Covering events from January-December 2001

Republic of the Niger
Head of state: Mamadou Tandja
Head of government: Hama Amadou
Capital: Niamey
Population: 11.2 million
Official language: French
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice

A number of students were detained without trial for several weeks or months and two were still held at the end of 2001. Journalists were detained, harassed and threatened. There was continuing concern at the failure to investigate serious human rights violations, including the 1999 killing of former President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, by members of the presidential guard.

Detention without trial of students

At least 10 students, including Ousmane Abdelmoumine, secretary general of the Union des étudiants nigériens de l'Université de Niamey, Union of Nigerian Students at Niamey University, were held without trial for up to several months following clashes in February with security forces in Niamey in which a gendarme was killed and several students were wounded. The students were charged with "assaulting security forces" and "participating in violent protests". Most were released but two, including the secretary general of the students' union, remained in detention at the end of 2001.

Impunity

Despite public protests, no investigations were begun into serious human rights violations during the period of military rule from 1996 to 1999.

  • The party of former President Baré Maïnassara, the Rassemblement pour la démocratie et le progrès, Rally for Democracy and Progress, continued to press for an international inquiry into his death in a military coup in April 1999. In April 2001 the party sought an amendment to the July 1999 Constitution, which included an amnesty for all those involved in the April 1999 coup. The National Assembly rejected the proposal.
  • In May, six military officers arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing Major Djibrilla Hamidou Hima, spokesperson for the former military government, were provisionally released. No reason was given by the court. It was not clear whether they had been formally charged.
Harassment of journalists

Several journalists were harassed by the police during the year.
  • Traoré Daouda Amadou, publishing manager of the privately owned weekly newspaper Matinfo, was charged with "disseminating false news" after the publication of an article alleging that President Mamadou Tandja had gone to Morocco for medical treatment. Traoré Daouda Amadou complained that he was harassed and intimidated by the authorities, who offered to withdraw the complaint if he published a denial. Hours before the opening of the trial in May, the President dropped the charges.

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