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Niger set for historic transition in presidential vote
NIAMEY, Dec 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“My most burning desire is to hand over power in 2021 to a democratically-
elected successor,” Issoufou has said.
“This will be my finest achievement — it will be a first in the history
of our country.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has heaped praise on Issoufou, describing
him as an “example for democracy” while his foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le
Drian, declared “the quality of the (December 27) elections will be a
benchmark for all of Africa.”
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,” said Bounty Diallo, a former soldier and
professor at the University of Niamey.
– Security crisis –
Another flaw in the rosy picture is the absence of a prominent opposition
candidate.
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.
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.
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.
Last year more than 250 people died and there were more than 250
kidnappings, according to UN figures.
Jihadist attacks have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and have
come closer and closer to the capital Niamey.
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.
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.
– Poverty –
“Our country is huge and surrounded by areas of insecurity,” Bazoum told
the French radio station RFI last month.
“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.”
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.
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 air bases that are key facilities in the fight against jihadism in the
Sahel.
BSS/AFP/RY/10:28hrs