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Document #2111932
USDOS – US Department of State (Author)
The country has been under military rule since the July overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum’s government by the Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP). The constitution and government institutions have been suspended. The suspended constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of religion and worship consistent with public order, social peace, and national unity. It provides for the separation of state and religion and prohibits religiously affiliated political parties.
In September, the CNSP released Muslim cleric Alfa Ali Boubacar from Filingue prison. He had previously been arrested and charged by officials in Mohamed Bazoum’s administration for uttering a fatwa against the administration while conducting prayers. The Bazoum administration did not achieve its stated intent to fully implement the 2019 National Worship Strategy before the coup in July. As of year’s end, the CNSP had not given any indication of plans for a worship strategy. The previous administration provided guidance on sermons and encouraged preachers to focus on promoting national unity, brotherhood, and peaceful coexistence in their sermons, through the media, or in public places such as market stalls or occasional ceremonies.
Since the coup, various religious groups, including Muslims, Christians, Baha’is, and Animists held prayer sessions in mosques, churches, or at anti-French protests across the country in support of the CNSP and against the sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Muslims and Christians also exchanged congratulatory messages marking major religious celebrations such as Mawlid that celebrates the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, and Christmas, during which they reiterated calls for peaceful coexistence between their respective communities and within the country’s population in general.
The government faced a series of persistent and growing security threats from violent extremist organizations (VEOs) such as Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram, which are both have a strong presence in the Diffa Region. Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS) and Jama’at Nasr-al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) continued violence in Tillaberi and Tahoua Regions.
In October, U.S. embassy officials held a roundtable discussion with seven prominent religious and traditional leaders to discuss avenues to promote a peaceful government transition in the country. The Ambassador and other embassy officials also met with traditional, Muslim, and Christian leaders regarding promoting tolerance and understanding and using their leverage as faith leaders to advance a political resolution and foster democracy and the rule of law.
The U.S. government estimates the total population at 25.4 million (midyear 2023). According to the former Ministry of Interior, more than 98 percent of the population is Muslim. Approximately 80 percent of the country’s Muslims are Sunni followers of the Maliki school of jurisprudence. Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other religious groups account for less than 2 percent of the population. There are several hundred followers of the Baha’i Faith, who reside primarily in Niamey and in communities west of the Niger River. A small percentage of the population adheres primarily to Indigenous religious beliefs. Some Muslims intermingle Animist practices with their practice of Islam, although observers said this has become less common over the past decade due to the influence of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Kuwait.
The country has been under military rule since July 26 when the CNSP overthrew former President Mohamed Bazoum and suspended the 2010 constitution and government institutions. The suspended constitution prohibited religious discrimination, specified separation of religion and state as an unalterable principle, and stipulated equality under the law for all, regardless of religion. It provided for freedom of conscience, religion, worship, and expression of faith consistent with public order, social peace, and national unity. The previous constitution also stated that no “religion or faith” shall claim political power or interfere in state affairs and banned political parties based on religious affiliation.
The previous administration’s law on the organization and practice of religion provided for government regulation and approval of the construction of places of worship and oversight of financial contributions for the construction of religious venues.
The Bazoum administration treated religious groups the same as other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and required them to register with the Ministry of Interior’s Customary and Religious Affairs Office. The office and its registration requirements continue under the CNSP’s newly established Ministry of Interior, Security and Territorial Administration (Ministry of Interior). Registration approval is based on submission of required legal documents, including the group’s charter, minutes of the group’s board of directors, annual action plan, and list of the organization’s founders. Only registered organizations are legally recognized entities. Nonregistered groups are not permitted to operate, although some unregistered religious organizations reportedly operate without authorization in remote areas. The Ministry of Interior requires clerics addressing large national gatherings to either belong to a registered religious organization or obtain a special permit.
Registered religious groups wishing to obtain permanent legal status must undergo a three-year review and probationary period before the Ministry of Interior’s Customary and Religious Affairs Office may grant a change in legal status from probationary to permanent.
The suspended constitution specifies the President, Prime Minister, and President of the National Assembly must take an oath when assuming office on the holy book of his or her religion. By law, other senior government officials are also required to take religious oaths upon entering office.
Citing the operation of ISWAP in the Diffa Region, the CNSP maintained the prohibition against full-face veils in the region under state of emergency provisions, with the stated purpose of preventing the concealing of bombs and weapons.
The CNSP also maintained the prohibition against open air, public proselytization events by all religious groups due to national security concerns. There is no legal restriction on private, peaceful proselytization or conversion of an individual from one faith to another if the group sponsoring the conversion is registered with the government.
The establishment of any private school by a religious association must receive the concurrence of both the Ministry of Interior and the relevant department of the Ministry of Education (primary, secondary, superior, or vocational). Private Quranic schools, established solely to teach the Quran without providing other education, are officially considered to be denominational schools falling under the Ministry of the Interior. They depend on lay teachers with unstable and often low incomes. Sources state Quranic schools are of variable quality, normally tending to impart formal learning of Quranic recitation and doctrinal and social elements of Islam. In 2021, the Ministry of National Education, Literacy, Vocational Education, and the Promotion of National Languages began integrating the Quranic schools into its World Bank-funded modernization program to improve education quality in the country. Most public schools do not include religious education. The government funds a small number of special primary schools (called “French and Arabic schools”) that include Islamic religious study as part of the curriculum.
Under the Bazoum administration, there were no restrictions on the issuance of visas for visiting religious representatives, although the long-term residency of foreign religious representatives must be approved by the Ministry of Interior. It is not clear whether this policy remains in effect under the CNSP.
