The president of uranium-rich Niger was moving forward with a highly controversial referendum yesterday on a new constitution that would remove term-limits and grant him an unprecedented three-year transitional term with boosted power.
Opposition leaders are boycotting the vote because they say it is illegal, a view shared by international donors who may respond by cutting aid to one of the world’s poorest nations.
Mamadou Tandja has ruled the desert country since 1999, twice winning votes hailed as free and fair. But in the waning months of his final term, the bespectacled 71-year-old has gone down the path of many African strongmen, breaking a promise he has frequently made to step down when his term expires on Dec. 22.
Over the last few months, Tandja has swept aside every obstacle in his path.
In May, he dissolved parliament because it opposed the plan. In June, he invoked extraordinary powers to rule by decree, as dictators and coup leaders have done across the African continent for decades.
A few days later, he dissolved the nation’s constitutional court after it ruled the referendum illegal and a violation of his oath of office. Tandja established another court in its place whose members he chose.
Tandja says he is pushing to stay in power because his people have demanded it. He says they want him to finish several large-scale projects worth billions of dollars that have gotten under way in recent months, including a hydroelectric dam, an oil refinery and what will be the largest uranium mine in Africa.
Analysts say the projects, financed by China, France and Arab nations, dwarf other foreign aid and are helping keep Tandja in power. His critics believe he wants to stay on so his family and clan can benefit from the expected influx of wealth.
The ease with which Niger’s democratic institutions have been cast aside marks a setback for a continent struggling to shake off so-called Big Men rulers who cling to power by force and patronage.
The desire to extend terms of sitting presidents is a common scourge in Africa. Though a handful of leaders have failed in attempts to extend their rule, many more have succeeded. Similar referendums have been pushed through in Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda.
The new constitution in Niger has been criticized because it was drafted by a five-member panel handpicked by Tandja.
Among the new powers written into it for the president are the authority to name one-third of a new 60-seat senate and the ability to appoint a media czar who can jail members of the press who are deemed a threat to the state.
The new constitution would also do away with Niger’s semi-presidential system of governance, replacing it with a presidential system and a prime minister with vastly reduced powers.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS