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Bloomberg
The chaos in Libya, where strongman Khalifa Haftar has vowed to capture the capital from the internationally recognised government, is threatening to further destabilise its West African neighbours, Niger’s interior minister said.
Several countries in the Sahel, a semi-arid region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, are already struggling to cope with extremist violence and a surge in inter-communal conflict that’s being stoked by the extremist presence. The conflict in Libya is “fuel on the fire,†Niger Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum said in an interview in the capital, Niamey.
“The situation in Libya boosts the development of transnational border crime and the circulation of arms that reinforces armed actors and feeds into the conflicts across the Sahel,†Bazoum said in his office in a neighbourhood protected by police checkpoints and spike barriers.
The rapid spread of extremist insurgencies in West Africa was triggered by the 2011 ousting of Libyan leader Moammar al-Qaddafi and the subsequent disintegration of the state.
Weapons and ammunition from Libyan stockpiles, including anti-aircraft artillery and explosives, were smuggled into Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, mainly by former soldiers in the Libyan army that originally hailed from Mali and Niger.
The sparsely populated Sahel and the Sahara desert are rife with ethnic militias, criminal networks and smugglers, and IS as well as al-Qaeda-affiliated organisations use the area to stage attacks across West Africa.