Two time Junta member Col. Hima Hamidou: "We are going to do the same thing."

In a scrum of reporters Saturday, Col. Djibrilla “Pele” Hima Hamidou found himself on familiar ground. The voice of the 1999 coup leaders, Hima Hamidou read out all the statements in the days following 9 April 1999, appealing for calm and promising a speedy return to civilian rule. Last Saturday, following a meeting the leaders of the military “Conseil Suprême pour la Restauration de la Démocratie” with ECOWAS and UN officials, the armor commander and sometime football federation president again appealed for the world to trust the Nigerien military. “In 1999 we had a similar situation and we gave power back and we had 10 years of stability. We are going to do the same thing.”

The first extensive communique from the new CSRD junta in Niger was read out on local radio Monday night, and is now available in the state controlled newspaper, Le Sahel. It lays out in some detail the structure of Niger’s government during the period of military rule. If the junta is to be believed, and most Nigeriens do seem to believe them, the transition will be short. It explicitly takes as its model the Council for National Reconciliation (Conseil de Réconciliation Nationale CRN) of the 1999 coup against Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, himself a coup leader who ended a constitutional crisis, but then decided to name himself President. After almost three years of protest, boycott, strike, and crisis, Nigerien armed forces took power on 9 April 1999. They quickly called a constitutional council and referendum which produced the 18 August 1999 Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and handed over to elected President Mamadou Tandja in December 1999.

Cmd. Daouda Mallam Wanke led the fourteen member CRN, which included several members from the current junta. The number two (or three, depending on your view) in the CSRD Col. Abdoulye Adamou Harouna was Wanke’s Aide-de-camp during the process. He’s now head of the elite ECOWAS fast reaction force, and was one of the most senior officers in the pre-coup army. One of his two brothers, all sons of a leader of the 1974 coup, is the senior paratroop officer who we saw hailed by crowds this Saturday. Appearing at an opposition rally at the Rond Point de Concentration in front of the National Assembly building on Saturday, Capt. Djibrilla Adamou Harouna promised a speedy end to military involvement. Captain Hima Hamidou from the CRN rose under Tandja to become a Colonel of the elite armored brigade and head of both the Army Football club (ASFAN), the Nigerien Football Federation, and now is near the summit of the CSRD. The heads of the eight “Zones de defense nationale”, the operational commanders of the military, all appear to be on board with the junta: Pele was head of the Niamey zone, the most important for obvious reasons. In the cases of Zinder and Agadez the Zone chiefs — invariably Colonels in a military with few Generals — seem to have directly supplanted the powerful regional governors of the former ruling party, the MNSD-Nassara. Although there is as yet to official list, other junta leaders include Colonel Ibrahim Wali Karingama, a former Fenifoot associate of Pele’s and a former head of the President’s security; General Abdou Kaza who until Thursday the Defense Adviser to President Tandja until yesterday. While the President of the CSRD, Cmdt.. Salou Djibo was a low profile officer in charge of the supply units in Niamey (and the heavy weapons store), Daouda Mallam Wanke was of the same rank on 8 April 1999. So some media reports that the junta is made up of “unknown” or “minor” officers are woefully inaccurate.

The second dubious assumption being made is that Niger, having had four coups in its history, is just experiencing its inevitable return to military “strongmen”. Niger has had more than its share of authoritarian rulers, both in and out of uniform. But the in its more recent history, the military has shown an increasing reluctance to rule. Individual military men such as deposed chief of staff General Boureima spent much of the last ten years exercising considerable influence over the Nigerien government, but they did so behind the scenes, as part of patronage networks which led to a the summit of the civilian state. The example of Baré Maïnassara, whose reign ended on 8 April in his brutal death, probably concentrated minds as well.

