Niger: Coups d’Etat and electricity in French homes

Radio Netherland Worldwide - 22 February 2010
Niger: Coups d’Etat and electricity in French homes
Tuesday 23 February 2010
The Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD); this is what the military government of the West African Sahel country Niger, which seized power on 18 February, calls itself. 

The CSRD, led by a young and relatively unknown commander, Salou Djibo, has declared that the deposed President Mamadou Tandja is doing well. The "return to democracy" is a matter of time. However, no date has been given yet.




So how did Mamadou Tandja’s desperate attempts to remain in power conclude? In the course of 2009, he changed the constitution, which limited the number of mandates to two and then ordered elections which he won (and in which the opposition did not participate). As a result, Tandja’s popularity took a serious beating. Two days after the coup, there were demonstrations in all major cities in support of the new government. 



The West African group ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) finds itself in an embarrassing situation. In October 2009, ECOWAS had already ejected Niger following Tandja’s illegal actions - but this is a step further in the wrong direction. ECOWAS President Mohamed Ibn Chambas met with Djibo along with his colleagues on February 21 in Niger to insist on the quick restoration of democracy. The junta keeps saying that this will definitely happen. But again, no date. Niger has its own agenda.



Proven scenarios: there is a political crisis (eg a misbehaving president), the army intervenes, promises better governance - and eventually disappears from the scene. So it was in 1974, when Colonel Seyni Kountché seized power, with the approval of former colonial power France. One of the leading participants in this first coup was one Colonel Mamadou Tandja, who subsequently held various important posts under the new regime. In 1996 and 1999, the army did the same, often with the same participants. The last time the path was paved to get Tandja elected as president. Things should have remained there.


Standard promise

And it’s the same scenario all over again in Niger. The difference today is that “the return to democracy” is a standard promise. This is not a problem in Niger. The problem is that there are no guarantees that the “coup plotters” would not intervene again if the situation does not please them.



To understand the situation you need to undertake a journey of about 1000 kilometres. Close to the towns of Arlit and Akokan, lie two uranium mines; one in the open and the other underground. Imagine the money they generate. The country is among the five major producers of uranium in the world and provides almost all of the raw material for 50 nuclear plants supplying electricity to French homes. Areva, the French state company being the main player; environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, accuse the company of being above the law and of damaging the environment with its open-cast mining.



Areva is currently investing 1.2 billion euros in a new project, Imouraren. But Niger has also new customers for its uranium. Last January the China National Nuclear Corporation announced new investments in the region. Canada, Spain, South Korea and South Africa have all shown interest in Niger’s uranium.



These are surprising developments since, less than ten years ago, the nuclear industry seemed to be on the way out. The situation has changed radically thanks to the panic in the West about global warming, the realisation that fossil fuels will one day be exhausted and findings by China that it is imperative to do something about air pollution. In short: "Nuclear is back" and so are providers, including Niger.




Self-enrichment

New business in Niger inevitably offers new opportunities for self-enrichment for the elite. Although Areva, according to the French lobby group Survie, pays a ridiculously low price for supplies of uranium, the Niger government is to average 33 percent participation in mining. Moreover, mining companies pay for rights to explore and exploit uranium deposits.




All this provides a good revenue that can be shared among political leaders or the military. Therefore there are no worries for the elite in Niamey, except perhaps on the exact distribution. This explains the political instability. The remaining 15 million Nigeriens see little or no income. For them, there is international development aid, which finances around 30 to 50 percent of the national budget.
 


There is only one real threat: the Tuaregs in the territories where the mines are located, have organised two armed revolts in the past 20 years. They want more money and better representation at the top of national politics and demand that the army does not intervene in their smuggling business (cigarettes, people, weapons, drugs). At their last revolt, Areva - and therefore the security of French energy - has been their target.
 


Uranium for the world, a simmering conflict that has an international impact... Niger has become more important than what it is normally known for, that is being an extremely poor country in the Sahel region. For international partners and most Nigeriens, however, it matters not who is at the head of the country.