France to withdraw ambassador and troops from Niger

France will withdraw its ambassador from Niger followed by the French military contingent in the next months, Emmanuel Macron has said in the aftermath of the coup in the west African country that ousted the pro-Paris president.

The French president’s announcement appeared to end two months of defiance in which Paris’s ambassador had been kept in place in Niamey despite coup leaders ordering him to leave.

U.S. troop presence in Niger could drop by half as Pentagon repositions forces

The U.S. military is preparing to cut its presence in Niger nearly in half in the next few weeks, as troops move out of the capital of Niamey amid widespread protests, according to two Defense Department officials with direct knowledge of the move.

DOD recently began repositioning a number of forces away from the airport at Niamey to a second, smaller base at Agadez, some 500 miles away, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters on Thursday. As a result, the overall number of troops in Niger could drop from 1,200 before the July 26 coup to somewhere “right in the middle” of 500 to 1,000 in the next few weeks, said one of the DOD officials, who like others interviewed for this story was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive plans.

Russia uses social media channels to exploit Niger coup

Social media channels associated with the Russian state have launched a major effort to exploit last month’s military coup in Niger, seeking to reinforce Moscow’s influence in the country and possibly open opportunities for intervention.

Mohamed Bazoum, the pro-western elected president, was ousted by senior army officers on 26 July and is being held prisoner in his official residence in Niamey. African leaders have threatened military action to oust the new regime but advocates of intervention have so far been unable to rally sufficient support.

Niger coup leader agrees to hold direct talks with ECOWAS: Nigerian scholar

A group of Nigerian Islamic scholars who met Niger’s coup leader have said the general has agreed to hold direct talks and resolve a standoff with West African leaders.

Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, who led the Nigerian delegation, made the announcement on Sunday, a day after his group held talks with General Abdourahamane Tchiani in the Nigerien capital Niamey.

The meeting took place as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) explores its options to restore civilian rule in Niger, including potential military intervention, following the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum last month – the seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years.

They Fled Boko Haram, Only to Be Raped by Nigeria’s Security Forces

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The camp was supposed to be a refuge. Falmata’s life had been stolen by war ever since the sixth grade, when she was abducted from her home and raped repeatedly by Boko Haram’s fighters for the next three years.

She finally escaped last spring, slipping into the bush while her captors slept. Fourteen years old and alone, she made it to a camp for victims of the war, and had just settled in for the night when she heard footsteps outside her tent. A security officer’s voice instructed her to come out. Frightened, she obeyed.

Amnesty seeks criminal inquiry into Shell over alleged complicity in murder and torture in Nigeria

Amnesty International is calling for a criminal investigation into the oil giant Shell regarding allegations it was complicit in human rights abuses carried out by the Nigerian military.

A review of thousands of internal company documents and witness statements published on Tuesday points to the Anglo-Dutch organisation’s alleged involvement in the brutal campaign to silence protesters in the oil-producing Ogoniland region in the 1990s.

Amnesty is urging the UK, Nigeria and the Netherlands to consider a criminal case against Shell in light of evidence it claims amounts to “complicity in murder, rape and torture” – allegations Shell strongly denies.

Nigeria Struggles To Protect Citizens As Boko Haram Death Toll Climbs

It took militants a few hours to burn the small Nigerian village of Dalori to the ground. At least 86 people were killed in the hail of bullets, fire bombs and suicide bombings that engulfed the village on Jan. 30, officials said.

Nigerian troops showed up about an hour after suspected members of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram sped into the village on cars and motorbikes that Saturday evening. They were outgunned by the armed militants, and the assault continued until better-armed reinforcements could arrive about four hours later, local soldiers and residents who survived the attack told The Associated Press. Some Dalori residents criticized forces for not showing up in time to stop the massacre, The New York Times reported.

After New Nigerian War Crimes Allegations, U.S. Should Think Twice About Deeper Military Ties

The United States-Nigeria relationship is about to get a little closer. On Thursday, a “senior U.S. diplomat” said that the U.S. was sending a team to Nigeria to more closely coordinate in the government's battle against Boko Haram. The announcement comes shortly after Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, was sworn in after winning the March election.

Nigeria’s Democratic Revolution

In a move that is likely to surprise a lot of people in the West, Nigeria has elected for the presidency a man who truncated a democratic government three decades ago.

Former General Muhammadu Buhari won on Tuesday a keenly contested election, by a very slim margin, to become the first man in my country’s fifty-five years as a postcolonial state to unseat an incumbent government via the ballot box. This is a change.

Nigeria Declared Ebola-Free After Containing Virus

ABUJA/LAGOS, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nigeria was declared free of the deadly Ebola virus on Monday after a determined doctor and thousands of officials and volunteers helped end an outbreak still ravaging other parts of West Africa and threatening the United States and Spain.

Caught unawares when a diplomat arrived with the disease from Liberia, authorities were alerted by Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh, who kept him in her hospital despite protests from him and his government, and later herself died from the disease.

