NIGERIEN PRESIDENT CONCERNED WITH SMUGGLING

C O N F I D E N T I A L NIAMEY 000616

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W, INR/AA, DS/IP/AF AND DS/IP/ITA
LAGOS FOR DEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2012
TAGS: PGOV SNAR NG
SUBJECT: NIGERIEN PRESIDENT CONCERNED WITH SMUGGLING

REF: (A) NIAMEY 607 (B) NIAMEY 401 (C) NIAMEY 188

Classified By: DCM Donald W. Koran for reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (U) President Tandja devoted much of his April 23 speech
marking the 12th anniversary of the agreement ending the
Tuareg rebellion to blaming drug and weapons traffickers for
recent insecurity in the north.


2. (SBU) Tandja also expressed his concern about drug
trafficking to the UNDP resident representative, prompting
the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Dakar to dispatch a three
man team to Niger to look into the issue. In an April 24
meeting with donors and diplomats, the team said a key issue
was whether the activity was purely criminal, or if there was
a political angle to it. A French police advisor at the
meeting confirmed that international criminal activity,
particularly trafficking in drugs and people, was on the rise
in Niger, due in part to efforts to crack down on such
activities elsewhere. Much of the smuggling is overland
across the Sahara, but there is growing smuggling of drugs by
air from Niger to Europe, as evidenced by the recent arrest
of a Nigerien woman in Brussels with 7.5 kilograms of
cocaine. There was a consensus at the meeting that the GON
had previously not been particularly concerned with drug and
people trafficking because Niger was merely a transit point.
The government is now seized with the issue because it sees
the trafficking as potentially destabilizing. The team is in
Niger until May 2.


3. (C) Comment: The March 1 attack by smugglers on a military
patrol and the subsequent seizure of a large quantity of
cannabis and weapons, including RPGs, suggests that the GON
has reason to be concerned. There are indications that the
smugglers were associated with the dissident Tuareg group the
Mouvement of Nigeriens for Justice (MNJ),which has launched
several attacks on Nigerien security forces in recent months.
Tuaregs have a long history of trans-sahara smuggling, and
the GON appeared to largely look the other way until the MNJ
began its attacks. Now, however, the GON sees a real threat
from the smuggling and may be serious about combating it.
While there have been suggestions of an AQIM link to the
smuggling, we are not aware of any solid evidence of it. In
addition to a new-found desire to combat trafficking,
Tandja's focus on it in his April 23 speech was part of a
continuing campaign to paint the MNJ as "bandits," rather
than an insurgent group with a political agenda.

ALLEN