A generation engulfed by death, destruction

“WHAT have I done?”

Pleaded 12-year-old Wahab as members of an armed group turned their guns on him.

The boy was shot dead for no reason in front of his friends in the village of Zibane in western Niger on March 24 – a scene his friend told us still replays in his nightmares.

Wahab’s murder is just one of dozens of harrowing stories included in Amnesty International’s report, “I Have Nothing Left Except Myself”: The Worsening Impact on Children of Conflict in the Tillabéri Region of Niger, released this week.

The report draws on interviews with 119 people, including 22 children and 39 parents and other individuals affected by the conflict raging in the Central Sahel’s tri-border area.

Over the past year, the violence along Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso has spiralled dramatically, causing a devastating impact on children. Armed groups have targeted and killed older boys, recruited and used children, prohibited women and girls from engaging in activities outside their homes, and attacked schools.

The rapidly deteriorating situation should raise alarm for the Nigerien government, the UN, and the international community – and prompt urgent action to monitor and prevent further violations and abuses against children.

The two primary armed groups perpetrating the violence are the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliated group.

While Niger was initially spared the worst of the conflict, both groups have now expanded their reach from Mali and Burkina Faso, wreaking havoc on the Tillabéri region in western Niger.

Both groups are opposed to what they view as secular or “Western” education, and frequently attack and burn schools, and threaten teachers. According to authorities, at least 377 schools in the Tillabéri region had closed as of June 2021, depriving more than 31 000 children of access to education, including more than 15000 girls.

ISGS, the dominant group along the Niger-Mali border, are intent on instilling fear and driving people from their villages. They have carried out several large-scale assaults, sometimes killing more than 100 people in a single attack, including children.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, violence against civilians has led to 544 conflict-related deaths between January 1 and July 29, more than the civilian death toll last year. Armed groups have killed at least 60 children in Niger’s tri-border region this year alone.

The ISGS has a clear pattern of attack: its fighters rampage through villages on motorcycles, covering their heads in turbans and dark glasses, shooting at young men and older boys and sometimes other civilians as well.

During these attacks, they often also loot livestock and burn granaries storing villagers’ annual harvest, leaving families destitute and without food.

Many people forced into displacement are unable to farm. Analysts have predicted “crisis” level food insecurity in some areas across the region, with potentially severe consequences for children’s health and nutrition.

The immense psychological toll that the relentless attacks and threats are having on children is alarming.

Parents and children alike described indicators of trauma: nightmares, disturbed sleep patterns, loss of appetite, fear and anxiety. For many, the sound of a motorbike is a trigger – an ominous reminder of the group approaching the villages to attack.

Along the Burkina Faso border, JNIM has waged a different, but equally chilling, campaign. The JNIM fighters often live near villages they frequently pass through, intimidating and controlling the local population.

This year, JNIM has increased its efforts to recruit new members, targeting boys aged between 15 and 17. Its members often preach to villagers about the group and try to lure children and young adults with the promise of money, food, and clothes in exchange for joining their ranks.

New recruits receive weapons training. Younger children are sometimes used as spies, scouts, and lookouts – often to report the activities of the military and anyone else they suspect might be collaborating with authorities. In the JNIM-controlled areas, women and girls are almost completely invisible. Forced to wear hijabs and long dresses, they are often confined to activities at home, depriving them of opportunities to go to the market, collect firewood, farm, or help generate income in other ways.

Some girls have been forced to marry fighters, with interviewees telling us others have been abducted.

“We have been abandoned”, a 50-year-old man living in a JNIMcontrolled area said.

It’s a sentiment echoed throughout the region, as the government’s absence along the border areas and slow response to attacks has left people vulnerable to the ISGS and JNIM. Niger is at a precipice.

The mayhem caused by the armed groups in Burkina Faso and Mali looms large.

The government of Niger and its partners need to reinforce security in the border areas and scale-up the humanitarian response, with a particular focus on protecting children and ensuring their access to education and psychosocial care.

More must also be done, especially by the UN, to ensure violations are monitored and verified so that abuses against children are properly recorded. Children like Wahab, and his friends who were forced to witness his murder, deserve justice.

An entire generation in Niger is growing up surrounded by death and destruction. Niger and its international partners – including members of the AU, such as South Africa – must act now to ensure children receive the support they need to build a future for themselves.