On December 10, a landmine exploded under a bush taxi in the city of Maradi, killing the driver. Later that night, another landmine exploded under a car at the traditional wrestling arena in Tahaoua, again killing the driver. Both cities are in the center of the country, not very close to my home town, but I do know PCVs out that way. The government was quick to blame the MNJ rebels from the North of the country, while the MNJ would deny involvement. The MNJ, consisting of mostly, but not exclusively, ethnic Tuaregs has been plaguing the government for the last six months or so, demanding that resources be equally shared with the Northern regions, not necessarily financially, but with more influential political and military positions for those from the area (One would imagine that the MNJ wants their own in these positions).The hightened tensions started the day before when military aircraft spotted a convoy of vehicles in the desert steps around Agadez. It fired on the convoy, killing six. Turns out later, that they were regular old Tuaregs from Agadez. Actually, not any old regular Tuaregs, but the richest man in Agadez, owner of a big bottled water company and his entourage. Needless to say that accusations were quick to start flying about.
The scariest part about all this was that it happened right before Niger’s independence day and the start of Tabaski, a major Muslim celebration. And of all places, this year’s Independence celebration was to be held in Tahaoua, the site of one of the bombings… coincidence? No one really knows. However, on the MNJ website (http://m-n-j.blogspot.com/), they warned all Nigeriens to stay away from the celebration or be considered human shields for the president and his cronies. This right after denying, in the same paragraph, the landmine attacks and stating that they don’t target civilians (which has been true up till now).
So, who’s to blame? No answers. But the heightened tensions from the last couple weeks have begun to cool down. After the initial explosions, the Peace Corps went on to Stand Fast alert and volunteers were told to stay where they were, avoid crowds, etc. Since we were up at the training site in Hamdalye, we were stuck there. Not a very exciting time, but gave us a chance to make a movie, which will hopefully be posted on YouTube soon, I’ll let y’all now. Now, the stand fast is removed, but we were told to remain “vigilante” and be aware of our surroundings. To me, that’s just good advice to do always.I don’t feel threatened and I don’t think that this is going to escalate into any more widespread violence. But it is a little disconcerting that the problems which had been localized in the North have reared their ugly heads closer to home.
As for joyous events: Today is Christmas eve and I’m spending it and Christmas Day here in Niamey with friends. I did some Christmas shopping for the family yesterday, but they’ll be late arriving in the states. Sorry, but the heightened security tensions kind of threw off everyone’s plans. My current plans are to head to one of our program director's houses tomorrow for some food, caroling, hopefully watch a Christmas Story. I want to wish all my friends and family a merry Christmas, hope it is cold and white, very much the opposite of ours here.
Oh and this little guy says Merry Christmas also... He's not nearly as mean as his big brother who harrased me a couple weeks ago...
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