<div><p>Political crisis talks between Niger's government and the opposition, due to resume in Niamey Thursday, have been postponed again in the absence of the mediator, an opposition delegate said.</p><p>"The mediator wrote to inform us that he would not be in Niamey before Sauturday, but he did not give a reason for the delay," Marou Amadou, a member of the opposition team, told AFP.</p><p>The two sides began negotiations on December 21 to try to end the turmoil sparked by President Mamadou Tandja's refusal to stand down at the end of his second term.</p><p>Talks broke off on December 24 for Christmas and were due to resume on December 29. But the meeting was later postponed till January 7 to enable the mediator appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Abdulsalami Abubakar, to attend the burial of a Nigerian former First Lady.</p><p>Maryam Babangida, wife of Nigeria's one-time military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, died in a US hospital after suffering from cancer.</p><p>At the end of the last closed door session of talks on December 24, Abubakar, a former Nigerian military head of state, said he had requested the two camps "to make written proposals on how to get out of the crisis."</p><p>Mohamed Ben Omar, a member of the presidential delegation, and Mohamed Bazoum of the opposition, told private media they have forwarded their proposals.</p><p>Niger's crisis began when President Mamadou Tandja, who has ruled for a decade, extended his mandate by three years in a referendum in August last year, which was boycotted by the opposition and criticised by ECOWAS.</p><p>His second five-year term expired last month.</p><p>He had dissolved the parliament and the Constitutional Court opposed to his plan.</p><p>Following a controversial legislative poll of October 20, ECOWAS suspended Niger from its fold while the European Union and US government also suspended millions of dollars in aid to Niger.</p><p>Washington also banned Niger officials from visiting the United States.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66480022&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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