EU Member States could, in the coming days, adopt a €25 million aid package under the European Peace Facility for Niger’s armed forces (FAN).
According to the draft EU Council decision dated 12 July and seen by EUROPE, “the objective of the assistance measure is to strengthen the capabilities and resilience of the FAN in order to enable them to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Niger and to better protect the civilian population against, in particular, the growing terrorist threat”.
The 36-month assistance measure will finance both the establishment of an Armed Forces Technicians Training Centre (CFTA) to “centralise, strengthen and better structure the FAN’s capacities in the area of logistics support and the construction of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) to reduce the vulnerability of the FAN in the Tillabéri region” (in the south-west of the country).
This measure is in response to a request for assistance from the Niger Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 25 March 2022.
“Niger plays a major role in the main regional, European and international initiatives aimed at strengthening peace and development in the Sahel (...) The Union is committed to a close relationship of support for the army and defence in Niger”, the draft decision states. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)