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Hundreds, if not thousands of people have taken to the streets of the capital, Niamey, Saturday in support of the military junta who seized power in a coup this week. Demonstrators were also out on the streets Friday showing their support for the coup that ousted the increasingly unpopular president, Mamadou Tandja. The demonstration of support comes as condemnations pour in from the international community. On Friday, the African Union suspended Niger and demanded a return to constitutional order.

The cause of democracy in Africa could have done without this latest affront. Barely six months after giving the French president an undertaking that he would leave power at the end of his second term, Niger’s president, Mamadou Tandja, has rewritten the rules to give himself power for as long as he wishes. A general election was held on 20 October to renew 113 seats in parliament, which Tandja dissolved in May to overcome its opposition to his plans to change the constitution. He organised a referendum on 4 August to obtain popular approval for new rules, doing away with...

NIAMEY — A Niger opposition chief was put back in prison Tuesday after being freed following his arrest for calling for protests against a new constitution extending the president's rule, his organisation said. Earlier in the day, Niger police teargassed a crowd of political figures and human rights activists who had come to attend the trials of the opposition leader and a prominent journalist. "Marou Amadou has just been kidnapped aboard two 4x4 vehicles by members of the Republican Guard at the prison in Niamey as he was trying to complete formalities for his freedom from prison," Ali Idrissa, a...

Mamadou Tandja, president of the desert nation of Niger, has secured another three years in office and unlimited runs at future terms, in a referendum that opposition officials have called a coup d’etat in all but name. Tandja, a 71-year-old former army colonel, who had promised to step down after his second term expired in December, thanked voters even before the official results were announced on Friday by the country’s electoral commission. Giant posters appeared in the capital of Niamey by Thursday, expressing gratitude for the “renewed confidence” of voters. The commission said Tandja’s proposal for a new constitution received...

Niger's president pushed ahead Tuesday with a controversial referendum on a new constitution that would remove term limits and grant him another three years in office with increased powers. Security forces on trucks with mounted machine-guns blocked the streets around the mayor's office in Niamey, where President Mamadou Tandja cast his ballot. Opposition leaders called the move "illegal" and are boycotting the vote. International donors may respond by cutting aid to one of the world's poorest nations. Ruler of the uranium-rich country since 1999, Tandja, 71, has twice won elections that were hailed as free and fair. But in the...

Niger voted on Tuesday in a referendum the president hopes will give him a mandate to change the constitution and rule beyond the end of his term. Mamadou Tandja’s growing authoritarianism has raised fears of unrest in Africa’s second biggest uranium producer. The European Union on Tuesday warned that Mr Tandja’s actions could lead it to cut aid. In recent months, the president has governed by decree after dissolving parliament and disregarding the Supreme Court’s ruling against his plans to extend his stay in office beyond a two-term limit. “In voting today [Tuesday], I believe I have responded to the...

NIAMEY, July 23 (Reuters) - Niger's President Mamadou Tandja will not bow to foreign pressure or the threat of economic sanctions as he sticks to plans for a referendum on prolonging his rule, the head of the uranium-exporting nation said. Tandja wants to hold an Aug. 4 vote on extending his final term which ends later this year. His plans have led to protests in Niger as well as criticism and aid cuts from donors abroad. The latest rejection of his critics came a day after Tandja told senior diplomats from the United Nations, the African Union and West Africa's...

News has a way of following U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson — even when he travels overseas. The bombastic lawmaker from Orlando was in the Niger capital this week when military officials overthrew President Mamadou Tandja in a show of force. Tandja has dissolved key government institutions in a bid to stay in power indefinitely. “He was very close to the action; he heard the gunfire” said Todd Jurkowski, a Grayson spokesman. He said the freshman Democrat already was on his way back to the United States and should land sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Jurkowski said Grayson’s stay in...

Niger's President Mamadou Tandja was detained by mutinous troops on Thursday after a coup in the west African uranium exporter that left at least three soldiers dead, military sources said. Three Nigerian military sources said the coup was led by a soldier named Major Adamou Harouna. "The coup leader has succeeded. It is being led by Major Adamou Harouna," one source said. The president and the ministers are being detained not far from the presidential palace, the sources added. Earlier in the day plumes of smoke were seen rising from the palace after soldiers attacked the building where Tandja was...

“These decisions undermine Niger’s efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law,” said Robert Gibbs in a statement Thursday. The “decisions” he was referring to have been made by Niger president Mamadou Tandja in an effort to extend his rule over that nation. When Niger’s high court ruled against Tandja’s attempt to rule for three more years, the president removed the entire court, then named an entirely new cabinet. “We are encouraged that the African Union has sent a delegation to Niger to attempt to find resolution to this political crisis,” Gibbs said...

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. government voiced concern on Wednesday over actions taken by Niger's President Mamadou Tandja to extend his rule in the West African country. "These decisions undermine Niger's efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. Tandja responded to the rejection by Niger's highest court of his plan to seek at least another three years in power by sacking the judges and naming a new Cabinet. ....U.S. concern about the situation in Niger comes at a time when Washington...