Niamey - Health officials have detected three cases of polio in southern Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the health ministry said Friday, just months after a major UN vaccination operation.

Niamey - More than 400 people from across West Africa have been rescued from the desert in northern Niger in two days, the International Organization for Migration said, in the latest recovery of migrants from the frontier region near Algeria.

Niamey - More than 17,000 people have been displaced by violence in western Niger's Tillaberi region, which has been hit by jihadist incursions from neighbouring Mali, the United Nations said Thursday.

Niamey - Nearly 600 African migrants in Algeria were abandoned in the desert with hardly any food and water before being rescued, an official in neighbouring Niger said on Sunday.

Agadez - "We are traumatised, exhausted, and we still have no glimmer of hope," says Mohamed, a Sudanese refugee slumped on a mat at a UN transit centre in Agadez, Niger's renowned "gateway to the Sahara".

Niamey - Nine people were killed in three suicide bombings in southeastern Niger near the border with Nigeria, a local official said Tuesday.

Niamey - Niger opposition leader and former premier Hama Amadou on Wednesday lost an appeal against a one-year jail term for baby smuggling, legal sources said.

Niamey - Thirteen African and European countries and the EU agreed Friday that efforts to crack down on migrant trafficking to Europe should also focus on economic woes that prompt poor Africans to seek a better life in Europe.

Niamey - The UN refugee agency appealed on Wednesday for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

Niamey - After months on the road into exile and inside the hell of Libyan jails, migrants rescued by the UN refugee agency have found safety and shelter in Niger's capital before leaving for Europe.

Niamey - Twelve paramilitary police were killed Saturday in a fresh attack in Niger's restive southwest, just weeks after a deadly ambush on a joint US-Niger patrol.The region which borders Mali has faced a series of recent jihadist incursions.

Niamey - Three US Green Berets and an unknown number of Nigerien soldiers were killed in a clash on the Niger-Mali border, where Islamic State fighters have established a presence, officials from said Thursday.

Niamey - An ambush on a joint US-Niger patrol has left several soldiers dead, a security official said Wednesday, as fears increase that a conflict in neighbouring Mali is spilling over the African nation's border.

Niamey - Rescue teams have saved a thousand African migrants abandoned by people smugglers in the Niger part of the Sahara desert in recent months, the UN's International Office of Migration (IOM) said Wednesday.

Niamey - Boko Haram jihadists have kidnapped 37 women and slit the throats of nine other people at a village in southeastern Niger, the regional governor said Tuesday.

Niamey - Twenty-four West African migrants were rescued and dozens more feared dead after traffickers deserted them in Niger's northern desert without food or water, a senior local official said.

Agadez - Wild-eyed with matted hair after four days in the searing Sahara sun, Ibrahim Kande climbs out of the pick-up truck he has ridden from Libya back to dusty Agadez in central Niger.

Agadez - As Africa's smuggling capital, a dusty city in central Niger has found its local football team boosted by an unexpected influx of new players: migrants in limbo awaiting passage to Europe.

Niamey - At least 44 Libya-bound migrants, including women and babies, died of thirst after their vehicle broke down in the scorching Sahara desert of northern Niger, local officials said Thursday.

Niamey - Arriving on motorcycles and donkeys, in cars, or even on foot, hundreds of people have flocked to a site in southern Niger hoping to strike gold.