alarm

Rights commission appeals to Niger president over alleged abuses against Mahamid.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has appealed to Niger’s president over alleged violations of the fundamental rights of the country’s Arab Mahamid community, amid reports of restrictions on access to water, education, healthcare and identity documents.

In an urgent appeal sent to President Abdourahamane Tchiani on November 6, three commission representatives raised concerns about the treatment of the community in the southeastern Diffa region. The appeal was made public on November 9.

The signatories included the commissioner responsible for the human rights situation in Niger and the heads of two working groups covering economic, social and cultural rights, and the rights of Indigenous populations, communities and minorities.

Who are the Mahamid?

The Mahamid are an Arab community with historical links to Chad and Sudan. Many live in Niger’s Diffa region. Some families have been settled there for generations, following successive waves of migration from neighbouring countries.

Disputes over their nationality and identity documents have repeatedly put them at odds with the authorities.

Officials have accused some Mahamid residents of obtaining nationality documents fraudulently, trafficking arms and having links to armed groups around the Lake Chad basin.

At a security meeting in Diffa on August 22, Governor Mahamadou Ibrahim Bagadoma and other officials discussed nationality papers, cross-border movement and security, as well as tensions over water and grazing land, according to state news agency ANP.

ANP reported that Bagadoma warned against holding the entire Arab community responsible for allegations involving particular individuals. The accusations have not been independently verified.

What rights concerns has the African Commission raised?

The appeal comes amid reports of measures restricting the Mahamid’s access to basic services and official documents.

Nigerien publication African Perceptions said it had obtained a copy of an Interior Ministry radio message dated October 7 and numbered 002235, addressed to the governors of Diffa and Zinder.

According to the publication, the message instructed authorities to close schools and water facilities used by the Mahamid, require community members to pay the full cost of healthcare and stop issuing civil status documents to them. It also called for the withdrawal of existing documents, including national identity cards and passports, and for security forces to enforce the measures.

Al Jazeera has not independently authenticated the document or established whether the instructions have been implemented.

The commission has expressed concern about the reported restrictions on access to water, education and healthcare, as well as identity documents. Its appeal to President Tchiani is not a formal finding that the government has violated the community’s rights.

Chadian broadcaster Radio Ndarason Internationale reported that Mahamid representatives were told at a meeting in Diffa on November 8 that they had two months to leave Niger.

The meeting was reportedly attended by the Diffa prefect, the Gueskerou administrator, the Komadougou canton chief and village chiefs. Radio Ndarason said the community representatives declined to comment when approached.

Nigerien publication La Roue de l’Histoire reported on November 10 that the authorities had set December 31, 2026, as the deadline for the community to leave.

Neither publication has made a formal expulsion order available. Al Jazeera has not independently confirmed the decision, its legal basis or whether it applies to the entire community.

Niger faced a similar dispute in 2006, when the government announced plans to expel Arabs from Diffa to Chad. The operation was suspended after protests and negotiations.

UN experts have condemned police crackdowns, warning they deter demonstrators from exercising their rights.

United Nations experts have expressed alarm at the “excessive use of force” by French authorities in dispersing the recent nationwide student protests.

“The scale of the arrests and detention, affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appears disproportionate and deters demonstrators from exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” the four experts, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement on Wednesday.

They included Gina Romero, special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly, and Farida Shaheed, the UN expert on cultural rights.

“Although authorities launched several initiatives to facilitate dialogue and respond to students’ demands in October, the priority given to a primarily security-focused response to the protests has led to the root causes of the mobilisation being sidelined,” the statement said.

France has seen ongoing student protests since mid-September, sparked initially over conditions in high schools, where young people complained about the deteriorating buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher absences. Students have also joined nationwide demonstrations to express anger over the rising cost of living, which led to riots and looting on the sidelines.

The French government deployed 70,000 security forces and arrested 1,000 people during demonstrations on Saturday, which drew 410,000 protesters nationwide, France’s Interior Ministry said. A week earlier, public buildings were vandalised, hundreds of businesses were looted and 2,700 people were arrested, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez vowing to be “extremely vigilant, extremely firm” to quell future unrest.

“What we are seeing right now is a general outburst of resentment against [French President Emmanuel] Macron and his policies that have destroyed our rights, destroyed our living conditions,” Alice Cohen-Morzadec, a spokesperson for the Union Etudiante, told Al Jazeera.

Analysts say the French government has struggled to address students’ demands due to a severe fiscal crisis and planned budget cuts, which have led to a drop in the country’s education budget.

Police response to protests

French authorities have been criticised for their approach to security during some of the protests, and in one case a teenager in the northern city of Lille lost a hand when a grenade exploded as school protesters clashed with police.

“The serious and, in some cases, irreversible injuries sustained by underage demonstrators during law enforcement operations are unacceptable and unjustifiable,” the UN rapporteurs said.

The statement added: “The experts recalled past discussions urging French authorities to undertake a comprehensive review of their policing strategies and practices in order to enable demonstrators to express their concerns and to facilitate a peaceful resolution of social conflicts.”

“The experts are in contact with French authorities on the issue,” the statement concluded.