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Niger moves 99 schools out of Boko Haram's way

Monday, 18 January 2016 6:53 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 18 January 2016 6:54 PM ]

Nigerien pupils attend a lesson at a Koranic school in the southeastern city of Bosso, on May 25, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations (UN) says 99 schools have been moved to "safer zones" by the Niger government and UN staff since November to protect them from the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group.

According to the monthly bulletin of the UN released on Monday, the program started in November last year and enabled nearly 6,000 pupils, a total of 2,784 boys and 3,129 girls, to resume their lessons in new classrooms built in camps for displaced people due to the threat from the Takfiri terrorist group.

The move came in the wake of an early-November announcement by Niger officials and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) that 166 schools for more than 12,600 pupils had been closed because of the deadly Boko Haram attacks in the southeastern Diffa region, near the border with Nigeria.

Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini noted at the time that the aim was to "take charge of these pupils" in the most exposed areas and "shelter them from Boko Haram aggression.”

The closed schools were mostly located near Lake Chad and the Komadougou Yobe river that form the border between Niger and Nigeria.

Nigerien soldiers patrol in Diffa, a southeastern Niger town on May 25, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Meanwhile, in the Diffa border region where the Nigerien army is battling the Takfiri Boko Haram militants, a separate report by local authorities on Monday said at least six Niger soldiers on patrol were killed and seven others injured when their vehicle ran over a mine.

Niger has joined a regional military alliance alongside Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria to battle Nigeria-based Boko Haram elements, whose violence has spilled over into several African nations.

The Boko Haram militancy began in 2009, when the terrorist group started an armed rebellion against the government. At least 17,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million made homeless since then.

The terrorists have pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh militant group, which is primarily operating inside Syria and Iraq.

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