Niger Says Conflict in Libya Biggest Threat to West Africa
- Defense spending to rise to 10% of budget for next 5 years
- Landlocked Niger wedged between Libya, Nigeria, Mali, Chad
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Niger says an unstable Libya is a bigger threat for countries in West Africa’s Sahel region than the Boko Haram Islamist militant group, which is close to being defeated.
The government of the landlocked West African nation will spend 10 percent of its annual budget on defense through the next five years to protect itself from militants, Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said in an interview on Wednesday in the capital, Niamey. The world’s fourth-largest producer of uranium, with operations owned by Areva SA, shares borders with seven nations including Libya, where Islamic State has gained a foothold amid a power vacuum caused by a breakdown in central authority.