{"id":4391,"date":"2026-02-05T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/niger-plans-lawsuit-against-orano-over-environmental-damage"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:56:10","slug":"niger-plans-lawsuit-against-orano-over-environmental-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/niger-plans-lawsuit-against-orano-over-environmental-damage","title":{"rendered":"Niger Plans Lawsuit against Orano over Environmental Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The crisis between Niger\u2019s military authorities and the French company Orano has entered a new phase after Niamey announced plans to sue the firm before national and international courts over an alleged \u201cenvironmental catastrophe\u201d inside the country.<\/p>\n<p>Niger\u2019s Minister of Justice, Aliou Daouda, accused Orano of polluting Nigerien land through mining waste, citing the presence of around 400 barrels of radioactive waste. He said the government is seeking \u201ca conviction and compensation for damage inflicted on the environment and local populations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since the July 2023 military coup, Niger\u2019s new authorities have taken steps to curb French influence, including the nationalization of Somai\u0308r, an Orano subsidiary, and opening the door to new partnerships with Russia and other countries. In response, Orano\u201490% owned by the French state\u2014has filed lawsuits against Niamey, accusing the authorities of seizing its assets.<\/p>\n<p><b>Uranium dispute<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Following the nationalization of Somai\u0308r, Niamey announced plans to sell its uranium independently on international markets. Orano, meanwhile, warned of the departure of a shipment of 1,000 tons of yellowcake (concentrated uranium) from the Arlit mine in northern Niger, valuing it at \u20ac300 million. The shipment has been held for weeks at Niamey airport, which was recently targeted in an attack claimed by Islamic State.<\/p>\n<p>Uranium was discovered in Niger in 1957 during the French colonial period, with exploitation beginning in 1971. In 2023, Niger produced 3,527 tons of the radioactive mineral\u2014about 6.3% of global output\u2014according to data from GlobalData.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. The crisis between Niger\u2019s military authorities and the French company Orano has entered a new phase after Niamey announced plans to sue the firm before national and international courts over an alleged \u201cenvironmental catastrophe\u201d inside the country. Niger\u2019s Minister of Justice, Aliou Daouda, accused Orano of polluting Nigerien land through mining waste, citing the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Niger Plans Lawsuit against Orano over Environmental Damage - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. 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