Niger's president says Libya risks becoming like Somalia

Libya risks becoming a failed state like Somalia, Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Friday, a day after gunmen shot dead an American teacher in the eastern city of Benghazi. Niger, which adjoins Libya to the south and has fought Islamists at home, wants to reinforce military ties with Western partners and neighbouring states as al Qaeda-linked militants regroup in southern Libya after French-led forces ousted them from Mali this year. "Our fear is that Libya falls into the hands of Salafist terrorists and that the state becomes like Somalia," Issoufou told reporters ahead of a Franco-African summit in Paris.