The abrupt announcement of a mass eviction affecting 26,000 individuals in Niamey has provoked widespread outrage across civil society. By executing this sweeping operation without any form of support or resettlement plan, the transitional government led by General Abdourahamane Tiani has prioritized coercive measures over fundamental human rights. A pressing question now arises: is this truly the standard by which governance should be measured?
Maikoul Zodi, a prominent figure in Niger’s civil society, voiced his profound dismay, stating, “Last night, I could not sleep.” His words underscore the gravity of what amounts to a humanitarian crisis in the making. Evicting 26,000 people from their homes equates to erasing an entire small town from the map overnight. While authorities often cite urban planning or security imperatives to justify such demolitions, the methodology employed in this case borders on illegality and inhumanity.
The blatant disregard for national and international legal frameworks
Governance is not synonymous with signing expulsion decrees from the secluded chambers of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP). Governance, above all, means protection. Yet, by plunging thousands of families into absolute precarity, the post-coup regime has systematically violated the most basic legal safeguards.
As Maikoul Zodi aptly highlights, Nigerien positive law—as well as international standards, including treaties on economic, social, and cultural rights ratified by the country—strictly regulate public domain liberation procedures. Any such large-scale eviction must adhere to the following essential prerequisites:
- A prior inquiry into public inconvenience and necessity;
- A meticulous census of affected populations;
- Above all, fair compensation and a viable resettlement plan before any action is taken.
Without these critical safeguards, this operation can only be classified as a forced eviction—a practice expressly prohibited under international law and tantamount to a flagrant violation of human rights.
The human toll behind bureaucratic jargon
The cold, bureaucratic term “déguerpissement” masks harrowing human realities. Behind it lie countless disrupted childhoods, as school attendance is abruptly terminated; elderly individuals, women, and low-income workers thrust into homelessness and abject poverty—all within a matter of days.
In a socio-economic landscape already suffocating under successive crises, how can a government justify casting its own citizens into the streets without a single consideration for their future? What recourse is offered to these 26,000 displaced souls? None. They are abandoned to their bleak fate, with no alternative in sight.
