Timeline Niger
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Niger is landlocked in north central Africa, south
of
Algeria and Libya
and is twice the size of Texas. Some 2/3 of the country is covered
by
the Sahara Desert. As of 2002 nine major languages were spoken here.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A5)
The Tuareg nomads compete with the Wodaabe over land and
water.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.59)
The Wodaabe nomads number about 40-50,000 and move constantly
across the Sahel between Niger, Mali and Northern Nigeria. They are
of
Fulani origin, a race scattered all over West Africa.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.40)
135Mil BC In 1999 scientists
reported that they had assembled the fossils of the dinosaur named
Jobaria tiguidensis, a 20-ton Sauropod with spoon-shaped teeth found
in the Sahara Desert of Niger.
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.A4)
110Mil BC The giant Sarcosuchus imperator,
“flesh-eating crocodile emperor,” lived about this time in what
later became the Tenere Desert.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D6)
110Mil BC Univ. of Chicago paleontologist Paul
Sereno unearthed Kryptops palaios, a short-snouted, hyena-like
beast, and Eocarcharia dinops, a shark-toothed, bony-browed killer,
during an expedition in the Niger Desert in 2000. The fish-eating,
sail-backed Suchomimus or "crocodile mimic," was found in 1997. The
animals originally lived in the southern landmass that was known as
Gondwana.
(Reuters, 2/13/08)(AP, 2/14/08)
95Mil BC A dinosaur fossil named Rugops primus,
unearthed in Niger in 2000, dated to this time. It belonged to a
group of southern dinosaurs called abelisaurids, also found in South
America, Madagascar and India and indicated the Africa was still
connected to Gondwana at this time.
(AP, 5/30/04)
95Mil BC Fossils of Carcharodontosaurus
iguidensis, a meat-eating dinosaur from this time, was first found
in Morocco in the 1920s. Better fossils were found in Niger in 1997.
The upright-walking creature grinned with a mouth full of
banana-sized teeth, stood taller than a double-decker bus and
weighed more than two standard-sized cars. "It seems that shallow
seas divided Morocco and Niger, promoting evolutionary separation of
the species living in the two regions."
(www.livescience.com/animals/071211-big-dinosaur.html)
6000BC In 2008 scientists reported that robust
hunter-gathers, known as Kiffians, apparently abandoned the Gobero
region of Niger during a long drought that dried up a lake about
this time. The dried-up lake in the Sahara was found brimming with
the skeletons of people, fish and crocodiles who thrived when the
African desert was briefly green.
(Reuters, 8/15/08)
5000BC-2500BC Scientists in 2008 said a second
group settled the Gobero region of Niger during this period. These
were Tenerians, smaller, shorter people who hunted, herded and
fished.
(Reuters, 8/15/08)
1950s In the 1950s when the
French gave independence to their West African colonies, the Touareg
people and their ancestral lands were parceled out among the newly
created nations of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Chad.
(www.jacneed.com/10Tinariwen.htm)
1958 France granted Niger
complete autonomy.
(EWH, 1st ed., p.1170)
1960 Aug 3, Niger gained
independence from France. Hamani Diori was president.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)(SC, 8/3/02)(EWH, 1st ed.,
p.1170)
1965 Niger's began planting
trees for a green belt around its capital, Niamey, five years after
the country proclaimed independence from France. Planting continued
to 1993 as funding for the 4.5 million-euro (6.2 million-dollar)
project came mainly from abroad. The belt began to decline as
hundreds of rural people fled to the capital to escape the severe
famine of 1984. By 2011 almost half of its original 2,000-hectare
(nearly 5,000-acre) surface area had disappeared.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
1968-1973 A severe famine hit the Sahel region of
North Africa. Mauritania, Mali, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) and Niger
were most affected.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.57)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1985-1997 Some 60 million trees were planted over
this period to stave off the encroaching Sahara Desert that expands
by 500,000 acres each year. About half the trees have survived.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)
1987 Nov 14, Ali Saibou
(1940-2011) began serving as the 3rd president of Niger succeeding
the deceased Seyni Kountche. He continued to 1993 and brought
multi-party politics to the west African country.