Here's How Nigeria Beat Ebola

Ebola first arrived in Lagos, Nigeria—one of the largest cities in the world—on July 20. Global health officials feared the worst, warning that the disease could wreak untold havoc in the country.

But it hasn't turned out that way. To date, Nigeria has reported only 20 confirmed or probable Ebola cases in a nation of 174 million people. Equally remarkable, there have only been eight deaths—about half the fatality rate experienced by other countries involved in the current outbreak. In fact, Nigeria could be declared Ebola-free as early as October 12. (That date would be 42 days after the last case was diagnosed, or double the maximum amount of time needed for the disease to incubate in a human body—the standard used by global health authorities.)

Remember #BringBackOurGirls? This Is What Has Happened In The 5 Months Since

On the night of April 14, 2014, hundreds of schoolgirls at the Chibok boarding school in northeastern Nigeria awoke to the sound of gunfire. They saw men in camouflage approaching and thought soldiers were coming to save them from a militant attack, according to survivors' accounts.

Instead, more than 270 of the schoolgirls found themselves in the clutches of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Hundreds killed in Boko Haram raid on unguarded Nigerian town

Boko Haram has been further condemned after details emerged of a massacre of as many as 300 people close to Nigeria's border with Cameroon, while the Islamist group continued to hold more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

The US president, Barack Obama, said the kidnappings and murders in Nigeria, as well as the war in Syria and other conflicts, showed humanity's "darkest impulses".

Boko Haram claims responsibility for kidnapping Nigeria schoolgirls

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Monday for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in north-east Nigeria last month and threatened to "sell them on the market", the French news agency AFP has reported, citing a video.

On 14 April, Boko Haram stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, then packed the teenagers, who had been taking exams, on to lorries and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.

Nigeria Oil Spill Coats River As Hundreds Of Yearly Leaks Continue To Devastate Ecosystem

YENAGOA, Nigeria, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A large oil spill near Nigeria's Brass facility, run by ENI, has spread through the sea and swamps of the oil producing Niger Delta region, local residents and the company said on Monday.

ENI said it was not yet possible to determine the cause of the spill.

Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it

We reached the edge of the oil spill near the Nigerian village of Otuegwe after a long hike through cassava plantations. Ahead of us lay swamp. We waded into the warm tropical water and began swimming, cameras and notebooks held above our heads. We could smell the oil long before we saw it – the stench of garage forecourts and rotting vegetation hanging thickly in the air.

The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, the best-quality oil in the world. One of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta had corroded and spewed oil for several months.

Nigeria College Shooting: Dozens Of Students Shot Dead In Their Sleep

POTISKUM, Nigeria -- Suspected Islamic extremists attacked an agricultural college in the dead of night, gunning down dozens of students as they slept in dormitories and torching classrooms, the school's provost said – the latest violence in northeastern Nigeria's ongoing Islamic uprising.

The attack, blamed on the Boko Haram extremist group, came despite a 4 1/2-month-old state of emergency covering three states and one-sixth of the country. It and other recent violence have led many to doubt assurances from the government and the military that they are winning Nigeria's war on the extremists.

Nigeria Violence: Gunmen Storm Church, Kill 19 Worshipers

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen fired on a worship service in a church in central Nigeria, killing at least 19 people — including the pastor — and wounding others in a nation often divided by religion, the military said Tuesday.

The attack targeted a Deeper Life church in the town of Otite in Kogi state, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Nigeria's capital Abuja. Blood stained the floors of the church as police and soldiers surrounded it Tuesday morning, witnesses said. It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attack Monday night.

Chevron Workers Plead To Be Evacuated Before Deadly Blast

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp. left workers pleading to be evacuated from a gas exploration platform off Nigeria which kept drilling as smoke poured from a borehole until an explosion that killed two people as the rig became engulfed in flames, according to accounts from four of the platform's workers.

Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil major, said it did not receive requests to evacuate the KS Endeavour rig and that staff on board had the right to call a halt to work if they believed conditions were unsafe.

Supreme Court to Decide Whether U.S. Corporations Can Be Sued for Abuses They Support Overseas

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday on whether U.S.-based corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for human rights abuses committed overseas. The case involves nine Nigerian activists, including Ken Saro Wiwa, executed for protesting Royal Dutch Shell. We’re joined by Marco Simons, legal director of Earth Rights International, which filed a "friend of the court" legal brief in this case and has been a pioneer in using the Alien Tort Statute to sue corporations for human rights abuses in Burma, Nigeria, Colombia and other nations. Some legal analysts are comparing the case to the landmark campaign finance ruling in Citizens United which found that corporations have broad rights under the First Amendment and can directly fund political campaigns. "This case is really about whether a corporation that participates in serious human rights abuses, such as crimes against humanity or genocide or state sponsored torture, can profit from those abuses and shield those profits from the victims when the victims come to take them to court," Marco says

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