In August 2007, the
Niger Movement for Justice, MNJ, a
Tuareg based insurgent group, claimed defections from the army had increased their numbers to over 2,000 fighters. Some sources claim that defections included the entire Niger Rapid Intervention Company.[1] Western journalists have also claimed that the NRIC was previously drafted into use as security for the French conglomerate
Areva NC's
uranium mines in
Arlit, a city in northern Niger. [2] Still other sources have claimed that it (and the rebel movement) had been created by the government itself in order to ratchet up tension in the region and thereby secure Western military aid. [3] Subsequent communiques by the MNJ have claimed that their forces include a unit titled TIR (Troupes d'Intervention Rapide). These claims have never been independently verified. [4]