Niger Issues - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Niger-Benin-Nigeria: location of Niger-Benin-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved

Niger-Burkina Faso: the dispute with Burkina Faso was referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2010; the ICJ ruled in 2013 that 786 sq km should go to Burkina Faso and 277 sq km to Niger; the ruling was implemented in 2015 and 2016, with Burkina Faso gaining 14 towns and Niger 4

Niger-Cameroon-Nigeria: only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty that also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

Niger-Libya: Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute in the Tummo region

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 187,136 (Nigeria), 65,621 (Mali) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2022)

IDPs: 376,809 (includes the regions of Diffa, Tillaberi, and Tahoua; unknown how many of the 11,000 people displaced by clashes between government forces and the Tuareg militant group, Niger Movement for Justice, in 2007 are still displaced; inter-communal violence; Boko Haram attacks in southern Niger, 2015) (2022)

Illicit drugs

a transit point for illicit drugs trafficked through the Sahara; drugs from South America, particularly cocaine, heroin, cannabis products, and synthetic drugs, transit en route to European and Middle Eastern markets; synthetic opioid tramadol is shipped from Nigeria through Niger to other African countries; hashish from Morocco is trafficked to Libya, Egypt, Europe, and the Middle East; traffickers are formalized networks of Arab, Tuareg, and Toubou transportation groups

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.