Niger Issues - 2023

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): 181,239 (Nigeria), 66,5020 (Mali) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2023)

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 country for illegal drugs shipped through Niger to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; drugs from South America, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and various synthetics transit through Niger to European and Middle Eastern markets; hashish from Morocco is trafficked through Niger to Libya and Egypt and Europe and the Middle East; Nigerien citizens and migrants crossing Niger consume significant quantities  of  the opioid tramadol from neighboring Nigeria

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.