(AFP,
11/1/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Saibou)
1989 Sep 19, A Paris-bound
French DC-10, UTA Flight 772, was bombed over the Sahara desert of
Niger and all 170 passengers died. French authorities placed the
blame on Libya’s Abdallah Senoussi, brother-in-law of Moammar
Khadafy and chief of foreign operations for the Libyan secret
service. The six Libyan suspects were named by a French judge in
1998 and tried in absentia in 1999. The attack was in retaliation
for French intervention on behalf of Chad in a war with Libya since
the mid 1980s. In 2004 Libya signed a $170 million compensation
accord with families of the people killed. In 2008 a federal judge
in Washington ordered Libya and six of its officials to pay more
than $6 billion in damages to the families of 7 Americans killed in
the attack.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C3)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.A26)(WSJ,
1/30/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)(AP,
9/19/99)(AP, 1/9/04)(Reuters, 1/16/08)
1990 Foreign development aid in
Niger was $270 million for the year.
(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A5)
1993 The first democratic
government was elected.
(WSJ, 1/29/96, p. A-1)
1996 Jan, 27 Coup leaders
named the armed forces chief president after seizing power. Ten
people died, political parties were outlawed and the constitution
was suspended. Gen’l. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara seized power.
(WSJ, 1/29/96, p. A-1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1996 Jul 8, The military ruler
suspended the Independent National electoral commission after early
results showed him losing.
(WSJ, 7/9/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1996 Jul 10, In Niger Gen’l.
Ibrahim Mainassara claimed electoral victory and immediately banned
opposition parties and public meetings.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1997 May 10, It was reported
that recent sandstorms caused the death of some 36 people when the
driver of a truck lost his way.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)
1997 Sep 20, It was reported
that about 71,000 villagers were threatened by famine in the
southwestern areas around Oualam.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A19)
1997 The Famine Early Warning
Systems Network (FEWS Net) published an inquiry into the world’s
failure to respond to food shortages in Niger and the rest of the
Sahel.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.10)
1999 Feb 27, It was reported
that a mass grave containing 149 old men, women and children had
been found in eastern Niger. The victims were Toubou refugees
displaced by fighting several years ago.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A16)
1999 Apr 7, The Supreme Court
annulled voting results in some districts and called for a new round
of balloting, a move that was rejected by a leading opposition
coalition.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1999 Apr 9, Pres. Ibrahim Bare
Mainassara was shot to death by his bodyguards at Niamey Airport.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1999 Apr 11, In Niger Daouda
Malam Wanke, head of the guard unit that witnesses said assassinated
Pres. Bare., was named president and head of the National Council
for Reconciliation, which would run for a 9 month transition period.
The Supreme Court and National Assembly were dissolved.
(SFC, 4/12/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 13, The military junta
scheduled elections for October and November and a handover to
civilian rule before the end of the year.
(SFC, 6/14/99, p.A14)
1999 Oct 17, The 1st round of
the presidential election was held.
(WSJ, 10/18/99, p.A1)
1999 The 1st local radio
station was established for broadcast in native languages.
(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A5)
2001 Foreign development aid
was $190 million for the year.
(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb, Joseph C. Wilson IV,
former US diplomat and veteran of the diplomatic wars of Iraq and
Africa, was sent on a secret mission to Niger to determine if Iraqis
had tried to purchase yellowcake uranium from Africa to build
nuclear weapons. Wilson spent a week in Niger chatting with locals
about the allegation, coming to the conclusion that the yellowcake
charges were probably unfounded. His wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA
operative. In 2006 it was reported that Plame was part of an
operation tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material
into Iran.
(WP, 7/17/05)(WSJ, 7/18/05, p.A4)(AFP, 5/2/06)
2002 Mar, Radio Afalla went on
the air.
