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History and Government
History: Evidence of human settlement in the region now known as Niger goes back 6000 years, when what was then a highly fertile area supported a well-developed civilisation. In the thousand years up to the 19th century, power in the region was based on control of the great trans-Saharan trade routes. The Hausa Kingdom dominated the central area from the 13th century. This power decreased from the 18th century onwards, as European traders used sea routes to make contact with West Africa. Colonised by the French in the 19th century, Niger was part of French West Africa until 1958. It achieved independence in 1960. Hamani Diori was elected head of state and re-elected in 1965 and 1970. His government seemed stable, until severe drought from 1968 onwards brought about widespread civil unrest.
In April 1974, the army, which is prone to intervening in Niger’s politics, staged a military coup under Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Seyni Kountché. A series of failed coups followed when Kountché attempted to civilianise the government. By 1983, however, the legislative Council of Ministers was entirely composed of civilians, under Prime Minister Oumarou Maname. Kountché died in 1987, to be replaced by his staunch ally, Ali Seibou, who consolidated his position during the late 1980s. Seibou began his tenure by trying to diversify Niger’s economy away from its excessive dependence on uranium. On a political level, he was responsible for the creation of a new ruling party, the Mouvement Nationale pour une Société de Développement (MNSD), which became the sole legitimate political party.
During the early 1990s, Niger’s economy went into serious recession and the government was forced to seek assistance from the IMF, in the form of a Structural Adjustment Programme. A subsequent programme, which began in 2000, is due to end in November 2003. Both were reasonably successful in improving some economic indicators but at the expense of widespread hardship, which in turn led to regular strikes and demonstrations. Also in the early 1990s, the government came under internal and external pressure to introduce democratic government. After some initial uncertainty and opposition from Seibou, the government chose to follow the regional trend and installed an interim administration, prior to multi-party elections and the introduction of a new constitution.
The National Assembly poll, held on 14 February 1993, saw a victory for the six-party coalition, the Alliance des Forces de Changement (AFC), which accumulated 50 of the 83 seats over the MNSD – now operating under the title MNSD-Nassara. The MNSD was similarly thwarted in the presidential election, held in two rounds during February and March 1993, which was won by Mahamane Ousmane, the candidate of the CDS-Rahama party – a leading member of the AFC coalition. Apart from the economy, the new government’s main problem was the Tuareg rebellion. Since 1990, there had been a series of clashes between security forces and guerrillas belonging to the nomadic Tuareg people. The Tuareg had originally left Niger to escape the chronic Sahel drought of the 1980s. A series of agreements were brokered, providing for Tuareg land rights and relations between the Tuareg and central government. However, splits among the Tuareg and repeated clashes between the two sides destabilised relations between them. The two sides have since reached a working accommodation.
Several changes of government preceded the legislative elections in January 1995, after which the MNSD-Nassara formed a government under ex-World Bank official Amadou Aboubacar Cissé. The friction between the MNSD government and President Ousmane steadily worsened over the next 12 months and, in January 1996, the military stepped in once again. Army chief of staff Colonel Ibrahim Bare Mainassara took control of the country. Under strong external pressure, particularly from Niger’s main Western financial backers, the military moved quickly to restore a veneer of civilian government. Mainassara established a new political party, the Union Nationale des Indépendants pour le Renouveau Démocratique (UNIRD), as the regime’s political vehicle. Standing as its candidate, Mainassara won the presidential poll held in July 1996. The UNIRD also gained a substantial victory at the national assembly elections that followed a few months later.
In April 1999, Mainassara was killed by his own head of security, after an escalating series of disputes with his erstwhile military colleagues. The resultant uncertain political situation in the country was resolved with the holding of simultaneous presidential and legislative elections in November that year. With Mainassara gone, his political vehicle, the UNIRD, folded. The MNSD, the country’s historic ruling party, recovered control of both the presidency – in the person of Mamadou Tandja – and the national assembly, where it holds just short of an overall majority but forms the government with Hana Amadou as premier.
Government: The 83-member Assemblée Nationale is directly elected for a five-year term and holds legislative power: 75 members are elected in multi-seat constituencies; the other eight are elected from single-seat constituencies specifically assigned to national minorities. Executive power is held by the president who is also directly elected for a five-year term.
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