SUMMARY
Present-day Niger became a French colony in 1922 and until the achievement of full independence in 1960 Niger’s development went parallel to the other French colonies in West Africa. After independence, Niger was run by a single-party civilian regime under the firm control of President Hamani Diori. This regime was overthrown in a coup d’état in 1974 and a small group of militaries, headed by Colonel Seyni Kountché ruled the country until the late 1980s. After Kountché died in 1987, he was succeeded by his chief of staff Colonel Ali Saibou.
Saibou’s government was soon confronted with demands from student movements and trade unions to introduce more liberal policies and to replace the single-party system with a multi-party democracy. The rising pressure eventually instigated a democratisation process in Niger. A transition government, headed by André Salifou, was put in place in 1991, which drafted a constitution and in 1993, the first multiparty elections were held that marked the beginning of the Third Republic.
Throughout the 1990s, the democratisation process suffered several backlashes. The democratisation efforts suffered a first heavy blow in 1996, when the elected government was overthrown in a military coup led by Colonel Ibrahim Baré Mainassara who declared the Fourth Republic. The results of the parliamentary elections of 1995, which had resulted in a split government and a prime minister and a president opposing each other, had served as a pretext for the coup. Baré ruled the country until 1999 when he was killed in another coup led by Major Daouda Malam Wanké. Wanké subsequently established the National Reconciliation Council responsible for drafting a constitution for the Fifth Republic following the example of the French semi-presidential system. Elections were held in July and November 1999, resulting in a coalition government of the National Movement for a Developing Society and the Democratic and Social Convention under Mamadou Tandja. Tandja’s government was eventually ousted during a military coup in 2010 after the president’s attempt to extend his political term.
At the same time the government of Niger had opened up the political space and introduced more liberal policies from the early 1990s onwards, the country also saw the rise of several rebel groups and violence erupted in several parts of the country. Niger´s population is made up of various ethnic groups. Coupled with underdevelopment, poverty and political and social marginalisation, the ethnic dimension has contributed to the conflicts that surfaced during the transition period. The major ethnic group is the Hausa ethnicity, which makes up about 53% of roughly 16 million inhabitants. Together with members of the Djerma (21%) and Beri Beri/Kanouri (6%) groups, they populate the southern, arable part of Niger, which also comprises the capital and economic hub Niamey. The remainder of the Nigerien people, including the Touareg (11%), Fulani (7%) and Toubou (less than 2%), live as nomads or semi-nomads in the arid northern and eastern regions of Niger.
Two conflicts during the 1990s concerned the status of two regions of the vast country, the northern region of Air and Azawad and eastern Niger. In the north, the Touareg, feeling politically, economically and socially marginalised, fought government forces for autonomy. The conflict in eastern Niger also had an ethnic dimension and members of the marginalised and impoverished Toubou minority took up arms to fight for autonomy of eastern Niger. Agreements were signed with Touareg and Toubou insurgents in 1995 and 1997 respectively and fighters from both groups were integrated into FAN (Forces Armées Nigériennes, Niger Armed Forces ). In addition, several Touareg rebel groups were involved in a conflict over government that lasted from 1991 until 2008 and in 2009, a peace agreement was signed. (For more information on the state-based conflicts, see texts in the database.)
The government of Niger has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
