FOR more than two years, Niger lay sheltered from bloody conflicts in neighbouring Libya, Mali and Nigeria. But recent suicide-attacks at a military base in Agadez and a French uranium mine in Arlit, both in the central desert zone, followed by a jailbreak that resulted in some of the country’s most dangerous inmates going free, have flagged up the advent of Islamist extremism in possibly the poorest country in the world. At least 35 people were killed in the attacks.

The jihadists targeted Niger after its government backed a French-led campaign to oust their fellow insurgents from Mali next door. Niger has accepted military aid from America and France, allowing drones to operate from the capital, Niamey. “We were braced for an attack but not on this scale,” says Moussa Akfar, a local security expert. “We were shocked. These were the first suicide-attacks in our history.”

The country is ill-prepared for a bloody fight against extremists. Its borders are porous, the army is overstretched and its 16m citizens are spread over an area twice the size of France. The population is vulnerable to terrorists who can easily hide in rugged terrain.

The attacks were claimed jointly by the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, an al-Qaeda spin-off, and by a group calling itself “Those Who Sign In Blood”, run by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who masterminded an attack in January on a gas plant in Algeria that left at least 37 foreign hostages dead. Niger’s president, Mahamadou Issoufou, was at pains to claim that those who recently attacked Niger were foreigners, but it seems likely that some of his compatriots were involved.

The jihadists are up against a weakened army in Niger. An insider in Niamey says the government hobbled its own forces by sending many experienced officers abroad. A Western diplomat says that it is usual to mobilise some 50-75% of troops, while keeping the rest back. Niger, he says, has not been able to do that since the beginning of the year. Niger’s economy is a shambles, too. It relies on uranium production, notably at a mine run by Areva, a French nuclear firm which has pledged to stay despite the attack. Anticipating more violence, security around oil facilities in the desert region of Agadem has been bolstered. The Western diplomat is unsure it is sufficient. Aid agencies are helping to look after 50,000-odd refugees who fled into Niger from Mali. A military offensive in neighbouring Nigeria against another violent Islamist group, Boko Haram, has prompted thousands to cross the border into Niger from the south. Local leaders in Niger are loth publicly to admit to the presence of Boko Haram in their towns, but know they exist. “Traders on the border need Boko Haram to let them trade,” Kader Amadou, a merchant in Diffa, explains. “It is the same in the north.” Around half of Niger’s people are thought to face severe malnutrition. The UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) alone treated 380,000 acute cases of malnutrition last year. To make matters worse, Niger has recently suffered its worst electricity failure in years. Its main cities have been without power for weeks, crippling business. “I have had to use any spare money I have on a power generator,” says a tailor, Abdou Daouda, sewing a bright blue skirt in one of many wooden shacks on a sandy street in the capital. “It is a vicious circle. I can’t make money unless I work. But I can’t work without spending all the money I make.”

Niger sits at the bottom of the UN’s human development index and possibly has the world’s fastest growing population. Asked what he will do when he grows up, a 12-year-old boy hawking leather key-rings at a traffic light says: “I will still be doing this. Begging.” Half of the population is in penury, and half is under 16 years old. It is not surprising that the jihadists are having a go at Niger.