SUMMARY
MNJ (Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice, Niger Movement for Justice) was an armed group active in the Nigerien conflict over government. MNJ claimed that its primary goal was the full implementation of a peace agreement signed by the Touareg rebel organization ORA (Organisation de la résistance armée, or Organization of the Armed Resistance) and the Government of Niger on 15 April 1995 (for more on this, see Niger: Aïr and Azawad). As this agreement stipulated constitutional reforms affecting Niger’s entire political system - primarily in the form of decentralization of political power to smaller geographic entities – the UCDP considered the MNJ to have had a government-based incompatibility. The group also focused on the economic and social provisions for Niger’s underprivileged and marginalized northern regions laid down in the agreement. While making specific demands for the citizens of the Aïr, Kawar du Manga, and Azawad areas, MNJ repeatedly underlined that it was fighting for the rights of all Nigeriens.
MNJ was created in 2007 as a direct consequence of the failure to fully implement peace accords signed during the 1990s in order to address socioeconomic and political grievances among Niger’s northern ethnic minorities. Historically, the ethnic groups in northern Niger had been marginalized and discriminated against by the country’s “southern” political elites. While the group was largely comprised of Touaregs, MNJ also included a number of disaffected members of the Toubou, Arab, Peul, Hausa, and other nomadic or semi-nomadic groups dwelling in northern Niger who also perceived themselves as marginalized by the government. As such, the formation MNJ was a continuation of several rebellions – which aside from the government-based conflict also included territorial conflicts in Aïr and Azawad and Eastern Niger - launched by Niger’s marginalized and discriminated minority groups.
“President” Aghaly ag Alambo, a former member of the defunct FLAA rebel group, led the MNJ; the group’s “chief-of-staff” was Amoumoune Kalakouwa. In 2007, it was estimated that MNJ had around 700 fighters.
The Government of Niger linked various actors to the MNJ; however, its claims were not substantiated. For example, it accused Libya of supporting the MNJ, possibly because of Libya’s ties to Tuareg militants dating back to the Libyan-sponsored Islamic Legion of the 1970s. This claim was rejected Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Moreover, the Nigerien government accused the French national nuclear energy company AREVA of backing the rebels; AREVA denied the charges, pointing to its own financial losses due to rebel activity. It was also suggested that MNJ may have cooperated with the Malian Tuareg splinter group ATNMC, and the Nigerien Toubou armed group FARS (Forces armées révolutionnaires du Sahara, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara). However, these claims also remained unverified.
On 31 May 2008, MNJ suffered an internal split as a faction called FFR (Front des forces de redressement, or Front of Forces for Recovery) left the group; FFR was led by Mohamed Awtchiki Kriska, who had been a member of the defunct CRA. In March 2009, MNJ suffered another split as a large segment of the group opted to form the FPN (Front Patriotique Nigérien, or Nigerien Patriotic Front); this splinter faction was led by Aklou Sidi Sidi. This left the MNJ significantly weakened, and following mediation by Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi in 2009, most of its fighters decided to lay down arms in return for an amnesty in October that year.
