Niger
Landlocked country in NW Africa, bounded N by Algeria and Libya, E
by Chad, S by Nigeria and Benin, and W by Burkina Faso and Mali.
Government
The 1992 constitution provides for a multiparty system. The president
is directly elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, renewable
only once. There is a single chamber 83- member national assembly, similarly
elected for a five-year term. The president appoints a prime minister
as head of government. Following a military coup Feb 1996, a National
Salvation Committee was established.
History
Niger achieved full independence 1960, and Hamani Diori was elected
president. Maintaining close relations with France, Diori seemed to
have established one of the most stable regimes in Africa, and the discovery
of uranium deposits promised a sound economic future.
A severe drought 1968-74 resulted in widespread civil disorder, and
in April 1974 Diori was ousted by the army led by the Chief of Staff,
Lt-Col Seyni Kountché. Having suspended the constitution and established
a military government with himself as president, he tried to restore
the economy and negotiated a more equal relationship with France through
a cooperation agreement 1977.
Kountché tried to widen his popular support by liberalizing his regime
and releasing political prisoners, including former president Hamani
Diori. More civilians were introduced into the government with the prospect
of an eventual return to constitutional rule. When Kountché died 1987,
the supreme military council appointed Col Ali Saibu acting president.
He was elected without opposition in elections 1989.
In July 1990 the government announced plans for the introduction of
a multiparty political system and a constitutional conference, attended
by representatives of all political views, opened July 1991. A transitional
government consisting of a 15-member High Council of the Republic was
set up, but collapsed March 1992, leaving an unstable political situation.
A referendum Dec 1992 endorsed constitutional change allowing for the
introduction of multiparty politics. Meanwhile, in the north of the
country, an independence movement by Tuaregs was becoming increasingly
violent.
A left-wing coalition, the Alliance of the Forces for Change (AFC),
won an absolute majority in the first multiparty assembly elections
Feb 1993 and the following month Mahamane Ousmane was elected president.
Mahamdou Issoufou was appointed prime minister. A partial peace agreement
was reached with the Tuareg rebels June 1994. Two months later rains
flooded the east and centre of the country, leaving 20,000 people homeless.
The opposition National Movement for a Development Society (MNSD)
won the Jan 1995 assembly elections and after President Ousmane's nominee
was rejected, Hama Amadou was appointed premier. In Jan 1996 Ousmane
and Amadou were seized in a military coup led by Ibrahim Barre Mainassara,
and a military government was set in place. Ousmane and Amadou were
released in Feb and a civilian government, headed by Boukary Adji, was
installed. Mainassara was formally elected president in July amid claims
of electoral fraud. In Dec 1996 a new government was formed, with Amadou
Boubacar as prime minister.
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