Blood-sucker France deploys troops to Niger to protect state-owned uranium mines

France has ordered its military forces to protect uranium mines in Niger run by Paris-owned Areva, the French nuclear company, as threats against its interests in North Africa surges following the war it has waged in Mali.

Paris is reportedly deploying special forces and more military hardware to Niger to help protect Areva’s uranium production sites at Arlit and Imouraren, according to Western press reports on Thursday and Friday, citing French magazine Le Point, which first reported the news.

France gets nearly 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear reactors and most of the uranium used for fueling its reactors comes from the mines in Niger.

Additionally, France has intensified security measure within the country, where heavy presence of police and military units at government buildings, subway and railway stops as well as major tourist sites were ordered after it began its war in Mali. Uniformed French troops are reportedly patrolling inside subway trains and monitoring major streets.

The French military launched aerial attacks and deployed hundreds of troops into Mali earlier this month in a major war that Paris claims is intended to drive out anti-government fighters in its former colony.

The fighters have in turn threatened to wage revenge attacks against French-owned facilities across the Sahel region while a foreign-run gas plant in Algeria was run-over by militants in the region during which dozens of workers were taken hostage or killed.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Areva has been mining for and producing uranium in Niger for over 50 years and the African country, also a former French colony, provides one third of the state-owned company’s uranium supplies.