The Prime Minister of Niger, Lamin Zaina Ali Mahaman:

Our Sahel is at war. It is in a war of liberation against a conspiracy that aims to resettle it.

What is happening in the Sahel is not just an armed rebellion or a religious war. Nor is it the inevitable result of our weaknesses.

What some call terrorism in our region is the cynical mechanism of resettlement dressed in the trappings of extremism, but the real motivation lies elsewhere: in greed for the significant resources that God has placed in our country.

Niger's uranium, gold, lithium, gas, Mali and Burkina Faso's oil and so much other wealth still make the former colonial powers drool.