Niger rebels say French military helping government

Feb 19, 2008, 17:16 GMT Reuters.com report - by Abdoulaye Massalatchi - entitled 'Niger rebels say French military helping government:
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NIAMEY, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Niger's Tuareg rebels accused France of giving military support to President Mamadou Tandja's army, but a senior army officer on Tuesday denied that French troops were playing any direct role in the conflict.

The rebel Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), which has killed 50 soldiers and raided army bases and convoys over the last year in the uranium-rich Agadez region of northern Niger, said French officer instructors were in Agadez to train Niger's forces.

The French military was also giving equipment to the army, the MNJ said in a Feb. 18 statement on its Website, without spelling out what this consisted of.

"We condemn all interference by France in a conflict which is the business of the people of Niger," said the statement posted on the rebel Website www.m-n-j.blogspot.com.

"Any French military presence is considered illegal by the MNJ," the rebels added.

A senior Niger armed forces officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the government army was receiving training, equipment and logistics support from France under a bilateral military cooperation agreement.

But he denied the French military had any direct role in fighting the light-skinned nomadic desert rebels, who are demanding more autonomy for their region and a greater share of the mineral wealth, especially uranium, that it produces.

Niger is a major exporter of uranium which is used to fuel nuclear reactors.

Tandja's government refuses to recognise the MNJ, dismissing its fighters as "bandits" who traffick in arms and drugs.

"Who has ever seen French troops fighting alongside Niger troops? ... the MNJ is nothing more than a group of armed bandits and should be treated as such. We don't need a foreign army to do that," the government officer said.

The MNJ, which last year raided a French-operated uranium mine and has threatened an offensive against uranium industry targets, said the French military role in Niger recalled the situation in neighbouring Chad, another French colony.

Chadian rebels say France has used its planes and troops stationed in the landlocked oil-producing country to prop up President Idriss Deby and helped him beat off a rebel attack on the capital N'Djamena earlier this month.

Paris denies any direct combat role by its forces in Chad and says it is supporting Deby's "legitimately elected" rule.

The MNJ said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had promised when he took office last year to dismantle France's cozy past relationship with often corrupt and dictatorial leaders in its former colonies in Africa.

"On the contrary, there's a return to the old order," the Niger rebel group said. (Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

Source: http://africa.reuters.com/country/TD/news/usnL19912644.html