Mobile technologies and security in Niger
Sillimana Maman · theses.fr (ABES) · 2022
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have today invested our modes of existence in their every twist. In addition to their importance at the communication level, they become the main vector of socioeconomic transformations of States.This study is part of the reflections that can make mobile technologies contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace and security in Niger. By transcending the units of place, time and responsibilities, the emergence of mobile technologies and the networking of numerous information resources due to this offer many perspectives of monitoring and development.Niger, a 2/3 desert country in the Sahel, faces an asymmetrical insecurity problem at all of its borders, putting the challenges of sustainable development to the test. To this end, insecurity poses the problem of geostrategic and mining issues that stir up lusts and external influences for the control of the country. Niger has experienced three armed rebellions and multiple inter-community conflicts. Even if these cases of belligerence have shown according to the public authorities a certain lull, the areas concerned are still considered islands of residual insecurity which hamper the free movement of people and goods, as well as the deployment of development projects.Today, several insecurity groups are threatening the territory of Niger: AQIM in the Maghreb, MUJAO, Ansar Dine, Boko Haram, Katiba in Macina, as well as the terrorist factions in Libya. These armed conflicts isolate the areas concerned, straining state resources to guarantee security at the expense of development actions. Despite the creation of the High Commission for the Restoration of Peace and other bodies and institutions working in the search for lasting peace, there is a lack of synergy in the use of ICT in strengthening operational capacities in the fight against insecurity. Indeed, with four mobile telephony operators (3G, 3G + and 4G) and the optic fiber network connecting all neighboring countries, the coverage rate is only about two thirds.The global objective of this work is to influence the conception of security by making the populations of conflict zones “citizen-actors” whose action is based on the use of information and communication technologies.