President Tandja, himself a Colonel who rose to State Security minister under the 1974 coup, reached his highest summit as one of the handful of political princes only after he retired. With him were a host of ex-military officers whose connections clearly paid off better out of uniform. Tandja’s eight month “Sixth Republic” might be best seen as the culmination of this politics, with elites personally tied to the head of state pushing out all other members of the political class. Any institutions which did not lead back to the President, in classic authoritarian form, were modified to do so after Tandja dismissed the opposition last June and wrote his own constitution last August. The fate former PM Hama Amadou, pushed out by his former mentor Tandja in 2007, can be seen as one more step in this process which had been going on for some time: the removal of networks of patronage other than those which culminated in President and his family (I’m thinking especially of Tandja’s wife Hadjia Laraba Tandja, whose activities we may hear much more about should her husband come to trial).

Cmd. Daouda Malam Wanké, 1999 as President of the CRN

In contrast to the muddle and confusion of the last year of civilian political crisis, the CRN junta’s coup of April 1999 was remarkable for its speed and continuity. I want to be careful here. Some observers, especially in Niger, have all but sainted Daouda Mallam Wanke as a selfless savior of democracy. The CRN had no qualms about suppressing dissent, closing down the press, and making sure they had a piece of the coming government. Junta number two General Boureima’s great power in the Tandja government dates from this period. But the most obvious example is the CRN’s non-negotiable demand that the 1999 constitution contain a clause granting blanket amnesty to the military for the events of the coup.

It is this provision, incidentally, which doomed the constitutional extension of Tandja’s mandate after the accepted two terms. A provision placed the basic structure of the executive, along with the military amnesty, under a clause which prevented any revision by any means. Hence Tandja did not, as reported by some, “revise” the constitution. He was not able to. He unilaterally terminated the constitution under powers which allowed the President to suspend it temporarily in times of emergencies such as invasions or civil wars, and then started a new one which better suited him.

But for all their faults, the CRN was never a naked grab for power. The former PM, Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, was retained by the CRN throughout the transition, as were most ministers. In May, a month after the coup, the CRN had appointed a broad group of politicians and civil society leaders as a Technical Committee to sketch the outlines of a new constitution. The next month, they formed an 80 member civilian Constitutional Committee to write an actual text. When infighting ensued after the committee recommended the creation of hundreds of posts for politically connected individuals, the CRN stepped in and endorsed a draft that was closest to the Third Republic Constitution. The 1992 Constitution of the Third Republic was the result of the most democratic and open process in Niger’s modern history, the year long National Conference which followed a popular revolt against military rule. With this decided, a referendum approved the Constitution of the Fifth Republic in July and it was promulgated in August. The CRN had also re-formed the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), a bedrock institution of the 1991-92 National Conference which had been fatally compromised by Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara following his 1996 coup. The 60 member CENI had members of all the political parties, including very small ones, and including those of the regime the CRN had just overthrown. In August, the CRN and the major candidates agreed to postpone the elections a month as parties reformed and wrangled over leadership. The presidential elections took place in two rounds on 17 October and 24 November, with parliamentary elections simultaneous with the second round. After Tandja’s victory in the second round, Wanke handed over the government on 23 December 1999.

So the 1999 experience, which the 2010 leaders say they wish to replicate, is one marked by continuity and reconciliation amongst the class of the the political elite. Nigeriens are watching today’s events with that template, and those expectations, in mind.

The contents of the first long communique on government structure, Monday’s “Communiqué du Secrétariat Général du gouvernement”, and the nominations of officials to go with it, conform to the 1999 model and flesh out the specifics of the CSRD regime. First the appointments.

The communique is not signed by a military officer, but by Larwana Ibrahim, as “Secrétaire Général du gouvernement”. Larwana was Adjunct Secretary General of Government — essentially the administrative director for the head of government — from 2000, and was moved into the top spot after the previous head, Lawal Kader, left office on the heels of deposed Prime Minister Hama Amadou in July 2007. Larwana Ibrahim, incidentally, signed the decree by Tandja Mamadou which dissolved the Parliament last June, setting off this crisis. Osmane Mahaman, named Director of the Cabinet of the President of the CSRD, was Administrative director of the last three PM’s of the Tandja regime: from the lukewarm Tandja-ist Seyni Oumarou, to the fiery loyalist (if temporary) PM Albadé Abouba, to the technocratic if corrupt Ali Badjo Gamatié.

