Gendarmerie Nationale Nigérienne

The Gendarmerie Nationale (Gendarmerie Nationale Nigérienne) is the national paramilitary police force of Niger. One of two paramilitary police units of the nation, the Gendarmerie Nationale is modeled on the Gendarmerie of the former colonial power, France. Its purpose is to provide police protection outside of urban areas, which are patrolled by the National Police (Police Nationale). The Gendarmerie Nationale is a centrally controlled 3,700 member paramilitary police force that provides policing outside those jurisdictions policed by the Police Nationale, usually smaller towns and rural areas. It is uniformed, ranked and trained in military fashion.

Before independence, the development of the French gendarmerie in Niger, a colony of French West Africa (AOF), began truly after 1945. The detachment was transformed into a section by Decree No. 49-1365 of 23 August 1949 , And then in group by the interministerial decision of November 27, 1957, the gendarmerie group of Niger. Moreover, the gendarmes supervise the formation of guards circle, then the territorial guard of Niger created by local decree n ° 1074 / BM-ICGT of May 14, 1956.

The National Gendarmerie of Niger was created by the law of n ° 60-24 of August 1, 1960. Its organization and the regulation of the special service are fixed by the decree n ° 68-86 / PRN / MD of June 21, 1968. In the beginning Of the 1990s, Decree n ° 92-34 of 24/01/1992 organizing the Ministry of Defense places the High Command of the National Gendarmerie at the same level as the CEMA within the MINDEF. Decree 2006/123 of 5 April 2006 redefines the composition, organization and command of the body. The motto is "Professionalism - Integrity - Fidelity".

The Niger river in Niger links the northern Mali and Northern Nigeria. In the wake of the unrest in both of these areas with Boko Haram in Nigeria and the conflict in the north of Mali, Niger moved to ensure adequate patrolling of the Niger river in Niger. In 2008, the Fluvial Brigade of the National Gendarmerie was created and equipped with three patrol boats acquired from France. The goal of this brigade is to ensure safety of people and resources on the river and to prevent trafficking in any nature that might contribute to the regional conflicts. The role of this brigade is to conduct riverine patrols in Niamey, Tillaberi, and Gaya. This brigade works closely with custom services to address fluvial and riverine trafficking on the Niger river. Training and exchanges are carried out with regional partners such as Mali and Senegal as well as France. The latter has also provided logistical support in the form of patrol boats.

The delegation of the Niger Gendarmerie, mainly composed of senior officers, had in-depth interviews with senior officers of the Algerian gendarmerie on everything inherent to operational cooperation. Safety to the borders, the fight against organized crime, the operational and bilateral cooperation between the Algeria and Niger, but also the training and the exchange of professional experiences, were on the menu for the visit 6-10 December 2012 in Algeria.

The top commander of the Niger Gendarmerie, General Issa Me, in a statement made public, "this visit is part of exchange of experiences in public safety and fight against organized crime. It aims to consolidate and promote relations bilateral between the two institutions in the area of training and the exchange of experiences Professional".

The delegation visited the national Institute of forensic science and Criminology at Bouchaoui, where his delegation had also the opportunity to discover the laboratories and departments of this institution, considered as a pole of excellence both in the Maghreb and Africa. Also, indicate the same source, "this delegation visited operational structures and bodies of training of the National Gendarmerie Algerian, including schools of officers of the Judicial Police and the elite of this body of weapons".

During these visits, the delegation had to discover the progress marked by the Algeria in matter training schools, also regarded as real references to regional and International. As these schools form the elites on behalf of several Arab and African countries as part of exchanges and cooperation.

The Niger delegation had also interviews in-depth with the senior officers of the GN, including on the border security and the fight against crime organized, knowing that these two priority areas are the key element to guarantee regional security, based on the Exchange and operational cooperation to curb transnational networks which are plague and which activate on behalf of the drug lords, arms, human trafficking and the armed groups that are proliferating in the Sahel.

The was a terrorist attack on 06 March 2017 against the forces of the Gendarmerie nationale nigérienne near the town of Wanzerbé in the Tillabery region, near the border with Mali. Five Nigerien gendarmes were killed in an attack on a watch station at the Wanzerbé national gendarmerie detachment, some 40 kilometers from Bankilaré in the Tillabéry region west of the country.

The attack came just three days after the government declared a state of emergency in the region of Tillabéry and Tahoua, which has been the target of recurring raids by militias from Mali. The last such raid was made on 22 February 2017 targeting anti-terrorist personnel combing the Tilwa area of Ouallam, still in the region of Tillabéry. Fifteen soldiers lost their lives in that raid.