French uranium miner Orano said on Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit with the Niger courts over the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and unjust confiscation of property” involving its staff and assets in the country.
Niger and neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have been stepping up pressure on foreign mining companies over the past year, seizing assets and removing permits as all three Sahel countries look to assert more sovereignty over their natural resources.
Orano said it had been unable to contact its mining director in Niger, Ibrahim Courmo, who was taken to the headquarters of the country’s external intelligence agency, the General Directorate of External Documentation and Surveillance, sources told Reuters last week.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/frances-orano-files-lawsuit-over-staff-detention-niger-2025-05-13/