Alkaly Alhassane is named as Assistant Director of the Cabinet of the President of the CSRD. Described in the release as a sociologist, he might be better know for having been “Conseiller spécial du Premier Ministre” under PM Hama Amadou in 2000 and having been DG of Niamey’s transit system (what there is of it), the Société des transports urbains Niamey, last year.

The CSRD leaders (standing, l-r): Cmdt. Salou Djibo, Gen. Abdou Kaza, Cols. "Pele" and Harouna

The actual communique sets out the government which will rule the nation during the as yet undefined transition period, in much the same terms as a constitutional document. Like the CRN, the CSRD is no democratic institution. It is formally run by the President of the CSRD, whose word is absolute, and whose right to appointment and rule is presumed. Perhaps troubling, the high courts, which Tandja dissolved and reconstituted as puppet institutions after June 2009, are again dissolved and named by the CSRD President. The junta acknowledges no check on its power. But this too is identical to 1999.

The reviled press board, the CSC, is also dissolved and replaced with the National Observatory of Communication (ONC), a name last used when the body was dissolved and reformed during the 1999 rule of the CRN. A once independent body with members chosen by press and civil society groups, the CSC has been transformed by Tandja into a press censorship board, as it had been under Baré Maïnassara. The names of the courts, and all the other institutions created in this decree are identical to those created by the CRN.

Finally, a body is created to draft a new constitution, as yet unnamed, which will then be approved or rejected by referendum. Again, identical to the 1999 process.

All this is not to say the the CSRD will actually abide by the process established in 1999. They have nearly absolute power and great popularity. But the opposition bodies that came out to celebrate this past Saturday in front of the National Assembly have released their own statements in the past days. The opposition front Coordination des Forces pour la Démocratie et la République (CFDR), as well as the civil society groups and trades unions within it, and the large and activist NGO coalition “RODADDHD”, have all made statements with the same theme. They thank and celebrate the CSRD, but demand that democratic rule must return quickly, completely, and transparently.

The junta says they share this vision, and if recent history is a guide, there will be a democratic government in Niger on 1 January 2011. But no one should yet take their eyes of what may be a difficult process for which the past may not fully prepare the people of Niger.

Notice of the General Secretariat of Government: President of CSRD signs two decrees.

The President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, Chef d’Escaudron SALOU DJIBO, yesterday signed two decrees making appointments. Thus, under the first decree, Mr. Ousmane Mahaman, Administrative Director, was appointed Chief of Staff to the President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

- Finally, under the second decree, Mr. Alkaly Alhassane, sociologist, was appointed Chief of Staff Deputy Chairman of Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

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COMMUNIQUE OF THE SECRETARIAT GENERAL OF GOVERNMENT
22 February 2010

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The Head of State has signed a decree on the organization of government during the transition period

The President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, Chef d’Escaudron SALOU DJIBO, signed Monday, February 22, 2010, an order on the organization of government during the transition period.

Under this order:

The government of Niger is a republic. Being so, it reaffirms its commitment to the principles of the rule of law and pluralist democracy.

Recognizing its responsibility to the people of Niger, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy ensures the preservation of national unity and social cohesion.

It assures everyone equal before the law irrespective of sex, social origin, racial, ethnic or religious background.

It also guarantees the rights and freedoms of the individual and the citizen as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the African Charter on Human Rights and Societies of 1981.

It guarantees the restoration of the democratic process operated by the Nigerien people.

All rights and duties are retained conforming to the above the laws and regulations.

The government of Niger is and remains bound by international treaties and agreements previously signed and duly ratified.

The Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) is vested with legislative and executive powers until the establishment of new democratic institutions.

The Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) is the supreme arbiter of policy and direction of the nation.

It is headed by a President who serves as Head of State and Head of Government.

The President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) by order appoints a Prime Minister and other members of the transitional government.

The President may end to their functions in the same manner.

The President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy is the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

He signs all orders and decrees.

He makes all civil and military appointments.

