Niger’s desert warriors

Niger’s armed forces are relatively modest in strength, numbering only around 15,000 personnel. Its air force is proportionately small but has added a handful of capable assets in recent years, as Arnaud Delalande explains. Flashpoint Niger’s military has been confronting Jihadist militant organisation Boko Haram since it began its insurgency in 2009, and this has included incursions into the country by rebels fleeing the Nigerian armed forces’ offensive. The situation escalated in February 2014 when the government of Niger arrested