France speaks on alleged plot with Nigeria to destabilise Niger

France has dismissed allegation that Nigeria has offered space in its territory to it in order to destabilise the former French colony, Niger Republic.

Abdourahamane Tchiani, Nigerien military leader, had accused France of plotting to destabilise the country by using neighbouring Benin and Nigeria as a base for attacks.

In a Christmas Day interview, Gen. Tchiani accused France of allying with militant groups in the Lake Chad region to undermine his country’s security, allegedly with Nigeria’s knowledge.

He said: “Nigerian authorities are not unaware of this underhanded move.”

Gen Tchiani said France made a “substantial payment to President Bola Tinubu” to establish a military base in Nigeria.

“They (France) met and negotiated with Boko Haram/Lakurawa,” Tchiani said.

But reacting yesterday, Mr. Bertrand de Seissan, Political Counsellor to the Embassy of France in Nigeria, said the allegation was groundless. “This allegation is groundless. This has never been discussed, nor even suggested by either France or Nigeria,” he said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, had also described the allegations as insulting to Nigeria and dismissed calls for Nigeria to cut ties with France.

READ ALSO:

• EFL Cup: Tottenham edge Liverpool 1-0 in semi-final first leg
• Ancelotti defends Vinicius ahead of Super Cup
• Catholic priest quits Christianity, joins traditional religion in Anambra

According to him, Nigeria has always maintained a relationship with France. He dismissed reports suggesting that the ties were driven by ulterior motives.

The minister said: “We have always had a relationship with France, it did not start today and there is nothing different about our relationship with France today but it does not mean that other countries or other people have to dictate to Nigeria who it should have a relationship with.”

Tuggarr noted combating terrorism as one of Nigeria’s key interests with France.

“We cannot tackle the issue of insecurity in our region simply by a partnership or by being friends with the Sahelian countries. Even if you do that you still have Libya to contend with,” he said.

“I just finished describing to you the weaponry that is being churned out of Libya; training, fighters, terrorists, the criminal gangs and so on and so forth.

“To solve Libya we need a relationship with France, we need a relationship with the United States of America, we need a relationship with Russia, we need a relationship with all of these major powers.

READ ALSO:

• Sisters set father on fire for alleged rape in Pakistan
• Tinubu splits Nigerian Aviation College into six campuses
• How Iraqi taskmaster maltreated Nigerian lady – NAPTIP DG

“You cannot say that ‘Oh no, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have decided after all these years they no longer want to have anything to do with France therefore Nigeria must be compelled’ and meanwhile Nigeria is the senior partner in the relationship, to begin with. It is shortsighted, myopic, and not in Nigeria’s national interest.”

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, had earlier said the Nigerien leader’s allegations were baseless and false.

Mr. Ribadu said Nigeria would never “sabotage Niger or allow any disaster to befall it.”

Similarly, the Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, said the allegations were unfounded and a diversionary tactic aimed at covering his administration’s failures.

Reports alleging hidden motives from France started to swirl after President Bola Tinubu travelled to the country for a three-day state visit.

Gen Tchiani’s allegations have worsened diplomatic tensions with Nigeria, already strained since the 2023 military coup that ousted ex-president Mohamed Bazoum.

France speaks on alleged plot with Nigeria to destabilise Niger

30 million people need aid in war-torn Sudan, says UN

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: More than 30 million people, over half of them children, are in need of aid in Sudan after twenty months of war, the United Nations said on Monday.

The UN has launched a $4.2 billion call for funds, targeting 20.9 million people across Sudan from a total of 30.4 million people it said are in need in what it called “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”

Sudan has been torn apart and pushed to the brink of famine by the war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than eight million internally displaced, which, in addition to 2.7 million displaced before the war, has made Sudan the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.

READ ALSO:

• Two killed in Abuja Islamic school bomb explosion, proprietor arrested
• Two brothers reportedly kill, bury sibling in Anambra
• 13 children rescued as police smash Plateau trafficking syndicate

A further 3.3 million people have fled across Sudan’s borders to escape the war, which means over a quarter of the country’s pre-war population, estimated at around 50 million, are now uprooted.

Famine has already been declared in five areas in Sudan and is expected to take hold of five more areas by May, with 8.1 million people currently on the brink of mass starvation.

Sudan’s army-aligned government has denied there is famine, while aid agencies complain that access is blocked by bureaucratic hurdles and ongoing violence.

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.

For much of the conflict, the UN has struggled to raise even a quarter of the funds it has targeted for its humanitarian response in the impoverished northeast African country.

Sudan has often been called the world’s “forgotten” war, overshadowed by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine despite the scale of the horrors inflicted upon civilians.

30 million people need aid in war-torn Sudan, says UN

ARAB NEWS

Chinese nationals arrested with gold bars, $800,000 cash in DR Congo

Three Chinese nationals have been apprehended with gold bars and $800,000 in cash in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the BBC, the trio were nabbed with 12 gold bars and the stash of cash hidden under the seat of a vehicle they were travelling in.

Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province, confirmed the arrest of the suspects, saying that the operation was kept secret after the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals accused of running an illegal gold mine in the area.

Mr Purusi explained that some of the dealers in the ‘previous metals’ had been enjoying good relations with the influential people in the capital, Kinshasa, adding that it was the reason why the latest arrests had to be kept quiet.

READ ALSO:

• BREAKING: Suspected cultists kill APC leader in Ondo
• Why 4th Mainland Bridge project is delayed —Sanwo-Olu
• Three men arrested over killing of 17-year-old girl in South Africa

Although he did not give exactly how much gold had been seized so far, Mr Purusi said they had been acting on a tip-off.

According to him, the gold bars and money were only found after a meticulous search of the vehicle in the Walungu area near Rwanda’s border.

Last year, Mr Purusi told journalists that he was shocked to hear that 17 Chinese nationals, who had been arrested on allegations they had been running an illegal gold mine, were freed and allowed to return to China.

He said the development undermined the efforts to clean up DR Congo’s notoriously murky mineral sector.

“They owed $10 million in taxes and fines to the government,” Mr Purusi was quoted to have said by Reuters.

Chinese nationals arrested with gold bars, $800,000 cash in DR Congo