The President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy may delegate certain powers to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister leads and coordinates government action in accordance with guidelines established by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

There shall be created, in place of the dissolved Supreme Court [Dissolved by Tandja after ruling against him last May, reconfigured as a Presidential appointed court], a State Court [Cour D'Etat] whose composition, powers and functions shall be determined by order of President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

There shall be created, in place of the dissolved Constitutional Court [under the 5th Republic, an ad hoc body of senior legislators, reformed into a presidential appointed court last August], a Constitutional Committee whose composition, powers and functions shall be determined by order of President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

There shall be created, in place of the dissolved High Council for Communication (CSC) [a once independent body, transformed by Tandja into a press censorship board], a National Observatory of Communication (ONC), whose composition, powers and functions shall be determined by order of President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

There shall be created, under the authority of the President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, a body responsible for preparing the basic texts of the Republic, including the Constitution and the Electoral Code. The name, composition and powers of this body will be established by ordinance.

The above mentioned draft Constitution will be adopted by the Nigerien people by referendum.

Following a period to be determined by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, this and other transitional institutions will establish new [permanant] democratic institutions.

A schedule of the various political deadlines will be made public by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD).

Niamey, February 22, 2010

The Secretary General of Government

LARWANA IBRAHIM

One of two types of armored cars used by the Niger Military

Reports began at coming in shortly before 9AM in NY (2PM UK, 3 PM Niamey) of sounds of weapons fire and smoke coming from the Presidential Palace in Niamey. The fighting was said to have begun around 1PM Niamey time (7AM NY) and had continued for 30 minutes. Reuters is saying the weekly Council of Ministers was captured by soldiers, including President Tandja, but that shooting has continued irregularly. There were later reported at least three military deaths when an armored car was destroyed by a heavy weapon. As the day has progressed, it has become accepted that the coup was successful, and that Tandja and his ministers are being held somewhere in the capitol. But remember that after the 1999 coup in which Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was killed by his own guard, the military reported for some days that the deposed President was being held in a safe location. Later they were forced to admit that he was shot with an anti-aircraft gun at the opening of the coup.

(See updates below)

All eyes must turn to the fate of Nigerien Chief of General Staff (and two time coup officer) General Boureima “Tchanga” Moumouni. He, along with other top officers, were named in a Jeune Afrique article last year that alleged President Tandja was paying them sizable cash sums on a weekly basis in exchange for their loyalty. (See updates below: it was later reported that he too was arrested by coup troops)

Regardless of who is involved or if it is successful (Niger has had over 30 coup attempts but only 3 successful coups since 1960) this will dramatically change Niger’s governance.

Friday Morning (Niamey). I’ve posted (above) the fullest video I have found CSRD statement. Here’s my analysis on what we have seen and might see in the coming days.

First, the fate of the defeated: we need to see Tandja and all his ministers safe. If they are to be prosecuted, it must not be by the military.

A blanket return to the Constitution of the 1999 Fifth Republic, which Tandja unilaterally and illegally ended last May might be my fondest wish, but I doubt it would happen. Constitutionally, the Assembly can’t be reinstated, as there was a 90 day window from its dissolution to do so, but the constitutional court (which Tandja illegally dismissed) could be re-instated tomorrow. Elections for National Assembly and President (term ended December 23 2009) could be quickly held and legally, things could return to normal. But I doubt that will happen. I think we are looking at a repeat on 1999, when there was a cooling off period, followed by a gathering of appointed politicians from all parties to write a new constitution with minor changes, and then a quick referendum and elections.

Next, personnel. I can not identify most officers there. Most are Green bereted Army, with Gendarme, FNIS (interior Paramilitary, Red Beret) and I think one Douanes officer (customs). Colonel Djibrilla Hima ” Pélé” Hamidou is hovering over the spokesman’s shoulder, and he’s a favorite from outsiders to lead the junta. Colonel Abdoulaye Harouna was identified by someone else. He was Major/General Daouda Malam Wanké‘s aide de camp after the 1999 coup, and is the Niger head of the ECOWAS quick reaction force. [Link to a Le Sahel article, he's in the middle of the photo] Note that Reuters and elsewhere misidentify Major Adamou Harouna, who apparently led the assault on the Presidential Palace, as the head of this force. Wrong Harouna (a VERY common name).

