MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) The Nigerien authorities have prolonged the state of emergency in the southwestern Tillabery region and closed the Koure Giraffe Reserve where gunmen killed eight people, including two Nigeriens and six French citizens, on Sunday.
Six aid workers from the ACTED NGO, their driver and a local guide were shot dead while driving into the national park near the town of Koure, which serves as home to rare West African giraffes and attracts large numbers of tourists annually.
"The National Security Council (CNS), Chaired Monday August 10, 2020 by the President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, SEM Issoufou Mahamadou, has decided to extend the state of emergency to the entire Region of Tillabery, which will include the departments of Kollo and that of Balleyara," Niger's presidency said on Tuesday.
The Tillabery region has been subject to repeated state of emergency extensions due to particularly major attacks by jihadist armed groups in January, May and August of 2020. Apart from the Kollo and Balleyara departments, the state of emergency has been in effect in the region's parts near the northern border with Mali and western border with Burkina Faso.
However, the government's power to impose security measures to prevent violent terrorist attacks does not apply to the Nigerien capital of Niamey, which is an autonomous district enclaved within the region of Tillabery.
The French government has also responded to the Niger killings, with its counterterrorism prosecutor office launching a probe into the matter. Moreover, French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to intensify the security measures in the whole region of Africa's Sahel to protect French citizens and curb the increased terrorist threat.