(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 31, In eastern
Niger disgruntled soldiers began a mutiny in N'gourti to protest
months of unpaid salaries, seizing senior officials in the region
and taking control of a radio station.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 5, In Niger a military
revolt spread to the capital, with mutinous soldiers opening fire
inside three garrisons in Niamey. Prime Minister Hama Amadou said
the city was under control after hours of gunfire.
(AP, 8/5/02)
2002 Niger’s population
of about 11 million was 90% Muslim.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A5)
2003 Jul 6, Joseph Wilson,
former American ambassador, criticized the Bush administration for
the way it used intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. He alleged
that Pres. Bush had falsely accused Iraq of trying to buy uranium
from Niger. Two White House officials soon called at least 6
Washington journalists and told them that Wilson’s wife, Valerie
Plame, was an undercover CIA agent who had worked in Niger. A State
Dept. memo was soon sent to Colin Powell on how Wilson got sent to
Niger and the role of his wife.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.28)(SFC, 7/16/05, p.A4)
2003 Niger made slavery a crime
with a penalty of up to 30 years in jail, but continued to turn a
blind eye to the practice.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.57)
2004 May 12, The Paris Club of
creditor nations agreed to cancel all $152 million owed by Niger to
the club's 19 member countries.
(AP, 5/12/04)
2004 May, In Niger a law came
into force that threatened slave-owners with up to 30 years in jail.
Anti-Slavery Int’l. estimated 43,000 slaves in Niger.
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.49)
2004 Sep 15, Eight French
speaking African countries began retiring over 1 billion in decaying
currency with new CFA francs. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo had until Dec 31 to turn
in old bills for new ones.
(SFC, 9/15/04, p.C8)
2004 US Special Forces began
training local troops in Mauritania and Mali under a program called
the Pan-Sahel Initiative. The program was renamed the Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative and taken over by Marines, who extended
the training to Chad and Niger.
(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A8)
2005 May 8, In southeastern
Niger a swarm of locusts has descended on a town, sparking fears
that the West African nation, where millions of people face food
shortages, could endure another invasion of the crop-munching
insects.
(AP, 5/9/05)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 19, In Niger some 3.6
million people were in need of food, among them 800,000 malnourished
children. About 150,000 could die unless food arrives quickly in the
impoverished West African nation of 13 million.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 21, The aid agency
Oxfam said about 3.6 million people face starvation in Niger unless
the international community responds urgently to the food crisis
there.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul, Mali officials
estimated that 4 million people faced starvation in Mali and Niger,
due to drought and locusts from the previous year. 10% of the Mali’s
population faced starvation.
(Econ, 7/30/05, p.41)
2005 Aug 3, UN agencies
increased their appeals to a total of $75 million to help 2.5
million people in desperate need of food in Niger.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 5, The UN appealed for
$80 million to fight a food crisis threatening the lives of hundreds
of thousands in Niger.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Help for the famine in
Niger was initially estimated at $ a head. The cost ended up at $23
a head.
(Econ, 7/30/11, p.46)
2006 Feb 27, A lab official
said Niger has become the second African country with confirmed
cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 Jul 6, A general strike in
Niger demanding lower prices for basic goods paralyzed the capital
of one of the world's poorest nations, following a similar attempt
last month that was met with inaction from the government.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Aug 25, In Niger the UN
food agency inaugurated a program to help feed hundreds of thousands
of people as the impoverished West African nation struggles to
recover from severe shortages.
(AP, 8/25/06)
2006 Oct 14, Two Italian
tourists, freed in Libya after being kidnapped in August in Niger,
denounced their captors as bandits and said they were mistreated
during their ordeal.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2007 Jun 22, Rebels attacked an
army base in Niger, killing 13 and wounding 30 soldiers, and taking
at least 47 prisoners.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jul 22, Niger's PM Seyni
Oumarou and military chiefs met neighboring Algeria's President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika to discuss cross-border cooperation against
Tuareg-led rebels in Niger's desert north.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Aug 24, Niger’s Pres.
Mamadou Tandja declared a state of alert in response to a growing
rebellion by the Tuareg.