The obvious absences, as we noted, are Tandja’s military chief General de Division Moumouni Boureima, and General Maï Manga Oumara, Tandja’s military aide. They are the exceptions, and that tells us a lot. What we appear to be seeing here is continuity: fairly powerful members of the armed forces shaving off the handful closest to Tandja.Christophe Boisbouvier’s “Tandja face à l’armée” article of December 2009 makes quite clear the lengths (in large cash payments) Tandja had to go to to maintain military loyalty amongst General Boureima and the very highest staff. I would not now be surprised to see military “insiders” like Colonel Garba Maikido, Maj Soumaila Garba, and Colonel Salifou Mody among the new junta. The last two were previously tight with Bouremina, but also were stationed with “Pele” in the north during the Tuareg Insurgency. Salifou Mody (sometimes “Modi”) was also on Wanke’s 1999 junta. Other officers from that time to look for: Lawel Kore (who recently was in charge of Customs Police), Abbdoulaye Mounkaila, and Maman Souley. Who we’d be surprised to see were the men Boisbouvier fingered as getting the biggest payoffs from Tandja: Col. Seyni Garba, Boureima’s Aide de Camp; General Mamadou Ousseini, Army chief; and General Seyni Salou, Air Force Chief.

It will also be interesting to see if these two power brokers switch sides: Former “commissaire de police” Issoufou Sako who is said to be the man with the files on everyone, and Tandja’s National Security Advisor Abdou Kaza. Both should “know where the bodies are buried”, in some cases literally as men like Djibrilla Hima ” Pélé” Hamidou were accused by Tuareg fighters of caring out murders of civilians during the 2007-2009 Tuareg Rebellion.Now, what was said. The statement announced a nighttime curfew and the closing of borders. They said three soldiers were killed and 10 wounded. They said Tandja was safe. The rhetoric matches the name of the Junta: the “Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy”. While there were no specifics, they promised a return to democratic rule and for Niger to “once again be an example of constitutional government”.

While this all sounds very hopeful, even Wanke’s exemplary eight month transition to a new constitution and elected President seemed touch and go at moments, with testy crack downs on opposition press, and the blanket immunity from prosecution for soldiers that committed crimes. There were moments when that transition might have slid back into dictatorship, and the same is true now. We are looking at a tense coming year.

Updates, newest on top

• Interestingly, you may remember Colonel Goukoye Abdoulkarim ( also spelled Goukoye Abdul Karimou) as the unfortunate spokesman for the Army who had to readout a press release shortly after Tandja suspended the constitution last year. At the time Goukoye Abdoulkarim pledged that the Army would remain neutral and above all political fights. Read that statement From an AFP report of June 30 2009. As a Lt.-Col. in July 2007, he read also out the current government line damning the Tuareg insurgency as being “backed by foreign forces.” I am sensing continuity of institutions here.
• 17:00 NY/ 23:00 Niamey : We have no other part of the statement yet, but I’ll translate what I can find. Le Monde pads out the AFP wire with some quotes from residents of Niamey. One woman says that no one saw any soldiers away from the palace move to take part in the coup or fight it. Not a ringing endorsement for either side.
• 16:50 NY/ 22:50 Niamey : AFP reporting the first broadcast of the new government. Col. Goukoye Abdoulakarim:
  

  “The Conseil suprême pour la restauration de la démocratie (CSDR), of which I am the spokesman, has decided on the suspension of the constitution of the sixth republic and the dissolving of all institutions which it created.”

• France 24 has the first photos of the Presidential Palace with RPG or cannon damage. They’ve also been looping footage of civilians panicking near the Petit Marche (I assume) from around 13:00 Niamey time for several hours. Their coverage has been well linked in to French government sources in Niamey. I do have to take issue with Douglas Yates (teaches in Paris, Gabon expert, quite clever) who they interview. He claims the political opposition must be behind this because they stand to benefit. This seems unlikely, as their clumsy attempts last year to start a coup failed, and that’s not how Nigerien coups have happened in the past (well, MAYBE 1999, but that’s debatable). Coups tend to be clean sweeps of the top of the political class, to which elements of the previous political class are later lured as junior members. I would point the inter-military conflict (younger officers against older), especially as the top officers are all quite publicly on the take, and may not be sharing. As things tightened up financially, I can’t see the lower ranks benefiting much. It’s not a surprise that the Council of Ministers prior to this (last week) more than tripled base recruit pay from less than 3k CFA a month to 10k, and named a man seen as a Boureima loyalist to inspector of the Army. There have been many shuffles in the FAN over the last year, and this speaks to the rivalries in the ranks. Now, did politicians (both Nigerien and foreign) try to spark this coup? Likely yes. But look to the internal dynamics to see why it happened now.

