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NIGER NEWS
April 2003
Table of Contents
International and Regional News>
President
Tandja Meets with Rebels
Niger Assists
in Peacekeeping
Nigerien
Parliamentarians in Angola
CENSAD Summit
in Niger
President
Tandja Acting UEMOA President
Children’s
Rights in Armed Conflict
Niger-Benin
Parliamentarians Meet
National News
President
Marks Third Year of Term
IAEA Refutes
Charges against Niger
President’s
Successful Development Program
Military
Tribunal Created
New Niamey
Mayor
Development
of Electricity Network
Progress
towards Francophonie Games
Forum on
Renewable Energy
Agricultural
and Environmental News
Water and
Climatic Change in Africa
FAO/Libya
Assistance for Agriculture
Health News
Fight against
Onchocerciasis
Progress
towards Eliminating FGM
International and Regional News
President Tandja Meets with Rebels
President Mamadou Tandja met on February 14, 2003 with a delegation from the Patriotic Movement of Côte d’Ivoire (MPCI) during their tour of West African capitals designed to exchange ideas with African heads of state in a position to bring together the two parties in the Ivoirian conflict. Mr. Guillaume Soro, Secretary General of the MPCI, assured President Tandja of their “readiness for dialogue, particularly on certain points of agreement not yet well understood by the Ivoirian regime.”
Niger Assists in Peacekeeping
A contingent of more than 170 Nigerien soldiers arrived in Côte d’Ivoire on January 17, 2003 to participate in peacekeeping operations as part of the West African force which will take over from French forces to oversee the ceasefire. Colonel Abou Oumarou is the commander of the contingent, which is part of the 250 men Niger has pledged to the ECOWAS effort.
Nigerien Parliamentarians in Angola
At the invitation of the Angolan parliament, a Nigerien parliamentary delegation, led by Mr. Moussa Moutari, visited Luanda in early February 2003. The parliamentarians discussed the strengthening of cooperation between the two legislative bodies, particularly in the areas of the economy and culture. Mr. Moutari invited the President of the Angolan National Assembly to participate as an observer during the Francophonie Assembly, which will be held in Niger in July 2003.
CENSAD Summit in Niger
Twelve heads of state participated in the fifth Summit of the Economic Community of Sahelian-Saharan States (CENSAD) on March 14-15, 2003. The leaders of Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Togo discussed development problems and conflicts on the African continent.
President Mamadou Tandja saluted the “dynamism of CENSAD in the prevention of and peaceful resolution of conflicts” and its role as “the motor for African construction.”
Member countries adopted a protocol for the establishment of a mechanism for preventing, managing and settling conflicts within the community. They also decided on a protocol for the free movement of goods and people, aimed at eliminating visas and residence permits to visit or live in another member state.
President Tandja Acting UEMOA President
President Mamadou Tandja was named acting President of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) during the January 2003 summit meeting of the organization in Dakar, Senegal. The next UEMOA ordinary summit will thus be held in Niger in December 2003.
Children’s Rights in Armed Conflict
Members of the armed forces of Niger and twelve other West African countries, along with representatives of NGOS met in Dakar, Senegal in mid-December 2002 to develop a clear strategy for completing a regional project to enforce international legal standards that protect children affected by armed conflict. At the conclusion of the week-long meeting, organized by Save the Children Sweden and ECOWAS, participants approved a declaration to ask member states to commit personnel, time and energy to mainstreaming children’s rights and child protection, including the non-recruitment of children into armed forces, and responsible sexual behavior towards children in military training for all members of security forces. Nigerien soldiers recently deployed for peacekeeping in Côte d’Ivoire have already had training in the rights and protection of children.
Niger-Benin Parliamentarians Meet
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized a meeting between Nigerien and Beninois parliamentarians in Cotonou, Benin in late February 2003. The event was designed to help strengthen African parliaments and support democratic governance. Members of both National Assemblies had the chance to exchange ideas on budget oversight, analysis of public finances, decentralization laws, and improved communications with citizens to explain the workings of Assemblies and encourage discussion on important national issues.
National News
President Marks Third Year of Term
President Mamadou Tandja celebrated the third anniversary of his election as President and the return to democracy in Niger on December 22, 2002. The President thanked “international institutions and partners who quickly and diligently came to Niger’s side bringing the means necessary to allow Niger to get to its feet again” after the restoration of democracy. Celebratory ceremonies were held in the Seyni Kountché Stadium to mark the occasion.
IAEA Refutes Charges against Niger
On March 7, 2003, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed El Baradei presented the U.N. Security Council with a progress report on the inspections effort in Iraq. In this report, he stated that the December 2002 allegations about Niger's uranium sales to Iraq were unfounded:
“The IAEA was able to review correspondence coming from various bodies of the government of Niger and to compare the form, format, contents and signature of that correspondence with those of the alleged procurement-related documentation. Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded with the concurrence of outside experts that these documents which formed the basis for the report of recent uranium transaction between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded."
