Niger

The Defence Ministry announced that security operations in the south east and in neighbouring Nigeria killed around 75 Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants. Crisis Group expert Rinaldo Depagne says the operations follow repeated attacks in early May on a Nigerien military camp at the border between Nigeria and the Nigerien city of Diffa.

Following the Chadian offensive in the Lake Chad region in March and April, Niger and Nigeria are stepping up counter-insurgency operations, both unilaterally and in the framework of the regional Multinational Joint Task Force. However, regional cooperation around a more comprehensive political strategy is needed to address the factors that drive many to take up arms against these states.