Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:25:41.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Security in Niamey: an anthropological perspective on policing and an act of terrorism in Niger*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2012

Mirco Göpfert
Mirco Göpfert*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Forum Universitatis 6, 55099 Mainz, Germany
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The abduction of two Frenchmen in January 2011 in Niamey's supposedly most secure neighbourhood has led many to question the functioning of the city's security apparatus. This paper analyses Niamey's security landscape, initially from an historical and then from a spatial perspective. It argues that for a comprehensive analysis of security, we must first decentre our perspective on security construction, and thus take informal non-organised modes of policing just as seriously as policing by state and vigilante organisations; and second, take into account the inseparability of sociality and security, a fragile balance of trust and acceptable risk. In conclusion I argue that this focus may be one way of comprehending the kidnapping: how was it possible and what were its implications for Niamey's security landscape?

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 53 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Previous drafts of this paper were presented at the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur le Droit et les Institutions Pénales (CESDIP) in Guyancourt, France, in April 2009, and in the panel ‘Spaces of (In)Security’ during the European Conference on African Studies, Leipzig, in June 2009. The fieldwork it is based on was made possible by the financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation, the Sulzmann Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, as well as by the support offered at the Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL), Niamey. For constructive comments on earlier versions of this text, many thanks go to Carola Lentz, Thomas Bierschenk, Mahaman Tidjani-Alou, Jan Beek, Jan Budniok, Julia Dieckmann, Julia Eckert, Fabien Jobard, Thomas Kirsch, Julie Poppe, Chris Willott and three anonymous referees.

