Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010 - Niger
|Publisher||Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC)|
|Publication Date||23 March 2011|
|Cite as||Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC), Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010 - Niger, 23 March 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d932e1928.html [accessed 31 May 2016]|
|Number of IDPs||Undetermined|
|Percentage of total population||Undetermined|
|Start of current displacement situation||2007|
|Peak number of IDPs (Year)||11,000 (2007)|
|Causes of displacement||Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations|
|Human development index||167|
In Niger, people have been internally displaced by armed conflict between government forces and Tuareg factions in the northern region of Agadez, and by clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists across the country and especially along the western border with Mali.
The Tuareg insurgency broke out in 1990, driven by economic and political grievances. A 1995 peace agreement between the government and the different Tuareg factions put a halt to the violence, but in 2007 a new militant group, the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) reignited the conflict and an estimated 11,000 people were newly displaced. The conflict abated as the government and MNJ held talks, and an estimated 4,500 IDPs returned to their homes in late 2008 and early 2009. The number of people remaining displaced in 2010 was unknown.
According to the ICRC, in some areas such as Tillabéry in north-west Niger, inter-communal violence has increased since the armed conflict ended in 2009. However very little information is available on resulting displacement.
In October 2010, voters accepted a new constitution, marking an important step toward the return to civilian rule after a military coup led by Lieutenant-General Salou Djibo ousted President Mamadou Tandja from power in February 2010. Presidential and parliamentary elections have been scheduled for January 2011.
Niger had not signed the Kampala Convention by the end of 2010. In July 2010, the UN Country Team accused the government of ignoring the situation of IDPs.
UNHCR called on the government to do more to protect IDPs' rights, and specifically those rights relating to a voluntary and safe return and the recovery of lost property.