(Econ, 9/15/07, p.62)
2007 Sep 15, Niger was
described as the poorest country in the world. Northern Niger, rich
in natural resources, produced some 3,500 tons of uranium per year.
(Econ, 9/15/07, p.62)
2007 Sep 20, In Niger Moussa
Kaka, a reporter for Radio France International and director of a
private radio station that has reported heavily on the Tuareg
rebellion, was taken into custody for "conniving with the enemy" in
his conversations with members of the Tuareg rebel group, the Niger
Movement for Justice.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Oct 25,
Niger's Tuareg-led rebels allegedly killed at least 12
soldiers and destroyed two army vehicles in the desert north of the
central African country, but the military denied this.
(Reuters, 10/27/07)
2008 Jan 16, Niger authorities
formally charged two French journalists with threatening state
security for attempting to report on rebel groups in Niger's
volatile north, a crime punishable by death in the West African
country.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Mar 16, Tuareg rebels
(MNJ) in Niger killed a police officer and a republican guard in an
attack 200 kilometers north of the capital Niamey.
(AFP, 3/18/08)
2008 Apr 30, In Niger a summit
of nine west African states convened in Niamey to consider a
proposed 20-year, 5.5 billion euro (8.6 billion dollar) program to
rescue the Niger River from extinction and guarantee the future of
110 million people.
(AFP, 4/30/08)
2008 Jun 21, Four French
nationals, all Niger-based employees of the nuclear company Areva,
were abducted by rebels from the Movement for Justice in a part of
Niger known for its uranium mines. They were freed on June 25.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 27, Niger government
troops clashed with ethnic Tuareg rebels, leaving at least 17 people
dead.
(AP, 6/27/08)
2008 Aug 18, Niger's Tuareg
rebel leader Aghaly ag Alambo said his fighters would lay down their
guns and, together with neighboring Mali's Tuareg rebellion, submit
to mediation by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
(AP, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 24, In Niger dozens of
land mines accidentally exploded during a ceremony in which a group
of former rebels were handing over arms, killing one person and
wounding about 40 including the regional governor.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2008 Oct 27, A West African
court ordered Niger to pay compensation to Hadijatou Mani (24), who
was sold into slavery at age 12 and held for a decade. She had been
forced to work as a domestic servant and a sexual slave until 2005.
(SFC, 10/28/08, p.A4)
2008 Dec 2, In Nigeria
authorities in central Plateau state announced the arrest of 16
alleged "mercenaries" from neighbouring Niger. Isa Ibrahim, the
Nigerien Ambassador to Nigeria, said that those arrested had been
living in Jos for several years as water vendors.
(AFP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 14, On the Niger-Mali
border Tuareg rebels of the Front for the Forces of Redress (FFR)
kidnapped Robert Fowler, a Canadian UN special envoy, and Louis
Guay, a Canadian diplomat, along with their local driver. Days later
the FFR made contradictory statements both claiming and condemning
responsibility. On March, 2009, rebels released the driver. The
Canadian diplomats were released in April, 2009.
(AP, 12/16/08)(http://tinyurl.com/djsmd7)(AP,
4/23/09)
2009 Jan, Four tourists, two
Swiss, a German and a Briton, were kidnapped on the Mali-Niger
border. They were transferred to Al-Qaida's North Africa branch,
which asked for a ransom and the release of a radical Islamist
preacher held in Britain. A Swiss and a German tourist were released
in April. Edwin Dyer of Britain, was killed by his captors on May
31. The 2nd Swiss citizen, Werner Greiner, was released in July.
(AP, 4/23/09)(AP, 7/12/09)
2009 Feb 6, Nigeria’s
government reported that 84 infants and children have died after
swallowing My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture, a teething syrup laced
with diethylene glycol. A failed bid to smuggle a bus filled with
rice into Nigeria from Niger left seven people dead including two
customs officers set ablaze with petrol.
