "marked a significant step forward for Gambia, the region and the international community."
In addition, ECOWAS yesterday approved a timetable for the withdrawal of three countries where coups had taken place, following the failure of a nearly year-long mediation process to prevent the group's unprecedented collapse.
The West African regional bloc said the impending departure of three member states led by military juntas was disheartening.
For the first time in the 15-member bloc's nearly 50-year existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they had decided to leave ECOWAS, accusing it of "inhumane and irresponsible" sanctions related to their coups and for failing to help them resolve their internal security crises.
The three coup-hit countries have generally rejected ECOWAS efforts to prevent their withdrawal. They have begun considering how to issue travel documents separately from the bloc and are forming their own union.
The year-long process of their withdrawal is expected to be completed in January.