Yearbook 2010
Niger. President Mamadou Tandja was deposed in a military
coup on February 19. About ten people were killed in
fighting in connection with the coup. The new military
junta, which called itself the Supreme Council for the
Restoration of Democracy (Conseil Suprême pour la
Restoration de la Democracy, CSRD), placed Tandja and his
ministers in house arrest and repealed the constitution.
According to
COUNTRYAAH,
Niger has a population of 22.44 million (2018). Tandja himself had made amendments to the constitution in
2009 in order to be re-elected. For that he had received
harsh criticism internationally, but even the coup against
him was condemned abroad and large amounts of aid were
frozen. The African Union suspended Niger. However, the new
junta was received with enthusiasm within the country,
especially as it promised a swift return to civilian rule.
The leader of the CSRD, and thus the provisional head of
state, was a major unknown to the public by the name of
Salou Djibo. Former Minister of Communications Mahamadou
Danda was appointed to lead a new government, largely
composed of civilians.
In addition to arresting many leading politicians with
close ties to Tandja, the junta also dismissed 20
high-ranking officials at state-owned companies in the
uranium and oil industries, among others.
In June, a new electoral commission was appointed with
the task of organizing new elections in early 2011. A
constitutional council, appointed by the junta and with
representatives of the political parties and social
organizations and legal experts, wrote a new constitution
approved by the government in August. The President shall
henceforth be allowed to sit for a maximum of two five-year
terms. The Constitution attaches great importance to the
publication of all contracts for mineral extraction and to
the prohibition of secret clauses. The state will increase
its share of the income natural resources provide and
companies will be required to employ domestic labor to a
greater extent. At the end of October, the new constitution
was approved by more than 90 percent of the participants in
a referendum.
Before that, plans for a coup against the coup makers had
been revealed. Four Junta members as well as the head of the
intelligence service were arrested in October accused of
planning to murder Salou Djibo and abort the return to
democracy.
Alongside the political drama, Niger suffered an acute
supply crisis following failed harvests. About 8 million
people, or about half the population, were reported to
suffer from food shortages. The United Nations Food Program,
WFP, increased its distribution of food to 4.7 million
people. In August, the crisis was exacerbated by extensive
flooding, which destroyed the crops that have survived the
drought. Thousands of livestock drowned.
Niger also had problems with the Algerian terror group
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which operates in
the Sahara desert. In February, AQIM killed five soldiers in
a suicide attack against an army posting in western Niger
and in September kidnapped seven foreigners - five
Frenchmen, one Togoles and one Madagascan.
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