(SFC, 2/7/09, p.A2)(AFP, 2/8/09)
2009 Feb 27, The UN Children's
Fund said 53 million children are being targeted by a mass
immunization drive against polio in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. Some 844 polio cases were
reported in the 8 countries in 2008, 95% of them in Nigeria.
(AFP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 27, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy wrapped up his mini-tour of three African countries,
after meeting with Niger leader Mamadou Tandja. This followed visits
to Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
(AFP, 3/27/09)
2009 Apr 9, A Niger government
minister said Tuareg rebels have agreed to lay down their arms and
join a peace process in the desert West African nation.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 May 3, In Niger Tuareg
rebels fighting the government released their last hostage. Mamane
Louali, who was captured in June 2007, was released at the airport
in Agadez, a town in the country's far north and one of the
traditional bases of the nomadic Tuaregs.
(AP, 5/3/09)
2009 May 4, Niger’s Pres.
Mamadou Tandja accompanied representatives of French energy giant
Areva at a ceremony marking the beginning of a new uranium project
in Imoraren. The site is expected to boost Niger's uranium
production from 3,000 to 5,000 tons per year.
(AP, 5/4/09)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria,
and Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 29, Niger’s Pres.
Mamadou Tandja issued a decree dissolving a constitutional court,
which had rejected his bid to hold a referendum to change the
constitution so he could extend his time in office. The next day
opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou, expressed outrage over the
president's disbanding of the court, calling the move equivalent to
a coup.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jul 3, Algeria, Niger and
Nigeria signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan
gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.
(AFP, 7/3/09)
2009 Aug 4, In Niger clashes
erupted as citizens voted in a constitutional referendum to extend
President Mamadou Tandja's long rule amid low turnout after an
opposition boycott in the uranium-rich African nation. On Aug 7 the
Electoral Commission released provisional results saying that 92.5%
of votes cast supported a new constitution that would allow
President Mamadou Tandja to stay in power. About 68.3% of all
registered voters participated.
(AP, 8/4/09)(AP, 8/7/09)
2009 Sep 22, The UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced that flash floods
and lighting have claimed 187 lives and affected 635,273 people in
west Africa since the rainy season started in June. This included
103 dead in Sierra Leone, followed by Ghana (24), Mali (20), Ivory
Coast (19), Burkina Faso (8), Niger (7) and Senegal (6).
(AFP, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 27, In Venezuela Pres.
Hugo Chavez proposed that South American and African nations unite
to create a cross-continental mining corporation to keep control of
their resources. Chavez made diplomatic inroads in Africa at a
summit of South American and African leaders where he offered
Venezuela's help in oil projects, mining and financial assistance.
Venezuela signed agreements to work together on oil projects with
South Africa, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan and Cape Verde.
(Reuters, 9/27/09)(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Oct 5, A UN agency said
Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger
suffers the lowest, as it released Human Development Index, a
ranking that highlights the wide disparities in well-being between
rich and poor countries.
(AP, 10/5/09)(http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/)
2009 Oct 20, Niger held
elections. On Oct 24 the electoral commission said the ruling party
had won a majority of votes in parliamentary elections. The official
results said President Mamadou Tandja's party received 76 out of 113
seats in the national assembly. The vote came just two months after
a referendum passed allowing Tandja to extend his rule for years
past the constitutional limit. The opposition protested the
referendum, saying it granted Tandja near-totalitarian powers, and
boycotted the elections.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 21, ECOWAS suspended
Niger following its failure to comply with the 17th October 2009
Decision of Heads of State and Government to postpone the
legislative elections of Tuesday, 20th October 2009. ECOWAS
suspended Niger on account of bad behavior by President Mamadou
Tandja (71).
(http://news.ecowas.int/presseshow.php?nb=113&lang=en&annee=2009)(Econ,
2/27/10, p.56)
2009 Dec 23, The White House
said President Obama has removed Madagascar, Guinea and Niger from a
list of African countries receiving trade benefits, but reinstated
Mauritania. The US froze most aid to Niger and imposed travel bans
on some officials in response to President Mamadou Tandja's moves to
extend his rule over the impoverished West African nation.
