Amnesty International Report 2000 - Niger

Head of state: Mamadou Tandja (replaced Major Daouda Malam Wanké in November, who replaced Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in April)
Head of government: Ibrahim Assan Mayaki
Capital: Niamey
Population: 9.4 million
Official language: French
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice
1999 treaty ratifications/signatures: UN Convention on the Elimination All Forms of Discrimination against Women

In April President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was killed by members of his presidential guard. This was the second military coup in three years, a period which saw a deterioration in the human rights situation in the country. There were reports of human rights violations related to restrictions on freedom of association and expression. The culture of impunity for human rights violations which had characterized Niger throughout the 1990s was reinforced by a new Constitution, adopted in July, which guaranteed impunity to those responsible for the assassination of President Baré and other killings.

Background

The new authorities promised to hand over power to legally elected civilian authorities at the end of a transition period of nine months and to forbid the military from standing in elections. In November Mamadou Tandja, leader of the Mouvement national pour la société de développement, National Movement for the Society of Development, was elected president.

Impunity

The new military authorities presented the death of President Baré as the result of an "unfortunate accident", despite confirmation by many eyewitnesses that he had been killed by members of his presidential guard in the presence of Major Daouda Malam Wanké, who succeeded him as head of state.

As a result of increasing demands, at both the national and international level, for an independent inquiry into President Baré's death, the authorities were obliged to entrust investigation of the killing to the national gendarmerie. However, in July the new Constitution granted an amnesty to those involved in both the 1996 and 1999 coups, before the results of the investigation had been published, making it clear that the authorities had no intention of bringing those responsible for the killing to justice.

In September AI published a key testimony on the killing of President Baré. In response, Major Malam Wanké stated that the military had intended to arrest, not to kill, President Baré, who had been hit by bullets as he tried to flee.

Harassment of opponents

The new military authorities sought to intimidate those demanding an inquiry into the killing of President Baré. Several supporters of President Baré who opposed the amnesty were placed under house arrest or forbidden to leave Niamey in May.

• In June Yahaya Tounkara, the former Minister of Defence, was placed under house arrest for several days after trying to defy the order forbidding him to leave the capital.

Mass grave

In January a mass grave containing 150 bodies was discovered on the island of Boultoungoure, on Lake Chad in the Diffa region. The grave appeared to contain the remains of people expelled in September 1998 from Nigeria, where they had apparently fled to escape from fighting linked to the Toubou rebellion. The discovery was announced by members of the Front démocratique révolutionnaire, Democratic Revolutionary Front, a Toubou movement which led an armed rebellion in the region until a peace accord was signed in August 1998.

The government denied that there had been killings in this region. However, in April, after several months' silence, an information-gathering mission carried out by the High Commissioner for the Restoration of Peace confirmed the existence of a grave containing the bodies of 150 men whose names were published by the press, but no inquiry was initiated.

AI country reports

• Niger: Attacks on journalists threaten freedom of expression (AI Index: AFR 43/001/99)
• Niger: Impunity enshrined in the Constitution (AI Index: AFR 43/002/99)