Bani-Bangou
Banibanagan | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 15°2′27″N 2°42′18″E / 15.04083°N 2.70500°E | |
Country | Niger |
Region | Tillabéri Region |
Department | Ouallam |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 |
Bani-Bangou (var. Banibanagan) is a town in southwestern Niger, in rural northern Ouallam Department, Tillabéri Region. It is the capital of the rural commune of Bani-Bangou.[1] On the main highway from Ouallam on the route to the Malian border town of Andéramboukane. It is 135 km northeast of Ouallam and 70 km by road from Mali. It around 200 km cross country from Niamey. The town is the seat of a "Rural Commune" of the same name, one of four rural communes in the department. Nearby villages include Gorou, Bassikwana, and Tondi Tiyaro Kwara to the north; Koloukta and Dinara along the highway west; Ouyé to the southeast.
Bani-Bangou commune lies in the historical region of the Zarmaganda plateau, one of the traditional homes of the Djerma people. The population remains largely Djerma with semi-nomadic Kel Dinnik Tuareg communities.[2][3]
A poor area on the edge of the Sahara desert, Bani-Bangou was hard hit by rural famine during the 2005–06 Niger food crisis.[4] Land use mapping from 2006 showed the town itself, built along a dry wadi running south to the Niger river, to be on the transition line between sahel grasslands to the south and west, and desert to the north and east.[5]