African Environmental and Human Security in the 21st Century By ...

the Democratic and Social Convention (CDS) coalition, and was elected again in 2004 for his second five-year term.⁵⁹

A major challenge to peace and stability has been the conflict between the government and the Touregs. In the early 1990s, Toureg rebels championing their nomadic rights challenged the government, risking civil war. In 1995 a peace agreement ended fighting and eased the conflict. Several more agreements were signed with the help of other governments and groups, which essentially has led to greater decentralization of resource control, security management, development, reintegration of rebels, and return of refugees. The goal of the series of arrangements has been to create a climate of trust and mutual understanding among the different groups.⁶⁰ While these series of agreements have been largely successful, there are still sporadic signs of unrest in the Air Mountains, located in the north. The Azaouak Liberation Front (FLAA), comprised of some former rebels, still confronts government forces intermittently, and unfortunately, there are still land mines remaining in border areas.⁶¹

Most of the population lives in the south, where many relief efforts are focused. There are several potential and realized threats emanating from the south. According to one source, local fighting between herdsmen and other local communities is the primary threat.⁶² The flash point is the declining availability of land and other resources, not ethnicity.⁶³ The dwindling availability of resources and the problems of desertification have even impacted the capital city of Niamey, and squatters, among them the most recent migrants from the impoverished rural areas, have been evicted from around the city in an attempt to protect the forests from Niger's harsh climate. One resident explained that the areas surrounding the capital have been under siege since the 1980s, and livestock breeders have had to relocate.⁶⁴ As a USAID official looked back at his first assignment in the 1970s, Niamey had 100,000 people; now it is close to one million.⁶⁵ The combination of population growth and dwindling resources makes Niamey and Niger desperate for relief.

The government has not been able to address many of these issues, though there was a brief hope that uranium would be a boost to the economy. In 1980 uranium was responsible for 75 percent of the state's