Yearbook 2008
Niger. The armed conflict in the north between the state
and Tuaregic guerrillas, which flared up again in 2007,
continued throughout the year. Milis from the Nigerian
Justice Movement (MNJ) attacked smaller cities and military
bases and carried away dozens of people. Excess permits
existed throughout the region throughout the year. The
French aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was
accused by the government of liaising with the guerrillas
and was ordered to discontinue operations. After trying in
vain to have the decision repealed, the MSF left the country
in October. The leading trade union organization said the
government's decision would have severe social consequences,
endanger the lives of thousands of malnourished children and
render hundreds of local employees unemployed.
Parliament voted in June to bring charges against former
Prime Minister Hama Amadou for corruption. He was deposed in
2007 for alleged embezzlement of state funds. A few days
after Parliament's decision, he was arrested by police. The
intervention against him aroused widespread protests and
demands for his release. He himself and his many supporters
argued that the prosecution was merely intended to prevent
him from running for office in the 2009 presidential
election.
According to
Countryaah reports, China has become increasingly present in the Nigerian
market. Following a Chinese agreement on uranium extraction
in 2007, the Chinese government company CNPC was awarded a
contract for oil production in N. in the border area against
Chad. It was an investment of US $ 5 billion over three
years, including a 200-mile oil pipeline and a refinery.
China will also expand and modernize electricity generation
in N.
However, the oil contract was met by skepticism among
trade unions and anti-corruption organizations. There was a
demand for a parliamentary review of the circumstances of
the agreement and an account of how the income should be
distributed.
In October, Niger was sentenced by a court subordinated to
the regional cooperative organization ECOWAS to pay the
equivalent of approximately SEK 150,000 in damages to a
woman held as a slave. The ruling was considered to lead to
the West African governments generally being forced to take
their anti-slavery laws seriously.
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