(AFP, 12/23/09)(Reuters, 12/23/09)
2009 Dec 28, In Niger
unidentified gunmen in the remote western desert shot dead 3
tourists from Saudi Arabia.
(SFC, 12/29/09, p.A2)
2010 Feb 18, In Niger armed
soldiers stormed the presidential palace and witnesses said the
president's whereabouts were unknown after heavy gunfire. Pres.
Mamadou Tandja (72) was deposed in a military coup after he stayed
in office months beyond his legal mandate.
(AP, 2/18/10)(AP, 1/17/11)
2010 Feb 19, In Niger a junta
that seized power in a coup named a platoon commander as its leader,
hours after soldiers announced on state TV that their group was in
charge of the uranium-rich country.
(AP, 2/19/10)
2010 Mar 1, Niger coup chief
Maj. Salou Djibou signed a decree appointing 20 ministers. Five of
the posts went to women and five to officers.
(AP, 3/2/10)
2010 Mar 31, Niger's police
director said police have arrested more than 600 people in an effort
to crackdown on recent crime and insecurity in the capital.
(AP, 3/31/10)
2010 Apr 21, The Algerian
Defense Ministry said Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger are
opening a joint military headquarters in the Algerian city
Tamanrasset, in a united effort to combat terrorism and kidnapping
in northwestern Africa. The Committee of Joint Chiefs (CEMOC) was
based in Tamanrasset.
(AP, 4/21/10)(AP, 12/20/11)
2010 Apr 22, Al-Qaida in North
Africa kidnapped Frenchman Michel Germaneau (78) in northern Niger.
On May 14 a militant Web site said it wanted to trade him for the
group's prisoners in France and other nations. A day before the
kidnapping, four Sahara Desert nations opened a joint military
headquarters in the Algerian city of Tamanrasset to combat terrorism
and trafficking. On July 25 al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it
had killed the 78-year-old French hostage in retaliation for the
killing of six al-Qaida members in a recent raid by Mauritanian
forces aided by the French military.
(AP, 5/14/10)(AP, 7/25/10)
2010 May 15, Niger government
spokesman Mahamane Laouali Dan Dah said that more than 21,000 tons
of food would be given to 1.5 million people in need.
(AP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 21, Nigerian officials
and residents said hundreds of Niger nationals, mostly women and
children, have flooded into the country in search of food.
(AFP, 5/22/10)
2010 Jul 2, The Geneva-based
World Food Program declared its work in Niger an "emergency
operation" after a survey found a sharp rise in malnutrition rates
among young children. WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said 16.7
percent of children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition
in the African country.
(AP, 7/2/10)
2010 Jul 9, Aid agency Oxfam
warned that the food crisis gripping the Sahel region of Africa was
reaching disastrous levels and called on governments and the
international community to act now. The crisis stretched across the
region taking in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern
Nigeria.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Aug 14, Aid officials said
Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with
almost half the country's population in desperate need of food and
up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition.
Villagers described the situation as worse than in 2005, when aid
organizations treated tens of thousands of children for
malnutrition, and worse even than 1973, when thousands died.
(AP, 8/14/10)
2010 Sep 16, In Niger armed
assailants kidnapped 7 people, including 5 French nuclear experts, a
person from Togo and a person from Madagascar, near the uranium
mining town of Arlit, in the northern Sahara desert region. 3 of the
hostages were released in February, 2011.
(AP, 9/17/10)(SFC, 9/22/10, p.A2)(SFC, 2/26/11,
p.A2)
2010 Sep 30, Algerian daily
Al-Watan said spy chiefs from four north African countries (Algeria,
Mauritania, Mali and Niger) have set up a center for joint
operations against Al Qaeda in the Sahel region during a meeting in
Algiers.
(AFP, 9/30/10)
2010 Oct 21, In Niger a
statement read on national radio and television said the removal of
the junta's second-in-command, intelligence minister, head of the
national guard and minister of equipment were related to a coup plot
within the national armed forces.
