Niger: Another Weak Link in the Sahel? Africa Report N°208 | 19 September 2013 Translation from French International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38
[email protected] Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. The Scramble for Power: Between Civilian and Military Rule (1960-2010) ................... 3 A. Old Imbalances: The Colonial State’s Weaknesses and Violence ............................. 3 B. The Failure of the First Republic (1960-1974) .......................................................... 4 C. The “Military Politicians” (1974-1990) ...................................................................... 6 D. A Fragile and Uncertain Democratisation (1990-2000) ........................................... 8 1. Short-lived regimes: The Second, Third and Fourth Republics .......................... 8 2. The armed rebellions of the 1990s ....................................................................... 9 E. The Tandja Decade (1999-2010) ............................................................................... 11 1. The “second Tuareg rebellion” ............................................................................. 11 2. The abuses of tazartché .......................................................................................