References

REFERENCES

Abrahams, R. 1987. ‘Sungusungu: village vigilante groups in Tanzania’, African Affairs 86, 343: 179–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrahams, R. 2007. ‘Some thoughts on the comparative study of vigilantism’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 419–42.Google Scholar
Adamu, F. L. 2008. ‘Gender, hisba and the enforcement of morality in northern Nigeria’, Africa 78, 1: 136–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, B. 2002. ‘Living with non-state policing in South Africa: the issues and dilemmas’, Journal of Modern African Studies 40, 1: 29–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, B. 2005. ‘Multi-choice policing in Uganda’, Policing and Society 15, 1: 19–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, B. 2006. ‘Beyond the state police in urban Uganda and Sierra Leone’, Afrika Spectrum 41, 1: 55–76.Google Scholar
Baudrillard, J. 2002. The Spirit of Terrorism and Other Essays. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Bayart, J.-F. 2010a. ‘Le piège de la lutte antiterroriste en Afrique de l'Ouest’, Sociétés politiques comparées 26, available at : www.fasopo.org/reasopo/n26/chronique.pdf, accessed 4.6.2011.Google Scholar
Bayart, J.-F. 2010b. ‘Quelle politique africaine pour la France?’, Sociétés politiques comparées 27, available at : www.fasopo.org/reasopo/n27/chronique.pdf, accessed 4.6.2011.Google Scholar
Beek, J. 2010. ‘Étiqueter les “déviants”: le travail des policiers au Nord-Ghana’, Déviance et Société 34, 2: 279–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bierschenk, T. 2008. ‘The everyday functioning of an African public service: informalization, privatization and corruption in Benin's legal system’, Journal of Legal Pluralism 5: 101–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, R. 2010. ‘Terrorism’, in Smith, R. G., ed. The Baudrillard Dictionary. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 213–16.Google Scholar
Buur, L. 2006. ‘Reordering society: vigilantism and expressions of sovereignty in Port Elizabeth's townships’, Development and Change 37, 4: 735–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, C. 2007. ‘“Policing” through violence: fear, vigilantism, and the politics of Islam in northern Nigeria’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 93–124.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. & Comaroff, J. 2008. ‘Popular justice in the new South Africa: policing the boundaries of freedom’, in Tyler, T. R., ed. Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: international perspectives. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 215–37.Google Scholar
Davis, J. 2007. ‘Introduction: Africa's road to the war on terror’, in Davis, J., ed. Africa and the War on Terrorism. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1–14.Google Scholar
Deycard, F. 2007. ‘Le Niger entre deux feux: la nouvelle rébellion Touarègue face à Niamey’, Politique Africaine 108: 127–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupont, B. 2006. ‘Delivering security through networks: surveying the relational landscape of security managers in an urban setting’, Crime, Law & Social Change 45: 165–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, S. 1989. ‘Tuning in to pavement radio’, African Affairs 88, 352: 321–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, S. 1993. ‘Rumour and power in Togo’, Africa 63, 4: 462–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, S. 2004. ‘Briefing: the Pan-Sahel Initiative’, African Affairs 103, 412: 459–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, S. 2007. ‘The Sahara and the “war on terror”: a response to Jeremy Keenan’, Anthropology Today 23, 3: 21–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericson, R. V. 1994. ‘The division of expert knowledge in policing and security’, The British Journal of Sociology 45, 2: 149–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleischer, M. L. 2000. ‘“Sungusungu”: state-sponsored village vigilante groups among the Kuria of Tanzania’, Africa 70, 2: 209–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fourchard, L. 2003. ‘Le contrôle de la rue en Afrique Occidentale Française et au Nigeria, fin 19ème siècle – 1960’, in Fourchard, L. & Albert, I. O., eds. Sécurité, Crime et Ségrégation dans les Villes d'Afrique de l'Ouest du XIXe siècle à nos jours. Paris: Karthala, 101–17.Google Scholar
Fourchard, L. 2006. ‘Les territoires de la criminalité à Lagos et Ibadan depuis les années 1930’, Tiers-Monde 47, 185: 95–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gazibo, M. 2005. ‘Foreign aid and democratization: Benin and Niger compared’, African Studies Review 48, 3: 67–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gervais, M. 1995. ‘Structural adjustment in Niger: implementations, effects & determining political factors’, Review of African Political Economy 22, 63: 27–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilliard, P. & Pédenon, L.. 1996. ‘Rues de Niamey, espace et territoires de la mendicité’, Politique Africaine 63: 51–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, D. M. 2010. ‘Toward a critical anthropology of security’, Current Anthropology 51, 4: 487–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graybeal, N. L. & Picard, L. A.. 1991. ‘Internal capacity and overload in Guinea and Niger’, Journal of Modern African Studies 29, 2: 275–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harnischfeger, J. 2003. ‘The Bakassi Boys: fighting crime in Nigeria’, Journal of Modern African Studies 41, 1: 23–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibou, B. 1999. ‘“La décharge”, nouvel interventionnisme’, Politique Africaine 73: 6–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, A. 1996. ‘Towards a critique of policing and national development in Africa’, Journal of Modern African Studies 34, 2: 271–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, A. 2009. Policing Post-Conflict Cities. London: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idrissa, K. 2008. ‘Les régimes militaires entre 1974 et 1999 au Niger’, in Idrissa, K., ed. Armée et Politique au Niger. Dakar: CODESRIA, 165–206.Google Scholar
Jensen, S. 2007. ‘Policing Nkomazi: crime, masculinity and generational conflicts’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 47–68.Google Scholar
Keenan, J. 2004. ‘Political destabilisation & “blowback” in the Sahel’, Review of African Political Economy 31, 102: 691–98.Google Scholar