President’s Successful Development Program
President Mamadou Tandja’s “Mamadou Tandja Special Program” has met with enormous success in its goal of improving the living conditions of rural populations.
The program, financed solely by Nigerien funds, has overseen the construction of 702 rural health centers, 716 classrooms, 58 wells, 9 hydro-agricultural with protective dikes, 100 mills, and 120 motorized pumps. As a result, health coverage has increased from 47.2% to 68.8%, 468 additional healthcare workers have been hired, the school-enrollment rate has increased from 34.14% in 1999-2000 to 40% in 2001-2002, and 474 educational volunteers have been recruited.
Military Tribunal Created
The National Assembly approved a law on December 26, 2002 establishing a military code of justice. The code includes 343 articles, and is expected to “fill a legal void after 40 years of independence.”
The Nigerien opposition requested that the Constitutional Court rule on the constitutionality of the law. On February 28, 2003, the Court decided against the request, explaining that the law “is not contrary to the principle of right of appeal.”
New Niamey Mayor
For the first time, a woman has been named as Prefect-President of the urban area of Niamey. Mrs. Bibata Bary, a lawyer by training, replaces Mr. Yahaya Baaré, former Minister of Mines, as mayor of the capital’s approximately one million inhabitants.
Development of Electricity Network
In mid-February 2003, the Ministry of Energy launched a new project – Project for the Development of Niger’s Interconnected Electrical Network (DREIN) – to provide towns in Niger with electricity from Nigeria. An electricity network that currently connects Maradi (southern Niger) to Nigeria will be extended to cover the region of Tahoua in east central Niger, while Chetimari in eastern Niger will be connected to Damassak in the north. The total cost of the project is estimated at 9.5 billion CFA francs (US$15.5 million).
Upon completion of the DREIN, Nigelec, the state-run electricity company, will be able to close down eight diesel plants, resulting in seven-fold savings. Nigelec is one of thirteen nationalized companies, which the government plans to privatize under an agreement with international financial institutions.
Progress towards Francophonie Games
In preparation for the fifth Francophonie Games in 2005, President Mamadou Tandja has appointed Mr. Abdou Labo as Minister of State for Sports, Culture, and Francophonie Games. A Croatian firm is already working on road infrastructure improvements in Niamey. The construction of the athletes’ village will be entirely financed by Nigerien businessmen, with imported construction materials exempt from customs duty. Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, and the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF) will provide half of the total financing for the necessary investments.
Forum on Renewable Energy
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Government of Niger sponsored a national forum on renewable energy during the week of March 10, 2003. Participants also included the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), and representatives from France, Mali, Morocco, Norway, Senegal, Spain and Sweden. A plan of action to promote solar, aeolian, and other forms of renewable energy was adopted. The forum also called for the creation of a legal and financial framework to encourage private sector initiatives such as providing loans to women to promote small businesses based on renewable energy. Promotion of renewable energy is part of Niger's national poverty reduction strategy to improve the standard of living, particularly in rural areas.
Agricultural and Environmental News
Water and Climatic Change in Africa
A workshop to kick-off a dialogue on water, climatic changes and desertification was held from November 11-13, 2002 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, organized by the West African Partnership for Water, the World Union for Nature, and the Interstate Committee for the Fight against Drought in the Sahel (CILSS). The meeting brought together representatives from Niger and ten other countries in the sub-region with the objective of presenting a work program on the correlation between climatic variation, climatic change, water, humid regions and soil degradation at the third World Forum on water in Japan in March 2003.
FAO/Libya Assistance for Agriculture
On February 21, 2003, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Libya signed an agreement to finance agricultural projects and improve food security in Niger, and four other member countries of the Community of the Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). Under the FAO’s Special Program for Food Security, Niger will receive US$1.7 million to help agricultural communities increase food production and productivity to combat the periodic food shortages due to erratic rainfall patterns in the Sahel.
Health News
Fight against Onchocerciasis
December 13, 2002 marked the end of the program for the fight against onchocerciasis in West Africa. After 28 years of activities, the program will close its doors after achieving true success. The official closing ceremony was presided over by the General Director of the World Health Organization and health officials from Niger and the ten other West African countries which had participated in the program.
To ensure the sustainability of this success, Niger will be committed to surveillance tasks to avoid the resurgence of the fly responsible for the illness.
Progress towards Eliminating FGM
On December 24, 2002, the region of Tillabéri was the host for a ceremony for turning in knives and blades formerly used for the traditional practice of female genital mutilation (female circumcision). Development partners such as the Swiss Cooperation, the World Health Organization, and NGOs were present for this historic ceremony, organized by the Nigerien Committee on Traditional Practices (CONIPRAT).