(AP, 10/22/10)
2010 Oct 31, Niger voters
weighed in on a new constitution that would impose presidential term
limits and pardon members of a military junta that seized power
earlier this year. The country's new constitution passed with 90
percent of the vote.
(AP, 10/31/10)(AP, 11/3/10)
2010 The population of Niger
numbered about 15 million.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.56)
2011 Jan 7, In Niger two French
citizens were kidnapped by four armed men while dining at a
restaurant in the capital, Niamey.
(www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/french-hostages-killed-niger)
2011 Jan 8, France’s Pres.
Sarkozy said 2 French hostages, kidnapped a day earlier in the Niger
capital Niamey, were killed by their captors despite a rescue
attempt by French forces.
(SSFC, 1/9/11, p.A5)
2011 Jan 18, The US Peace Corps
said it has suspended its operations in Niger and evacuated all 98
of its volunteers from the west African nation due to security
concerns following the kidnapping and murder of two French citizens
claimed by an al-Qaida affiliate.
(AP, 1/19/11)
2011 Jan 31, Niger, an
impoverished country on the edge of the Sahara, took another stab at
democracy as it voted for a new president and parliament that are
expected to take over leadership from the military.
(AP, 1/31/11)
2011 Mar 12, In Niger veteran
opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou won a presidential run-off
election. Issoufou won nearly 58% of votes against rival candidate
and ally of the ousted president, Seini Oumarou, who won 42%.
(AP, 3/14/11)
2011 Jul 19, The European
Commission resumed aid to Niger, releasing 25 million euros ($35
million) after the west African nation returned to democracy this
year following a coup.
(AFP, 7/19/11)
2011 Jul 27, Niger announced
the creation of the High Authority to Combat Corruption to step up
its fight against graft.
(AFP, 7/27/11)
2011 Aug 1, Niger security
forces broke up demonstrations by hundreds of people after weeks of
electricity cuts, with several protesters wounded and arrested.
(AFP, 8/1/11)
2011 Aug 2, Niger's President
Mahamadou Issoufou announced that 10 people have been arrested for
attempting a coup last month. He said they planned the coup to take
place overnight from July 12 to 13.
(AFP, 8/2/11)
2011 Aug 6, Niger's president
Mahamadou Issoufou took part in a national collective prayer asking
for rain. Niger depends heavily on its one annual rainy season (June
to September) to cultivate crops.
(AFP, 8/6/11)
2011 Aug 28, Security sources
said hundreds of armed Tuaregs from Mali and Niger who fought for
toppled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi have started to return to their
home nations.
(AFP, 8/28/11)
2011 Sep 5, In Libya rebels
reportedly arrested Khalid Kaim, Gadhafi's deputy foreign minister
in Tripoli. A large convoy of Gadhafi loyalists rolled into the
central Niger town of Agadez. At the head of the convoy was Tuareg
rebel leader Rissa ag Boula.
(AP, 9/6/11)
2011 Sep 6, In Libya tribal
elders from one of Moammar Gadhafi's last strongholds tried to
persuade regime loyalists holed up there to lay down their arms.
Mansour Dao, Gadhafi's security chief, was at the head of the first
convoy to roll into Niamey, the capital of Niger. NATO made a number
of airstrikes around Sirte, hitting six tanks, six armored fighting
vehicles and an ammunition storage facility, among other targets.
They also targeted the Gadhafi loyalist strongholds of Hun, Sabha
and Waddan.
(AP, 9/6/11)(AP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 9, Niger forces
arrested Colonel Abdoulaye Badie, the former number two in the junta
that relinquished power in April. Senior military officer, Hamadou
Djibo, was arrested two days later. The arrests were connected with
a pamphlet which criticizes the way the army is run and has been
recently circulating in Niamey.