Keenan, J. 2006a. ‘Conspiracy theories and “terrorists”: how the “war on terror” is placing new responsibilities on anthropology’, Anthropology Today 22, 6: 4–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, J. 2006b. ‘Security & insecurity in North Africa’, Review of African Political Economy 33, 108: 269–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, J. 2007. ‘The banana theory of terrorism: alternative truths and the collapse of the “second” (Saharan) front in the war on terror’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 25, 1: 31–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, J. 2009a. ‘Al-Qaeda terrorism in the Sahara? Edwin Dyer's murder and the role of intelligence agencies’, Anthropology Today 25, 4: 14–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, J. 2009b. The Dark Sahara: American's war on terror in Africa. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Khayat, T. 2002. ‘La rue, espace réservé: voituriers et vigiles dans les nouvelles zones de loisirs à Beyrouth’, Géocarrefour 77, 3: 283–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyed, H. M. 2007. ‘State vigilantism and political community on the margins in post-war Mozambique’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 393–415.Google Scholar
Last, M. 2008. ‘The search for security in Muslim northern Nigeria’, Africa 78, 1: 41–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeMonde.fr. 2011. Available at: www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2011/01/11/a-niamey-rien-ne-sera-plus-comme-avant_1463788_3212.html#ens_id=1411819, accessed 12.1.2011.Google Scholar
Lock, P 1998. ‘The withering military in sub-Saharan Africa: new roles for the private security industry?’, Afrika Spectrum 33, 2: 135–55.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2001. ‘Vertrautheit, Zuversicht, Vertrauen: Probleme und Alternativen’, in Hartmann, M. & Offe, C., eds. Vertrauen: die Grundlage des sozialen Zusammenhalts. Frankfurt/Main: Campus-Verlag, 143–60.Google Scholar
Lund, C. 2001. ‘Precarious democratization and local dynamics in Niger: micro-politics in Zinder’, Development and Change 32, 5: 845–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, C. 2006. ‘Twilight institutions: an introduction’, Development and Change 37, 4: 673–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maignan, J.-C. 2000. La Difficile Démocratisation du Niger. Paris: CHEAM.Google Scholar
Meagher, K. 2007. ‘Hijacking civil society: the inside story of the Bakassi Boys vigilante group of south-eastern Nigeria’, Journal of Modern African Studies 45, 1: 89–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mignon, J.-M. 1989. ‘Les mouvements de jeunesse dans l'Afrique de l'Ouest francophone, de 1958 aux années 1970–1975’, in Almeida-Topor, H. & Georg, O., eds. Le Mouvement Associatif des Jeunes en Afrique Noire Francophone au XXe Siècle. Paris: L'Harmattan, 107–28.Google Scholar
Motcho, K. H. 2004. ‘Croissance urbaine et insécurité dans la ville de Niamey’, Geographica Helvetica 59, 3: 199–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olivier de Sardan, J.-P. 2011. ‘Local powers and the co-delivery of public goods in Niger’, IDS Bulletin 42, 2: 32–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, R. D. 2007. ‘Political terrorism in West Africa’, in Davis, J., ed. Africa and the War on Terrorism. Aldershot: Ashgate, 103–12.Google Scholar
Pérouse de Montclos, M.-A. 2008. États Faibles et Sécurité Privée en Afrique Noire: de l'ordre dans les coulisses de la périphérie mondiale. Paris: Harmattan.Google Scholar
Pratten, D. 2006. ‘The politics of vigilance in southeastern Nigeria’, Development and Change 37: 707–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratten, D. 2007. ‘Singing thieves: history and practice in Nigerian popular justice’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 175–205.Google Scholar
Pratten, D. 2008. ‘Introduction: the politics of protection: perspectives on vigilantism in Nigeria’, Africa 78, 1: 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratten, D. & Sen, A., eds. 2007. Global Vigilantes. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Reuters, 2011. Available at: http://af.reuters.com/article/nigerNews/idAFLDE70C1R120110113, accessed 13.1.2011.Google Scholar
Rodgers, D. 2007. ‘When vigilantes turn bad: gangs, violence, and social change in urban Nicaragua’, in Pratten, & Sen, , eds. Global Vigilantes, 349–70.Google Scholar
Ruteere, M. & Pommerolle, M.-E.. 2003. ‘Democratizing security or decentralizing repression? The ambiguities of community policing in Kenya’, African Affairs 102, 409: 587–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapland, J. & Vagg, J.. 1987. ‘Using the police’, British Journal of Criminology 27: 54–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapland, J. & Vagg, J.. 1988. Policing by the Public. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shearing, C. D. & Stenning, P. C. 1983. ‘Private security: implications for social control’, Social Problems 30, 5: 493–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, A.-M. 2008. Policing and Crime Control in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Sluka, J. 2002. ‘What anthropologists should know about the concept of terrorism: a response to David Price’, Anthropology Today 18, 2: 22–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tidjani Alou, M. 2001. ‘La dynamique de l’État post colonial au Niger’, in Idrissa, K., ed. Le Niger: état et démocratie. Paris: L'Harmattan, 85–126.Google Scholar
Weber, M. 2002 [1921]. Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck.Google Scholar
Ya'u, Y. Z. 2000. ‘The youth, economic crisis and identity transformation: the case of the yandaba in Kano’, in Jega, A, ed. Identity Transformation and Identity Politics under Structural Adjustment in Nigeria. Stockholm: Elanders Gotab, 161–80.Google Scholar
Youngsted, S. M. 2004. ‘Creating modernities through conversation groups: the everyday worlds of Hausa migrants in Niamey, Niger’, African Studies Review 47, 3: 91–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zulaika, J. & Douglass, W. A. 1996. Terror and Taboo: the follies, fables, and faces of terrorism. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Newspapers (published in Niamey)

Le Damagaram, Le Flic, Le Sahel, Sahel Dimanche, tamtaminfo.

Interviews

Boubacar Gandah, founder and director general EPSIG (Établissement Privé de Sécurité Incendie et Gardiennage), private security enterprise, Niamey, 24.12.2008.

Boubacar Souleyman, former yan banga, during my fieldwork watchman, Niamey, 4.10.2009.

Chef de quartier Lacouroussou, Niamey, 14.12.2008.

Chef de quartier Poudrière, Niamey, 27.12.2008.

Gendarme A, EPSIG regional supervisor in the Zinder region, Zinder, 17.11.2009.

Gendarme B, native of Zinder, Gouré, 29.6.2010.

Issifi Alzouma, commercial director GED Services, Niamey, 19.11.2008.

Mohamed, private security agent, Niamey, 2.12.2008.

Sarah, private security agent, former soldier in the Nigérien army, Niamey, 8.11.2008.

Tahirou Issaka, director general GED Services (Gardiennage Entretien Désinsectisation), Niamey, 6.11.2008.