Niger set for historic transition in presidential vote | READ DETAILS
chuks oti
Dec 24, 2020
Niger hopes to make history on Sunday when elections set it on course for its first-ever peaceful transition of power despite a raging Islamist insurgency and economic woes.
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The world's poorest country by a key UN benchmark, the Sahel nation has never had two elected leaders hand over power since independence from France 60 years ago - the last coup was only a decade ago.
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The man who has been in charge since then, President Mahamadou Issoufou, has gained high marks for announcing that he will hand the baton to his elected successor.
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Two other nations in West Africa, Guinea and Ivory Coast, have been rocked by violence this year after their heads of state pushed through changes to the constitution.
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They declared their counter on presidential limits had been reset to zero, enabling them to bid for a third spell in office - a move that triggered bloody protests.
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"My most burning desire is to hand over power in 2021 to a democratically-elected successor,ÔÇØ Issoufou has said.
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"This will be my finest achievement - it will be a first in the history of our country.ÔÇØ
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French President Emmanuel Macron has heaped praise on Issoufou, describing him as an "example for democracyÔÇØ while his foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, declared "the quality of the (December 27) elections will be a benchmark for all of Africa.ÔÇØ
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Others have sounded a more sceptical tone, pointing to the dominant role played by the army, which in 2010 forced out a highly popular president, Mamadou Tandja, who had his eyes on a third term.
Issoufou "isn't bidding for a third term because he doesn't want it, but because he doesn't have the choice,ÔÇØ said Bounty Diallo, a former soldier and professor at the University of Niamey.
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Security crisis
Another flaw in the rosy picture is the absence of a prominent opposition candidate.
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Former prime minister Hama Amadou, 70, was last month barred from contesting the vote on the grounds that in 2017 he was handed a 12-month term for alleged baby trafficking - a charge he says was bogus. In March, he was given a presidential pardon as he was seeing out his sentence.
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Mohamed Bazoum, 60, a former interior and foreign minister who is Issoufou's designated successor, is the front-runner on Sunday, after a campaign dominated by the issue of security.
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Niger is being hammered by jihadists from neighbouring Mali and from Nigeria, the cradle of the decade-old insurgency launched by Boko Haram, and by armed gangs.
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Last year more than 250 people died and there were more than 250 kidnappings, according to UN figures.
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Jihadist attacks have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and have come closer and closer to the capital Niamey.
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In August, six French tourists and their two Nigerien guides were slaughtered in the Koure National Park, just 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the city.
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On December 12, 34 people were massacred in a Boko Haram attack in the southeastern region of Diffa on the eve of repeatedly delayed municipal and regional elections.
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Poverty
"Our country is huge and surrounded by areas of insecurity,ÔÇØ Bazoum told the French radio station RFI last month.
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"This calls for more means, especially more troops... but without causing us to sacrifice what is necessary, which is the education and wellbeing of our people.ÔÇØ
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Niger ranked 189th, the lowest position of nations assessed in the 2020 UN Human Development Index.
Around 42 percent of the population lived last year on under $1.90 (1.56 euros) per day, according to the World Bank, while nearly a fifth of its surging population of 23 million relied on food aid.
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The army wants to double troop numbers, but military spending already accounts for a fifth of the state budget. The country also hosts US and French airbases that are key facilities in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel.
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— chuks oti