2023-07-27 14:04:38
Niger, currently shaken by a coup, is one of the most important beneficiary countries of Enabel, the Belgian development agency. Our government is devoting 65 million euros to it within the framework of its cooperation programme.
This sum, distributed over a period of 5 years (since 2022), comes from a portfolio intended for the country itself and from an envelope “climate” encompassing the Sahel region, including Niger. Multiple and varied, Belgian interventions cover different sectors such as livestock, public health, education, good governance and the climate.
“Our support aims in particular to improve the living conditions of the population of Niger through access to social protection. We have thus set up an occupational health insurance with the help of the Ministry of Public Health“, illustrates Sandra Galbusera, the resident representative in Niger, temporarily back in Belgium.
“Furthermore, we want to contribute to better food security and restore the natural ecosystems of the Sahel, while the region is fighting once morest the phenomenon of desertification and climate change. Nigerien herders and farmers have really difficult living and working conditions“, she continues.
“Finally, we are investing in the education of young girls, a very vulnerable public in this poor country where the average birth rate is now 7 children per woman.“. This is one of the fastest growing populations in the world.
“All these actions and these projects, we hope to continue them despite the coup d’etat which is at work in Niger.“, indique Me Galbusera. “We are monitoring the situation closely. For now, the money is not frozen“.
In total, 15 expatriates dependent on Enabel work in Niger, along with around a hundred national colleagues.
“All our employees on site are confined as a precaution. They are telecommuting. Although at the moment the situation seems relatively calm, except around the area of the presidential palace in Niamey“, punctuates Sandra Galbusera.
Putschist soldiers in Niger announced on national television on Wednesday evening that they had overthrown the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, in power since 2021.
The Nigerien president, sequestered in Niamey, and his head of diplomacy Hassoumi Massoudou for their part rejected, in separate messages, the coup d’etat in Niger, claiming always to represent the legitimate authorities of the country.
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