Niger's junta on Friday banned its own members and also government ministers from standing in elections, in a decree signed by its chief, Major Salou Djibo, state radio reported. "Ineligibility applies particularly to the president of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD, the junta) and its members," said the decree read out on La Voix du ...

The African Union wants Niger's military junta to free President Mamadou Tandja, overthrown in a February 18 coup, the body's peace and security chief Ramtane Lamamra said Thursday. "It's a constant source of preoccupation for the AU... it's both a moral and a political obligation," Lamamra said after an AU Peace and Security Council meeting. "We ...

The junta in Niger has freed ex-prime minister Ali Badjo Gamatie and four of his colleagues, but former president Mamadou Tandja is still being held, an official of the former ruling party said Friday. The military regime that ousted Tandja on February 18 and detained members of his cabinet has freed Gamatie and the former ministers of finance, justice, equipment ...

Niger nationals on Tuesday expressed mixed feelings over the make-up of a transition government which includes soldiers and several new civilian faces, announced the previous day. The 20-member cabinet, which includes five senior army officers, will run the vast, dirt-poor but uranium-rich west African country for a transitional period, paving the way for a return to democracy. The new government ...