The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Since seizing power, the CNSP has not enforced the law passed by the Bazoum administration that provided guidance on sermons. The CNSP has, however, used state-controlled media outlets to broadcast sermons from “approved imams or preachers” in which they discouraged violence or any attempt to criticize the CNSP. The CNSP also released preachers or imams arrested during previous administrations in for violating preaching laws that were then in effect.
On September 29, CNSP leaders released Muslim cleric Alfa Ali Boubacar from Filingue Prison. The Bazoum administration had charged him with “production and dissemination of information prejudicial to public order and incitement of violence,” because he uttered a fatwa against that administration during a prayer and criticized the former administration for its “poor management of security in the Tillaberi Region [and] the presence of French troops in the country.”
The CNSP deposed the Bazoum administration before it achieved its stated intent to fully implement the 2019 National Worship Strategy. By year’s end, the CNSP had not given any indication of plans for a worship strategy. The former Ministry of Interior used its authority under the National Worship Strategy to “screen preachers, in a bid to prevent risks of instability and insecurity that could be motivated by some preaching.” The Bazoum administration encouraged preachers to focus on promoting national unity, brotherhood, and peaceful coexistence in their sermons, through the media, or in public places such as market stalls or occasional ceremonies.
The Bazoum administration ensured there was an adequate number of designated areas for women and persons with disabilities to pray in public and government-owned buildings; the CNSP has maintained the designated spaces and has respected both Muslim and Christian holidays, as required by the previous laws.
The country continued to face persistent and growing security threats from nonstate actors, VEOs, armed bandits, community-based self-defense groups, and transnational criminal networks. ISWAP and Boko Haram remained the dominant VEOs in Diffa Region, while the IS-GS and JNIM maintained violent activity and community presence in Tillaberi and Tahoua Regions. VEOs cited Salafist-jihadist ideology as a justification for violence and illicit economic activity such as forced taxation, although national public polling and exit interviews with VEO defectors consistently demonstrated that economic and local political grievances most commonly motivated Nigeriens to join VEOs. Armed bandits and transnational criminal networks participated in the illicit economy alongside VEOs, although they did not profess ideological alignment with VEOs or use religion to justify violence.
The international Christian NGO Open Doors reported that in mid-August unknown violent extremists stormed two churches in a village near the border with Burkina Faso. The extremists beat the worshippers with whips for disobeying the extremists’ ban on Christian worship and threatened to return and destroy the village if they continued to practice Christianity.
Conflict-related fatalities across the country notably declined during the year until the coup d’etat on July 26. Conflict-related fatalities spiked thereafter in Tillaberi Region, where both IS-GS and JNIM took advantage of the decline in counterterrorism operations to intensify the scale of their attacks against communities and security forces. JNIM maintained administrative control of communities in western Tillaberi Region throughout the year through intermarriage with local families and targeted attacks on local leaders and state officials. In areas it controls, JNIM imposed rules, such as gender-based social restrictions, it considered consistent with its interpretation of Islam. Conflict-related fatalities remained comparatively lower in Diffa Region, although ISWAP and Boko Haram continued to kidnap and traffic civilians.
The NGO Open Doors reported converts from Islam to Christianity faced pressure from their families to renounce their new faith.
According to representatives of both Christian and Muslim groups, there were generally good relations between Muslims and Christians. In a joint meeting, the Grand Imam of Niamey, the Catholic Archbishop of Niamey, a prominent Islamic sheikh, and the National President of the Union of Evangelical Missions and Churches of Niger confirmed their cooperative relations. Examples of these cooperative ties and ongoing activities to strengthen interreligious dialogue included interfaith exchanges and mutual support between Muslims and Christians during their respective annual feasts such as Mawlid, which celebrates Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, and Christmas. During these annual feasts, they reiterated calls for peaceful coexistence between their respective communities and within the country’s population in general. They also collaborated on donations to the needy, the construction of water wells, and the repair and restoration of mosques.
Muslim and Christian organizations, as well as Animist groups, held prayer sessions in support of the CNSP to protest ECOWAS sanctions. Imams from the Muslim organizations recited verses of the Quran and led daily prayers at the Place Escadrille (or Resistance Square), near where French and U.S. forces were located. Christians issued statements or attended roundtable discussions organized by media organizations during which they encouraged the population to exercise peaceful resistance against what many Nigeriens believed was unfair treatment by ECOWAS.
On October 5, two months after the military coup, the U.S. embassy organized a roundtable discussion with seven prominent religious and traditional leaders to discuss their roles and potential contributions to promoting a peaceful government transition in the country. Throughout the year, the Ambassador and other embassy officials met with traditional leaders as well as Muslim and Christian leaders, to support intra- and interfaith dialogue designed to promote tolerance and understanding. The religious and traditional leaders included the Grand Imam of Niamey, Cheikh Ismael Djibril Karanta; Catholic Archbishop Laurent Lompo; Bachir Harouna Hambali, the Chief of Dioundiou Department; Pastor Sani Nomao, the President of the Association of the Evangelical Churches of Niger; and Sheikh Aboubacar Ousmane Sanam, a Muslim preacher. The Ambassador encouraged interfaith collaboration and stated the United States government is committed to partnering with them to promote religious freedom and tolerance.
The embassy posted a video on its website wishing the country’s Muslims a blessed holy month of Ramadan and thanking them for their longstanding and robust partnership with the United States. The embassy posted videos on the eve of Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha in which the Chargé expressed support for the country’s Muslim community. The embassy recognized the Christmas holiday on social media and posted a Christmas message in French, English, and a local language (Hausa) on its social media platforms.
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