VZCZCXRO1250
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHNM #0691/01 1411142
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211142Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3489
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 3366
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NIAMEY 000691 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/DSS/ITA; 
AMCONSUL LAGOS FOR DEA, GAYE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM NG
SUBJECT: DRUGS THROUGH NIGER? LOCAL VIEWS ON NARCOTICS 
ROUTES 
 
REF: A. HARKENRIDER - GAYE E-MAIL EXCHANGE OF 4/19/07 
     ¶B. KORAN - GAYE E-MAIL OF 5/2/07 
     ¶C. NIAMEY 616 
 
NIAMEY 00000691  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) On May 7, Poloff met with officials in the Nigerien 
border town of Birni N'Konni, ninety kilometers north of 
Sokoto, Nigeria. The local Prefect, chief judge, and Procurer 
(prosecutor) described drug seizures and their perceptions of 
a drug trafficking route through the town and through Niger 
generally. A May 14 meeting with the police chief of another 
Nigerien border town - Maradi - built on this story. The 
chief posited two additional trafficking routes: via Niger's 
western neighbors, and across Niger's sparsely-populated 
eastern desert region. In light of two recent drug seizures 
involving Nigeriens (Refs A B), and GON allegations that drug 
traffickers are responsible for violence in the country's 
nomadic north (Reftel C), local perceptions of drug 
trafficking corridors merit further investigation. END SUMMARY 
 
------------------------ 
HARDLY A WEEK GOES BY... 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Niger in microcosm, Birni N'Konni thrives on and 
suffers from its proximity to Nigeria. While the sale of 
illicit Nigerian gasoline, for example, has long plagued 
legitimate gas stations and posed a public fire hazard, 
Emboffs heard about a new preoccupation during our recent 
trip to Konni. The Prefect of Birni N'Konni Department, 
Mamane Lamine Amani, claimed that "hardly a week goes by when 
we don't seize some marijuana or amphetamines" coming across 
the border. He also noted that local police had seized some 
illegal arms, though he was unable to offer details. The 
President of the Konni Tribunal, Hamza Assoumana Bayere, had 
more information. He claimed that there is significant drug 
trafficking through Konni. For the last two years, local 
police have seized marijuana and amphetamines on a regular 
basis. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Konni's Procurer, Ibrahim Oumarou, offered a broader 
perspective on trafficking. He noted that, while large 
quantities of marijuana and amphetamines transit Konni on 
their way to the Mahgreb and Europe, most seizures take place 
in the northern Nigerien cities of Tahoua or Agadez. Yet, in 
each instance, GON authorities have discovered that the drugs 
and their Nigerian traffickers have passed through Konni. 
Judge Bayere reinforced the procurer's argument. He has 
recently shifted to Konni from Gaya, a town on the Niger / 
Benin / Nigeria border. The judge noted that he saw little 
evidence of drug trafficking in Gaya, but much in Konni. 
Poloff's subsequent meetings with GON officials in Zinder, 
Maradi, and Magaria produced no evidence of drug trafficking 
via those border towns. It therefore seems that drug 
traffickers from Nigeria favor the Sokoto - Konni - Tahoua - 
Agadez route over other alternatives. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
MORE FROM MARADI: SENIOR GON POLICEMAN OFFERS 
PERSPECTIVE ON ROUTES, SOURCES, AND SMUGGLERS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) None of our interlocutors in Konni would hazard a 
guess as to the ultimate source of the drugs passing through 
town. The Director of the National Police in Maradi, however, 
had much to say in response to this question. Director Boube 
Souley, previously assigned to the National Police Detective 
Branch and the UN Mission in DRC, claimed that West African 
drug trafficking follows a well-beaten path from Guinea, 
(where he speculated that drugs may arrive from Latin America 
via the port), through Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Niger 
or Mali. He went so far as to describe Burkina Faso as a 
"reservoir" of illicit drugs. He claimed that there was 
considerable demand for marijuana and amphetamines in Libya, 
which, along with Europe, provided demand for the 
trans-Saharan trade. In addition to the more westernly route, 
Souley claimed that ethnic Arabs from Chad and Niger 
trafficked drugs to Libya through the far-eastern Nigerien 
towns of N'Guigmi, Bilma, and Dirkou. In general, he noted 
that traffickers take advantage of corruption and political 
instability in Guinea and Cote D'Ivoire, and Niger and Mali's 
poorly policed and thinly populated desert regions to move 
their wares. 
 
NIAMEY 00000691  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
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FALLOUT: KONNI'S (STILL) MODEST DRUG CULTURE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Drug trafficking through Niger has its local 
effects. While Nigeriens see high profile seizures like those 
in Tahoua and Agadez as being too large for local 
consumption, Judge Bayere's Konni docket is full of small 
possession and sale cases. A culture of drug use has grown in 
Konni of late, with both rural and urban youth leading the 
trend. Penalties for possession or consumption range from 
fifteen days to six month in jail; those for sale or 
trafficking from five to ten years. Yet, the judge noted that 
one can purchase a tea-bag size packet of marijuana (the 
typical quantity sold in Niger) in Nigeria for fifteen CFA 
and re-sell it in Niger for fifty CFA - powerful incentive 
for unemployed local youth. (Note: approximately 500 CFA = 1 
$US  End note.)  Procurer Oumarou argued that penalties for 
personal use or possession were neither harsh enough nor 
implemented with sufficient rigor. While Konni's cops seize 
one to three kilos of marijuana every so often, narcotics are 
still easy enough to find. Judge Bayere noted that the square 
in front of a prominent mosque has turned into a popular drug 
and alcohol sale point. Procurer Oumarou was concerned that 
drug and alcohol abuse was exacerbating age-old conflicts 
between farmers and herders and contributing to small crimes. 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: This was Emboffs' first investigation of 
drug trafficking in Niger and it appears Nigerien officials 
are willing to speak candidly about the issue and welcome 
international intervention - a tendency apparent at the top 
of the GON as well as at the working level. President 
Tandja's call for the UN Office of Drugs and Crime to study 
the problem and recommend solutions (Reftel C) suggests that 
the GON is beginning to tackle an issue that has disquieting 
linkages to conflict in the north and a culture of youth 
unemployment and alienation in the south. END COMMENT 
 
¶7. (U) Tripoli, minimize considered. 
ALLEN