{"id":515,"date":"2009-12-18T16:49:25","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T21:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomathon.com\/mphp\/?p=515"},"modified":"2010-02-23T18:37:12","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T23:37:12","slug":"niger-republic-day-opens-danger-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/12\/niger-republic-day-opens-danger-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Niger: Republic Day opens Danger Week?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pro<\/a>

Pro government march in Niamey last week demands the President stand firm.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nigerien sources are saying direct talks between the government and opposition leaders in Niamey<\/a> could begin on Saturday, a strategy that has been pushed by Nigerian mediators.\u00a0 Prime minister and frequent flier Ali Badjo Gamatie had previously promised the EU and the Nigerians such negotiations, while both supporters<\/a> and opponents<\/a> of Tandja had said flatly that there was nothing to discuss. There seems little that could be accomplished.\u00a0 Tandja has seemed to side increasingly with the hardline<\/a> supporters like Nouhou Arzika<\/a>, the crazy uber-nationalist<\/a> former protest leader (he led the anti-tax protests against Tandja and Hama Amadou<\/a> in 2005, but cleaved to Tandja during the Tuareg conflict) who’s now the populist voice<\/a> of the new Republic. I’ve previously compared him to Ivorian state sponsored quasi-fascist Charles Ble Goude<\/a>, and I think the comparison is apt. The official news is full of his opinions, as well as increasingly Kim-Jong-Il -esque hommages to the President<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite a European demands, Tandja says he will go ahead with the Municipal elections<\/a> on December 27.\u00a0 Any cancellation would suggest the “7th Republic compromise theory” might be in the offing.\u00a0 As of yet, it’s full steam ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Nouhou<\/a>

Nouhou Arzika looking friendly. <\/p><\/div>\n

It also remains to be seen if the opposition will call off protests planned for the 22nd<\/a>, when Tandja’s term was legally to end.\u00a0 This date has also cropped up in anti-Tandja pamphlets that turned up at military bases last month.\u00a0 The Arzika & government sponsored marches (officials including Tandja himself appeared at most) of last week, which followed the opposition marches on the 13th reportedly devolved into violence in opposition PNDS-Tarayya<\/a> leader Mahamadou Issoufou<\/a>‘s home base of Tahoua.<\/p>\n

Each year (for the last several) the Republic Day<\/a> celebrations take place in a different regional capitol, meaning all the top officials head out of Niamey and sit around a stadium watch dancing and giving speeches.\u00a0 This year it is the party is at Diffa<\/a> in the far distant east, home region of Tandja. This seems a particularly dangerous trip for a government in crisis, but so far Tandja has shown no worry for his throne, jetting off repeatedly and leaving his military chiefs in charge.<\/p>\n

One Burkina paper rightfully called this Republic Day (the 18th) as the beginning of “A Week of Full of Dangers.<\/a>” We’ll see.<\/p>\n

Mahamadou Issoufou<\/em><\/div>\n
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