(AFP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 9, In Libya
revolutionary forces battled loyalists near the Gadhafi hometown of
Sirte, but withdrew after heavy casualties. Gadhafi holdouts fired
mortars and rockets from Bani Walid. Interpol said it has issued its
top most-wanted alert for the arrest of Gadhafi, his son Seif
al-Islam and the country's ex-chief of military intelligence, all
sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes
against humanity. Niger Justice Minister Amadou Morou said that the
Libyan chief of staff of the air force, his pilot and the commanders
of two Libyan military regions have arrived in Niger.
(AP, 9/9/11)(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 11, In Libya NATO
warplanes struck several targets in areas still loyal to fugitive
leader Moammar Gadhafi. At least 12 people were killed and 16
wounded when a brigade from Gharyan and Kikla came under fire at the
western town of Asabah. Many people in Asabah were Kadhafi
supporters. 20 of his fighters were reported captured during the
fighting. Anti-Gadhafi forces in Tripoli captured the former head of
the regime's external intelligence service, Abu Zayd Dourda. Rebel
fighters pushed back into Bani Walid. A convoy carrying al-Saadi
Gadhafi (37), son of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, crossed into
neighboring Niger.
(AP, 9/11/11)(AFP, 9/11/11)
2011 Sep 15, An army patrol in
Niger attacked a four-car convoy carrying suspected al-Qaida-linked
militants, killing three of them and leading to the liberation of
more than four dozen youths that had been forcibly recruited by the
extremist group. On Oct 1 officials said 59 suspected followers of
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), arrested on Sep 16, were
simply migrants, admitting a blunder by troops who killed their
driver. The magazine Air-Info, published in Agadez, said there were
two separate incidents.
(AP, 9/15/11)(AFP, 10/1/11)
2011 Sep 29, Interpol placed
another of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's sons on the
equivalent of its most-wanted list, placing pressure on the
government of Niger to surrender a man accused of overseeing bloody
repressions.
(AP, 9/29/11)
2011 Oct 21, Niger said the end
of the Libyan conflict would allow it to lift restrictions on senior
Kadhafi loyalists who sought refuge there, except for deceased
leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Saadi.
(AFP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 31, Ali Saibou (71),
former president of Niger (1987-1993) died in the capital Niamey. He
brought multi-party politics to the west African country.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
2011 Nov 6, Niger's army
intercepted a convoy of cars traveling south from Libya toward Mali,
and a cache of arms was seized in the ensuing clash. Libyan
nationals and ethnic Tuaregs were in the convoy. One Nigerien
soldier was killed and four wounded during the clash.
(AP, 11/9/11)
2011 Nov 11, Niger President
Mahamadou Issoufou, during a visit to South Africa, said his
government has decided to grant Moamer Kadhafi's son Saadi asylum
for humanitarian reasons, adding that his brother Seif al-Islam is
not in the country. He also said Niger's army has clashed repeatedly
with arms traffickers from neighboring Libya.
(AFP, 11/11/11)(AP, 11/11/11)
2011 Nov 18, The European
Commission said an extra 10 million euros ($13.5 million) in
humanitarian funding will go on addressing "major shortfalls" in
food in the Sahel region. The crisis is affecting 7 million people
in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
(AFP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 21, In Mali army
chiefs from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, met in Bamako amid
mounting concerns over the fallout from Libya's conflict on security
in the troubled zone.
(AFP, 11/21/11)
2011 Nov 28, Niger officially
became an oil producer with the opening of a refinery run by the
state and a Chinese company.
(AFP, 11/28/11)
2011 Dec 6, In Niger 2 days of
clashes began between demonstrators and police leaving two people
dead in Zinder where opposition politician Aboubacar Mahamadou was
on trial for "preparing protest demonstrations" on November 28
against President Mahamadou Issoufou. Mahamadou was acquitted on Dec
7. Six top police chiefs were sacked in the wake of clashes.
(AFP, 12/10/11)
2011 Dec 8, The UN's World Food
Program said meager rains and diminished harvests have left between
five and seven million people in Africa's Sahel region facing food
shortages. The countries of Niger, Mauritania, Mali and Chad were
worst hit.
(AFP, 12/9/11)
2011 The population of Niger
numbered about 16 million.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
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End of file.