The first image, from AFP and used by France 24, of damage to the Palace.

• 15:20 NY/ 21:20 Niamey : Les Afriques has run with the story that Colonel Djibrilla Hima ” Pélé” Hamidou is the “New Strong Man of Niger”. It reports that Tandja is being held, and Pélé (biopic below) also arrested General Boureima at his residence. Le Pays (via Fasozine) is also claiming Tandja is safely held by the coup, but points to an anonymous press release as the source of Major Adamou Harouna’s leadership. Neither of these can be confirmed, but Les Afriques says we’ll get an announcement at 20 hours GMT, which has past. Les Afriques also claims the armored force came out of Zinder.
• 15:00 NY/ 21:00 Niamey : The Nigerian interim president and just reconfirmed ECOWAS head Goodluck Johnathan has condemned the coup, according to the Osun Defender. Still reports that TV and Radio are waiting on an announcement, and all the cabinet is being held at an undisclosed location, according to Paris.
• Tandja is reportedly held either in the CSC (communications) headquarters or the Tondibiya military camp south of town. France 24 is claiming that Major Adamou Harouna is the the son of the more famous Col. Adamou Harouna. Col. Harouna took part in the 1974 coup, having joined the FAN from the French Army in 1960. He served under the military regime of Seyni Kountché. He was promoted up to colonel, made military prefect (governor) of Niamey from 1979-81, Dosso from 81-83, but then fell out with the General, as most officers he was threatened by did. He was thrown into jail in 1983 on treason charges, but released and rehabilitated after Kountché’s death in 1987. He was appointed chief of veterans affairs (a military post) in 1988. About his son, I assume we will discover much more in the coming days.
• 13:30 hours NY/19:30 hours Niamey : Nigeriens are reporting the coups HAS succeed, is holding the (former) President Tandja, and is led by a Major Adamou Harouna. Other floated names: A Capt. Saley and Colonel Djibrilla Hima ” Pélé” Hamidou. Conflicting reports claim that Boureima is either behind these officers, or they rose up AGAINST Boureima.
• 13 hours NY/19 hours Niamey : Unconfirmed and anonymous reports say Radio Sahel is in the hands of the Coup troops and is playing “patriotic music”. The rumor is that the nightly news, broadcast about now, will clear up who’s in charge.
• 12:43 NY time : Reuters is reporting out of Paris that Tandja is being held by coup troops. The source is a French Diplomatic official: “There is still some confusion but it seems that President Tandja and his ministers are in the hands of mutinous soldiers, that they are being held.” A civilian expat in Niamey is reporting that there is still no statements by local media or government.
• 12:30 NY time : AFP reports the story of a witness who saw a 3-4 soldiers killed when their armored car was hit by heavy fire. They are the only known dead so far. It remains unclear who won the firefight at the Palace, and were the President is.
• 11:50 NY A Jeune Afrique report is also naming Pélé as the man leading the coup attempt. Some sources are quoting witnesses who say the coup was successful, others quote witnesses who say the opposite.
• Email rumor says the the coup troops were led by Colonel Djibrilla Hima ” Pélé” Hamidou. Djibrilla was spokesman for the 1999 coup who was famously kidnapped by lower level troops led by Commandant Namata Samna Boubé in June 2000. Released, (and three soldiers imprisoned until 2008) Djibrilla was reportedly close to Boureima, put in charge of armored troops, and fought against the recent northern insurgency. In 2008 he was moved to command Zone de Defense 1 (Niamey), and in 2009 moved to head the Army football team (ASFAN) and then the Niger Football Federation, while retaining his commission. There’s no proof yet he was really involved, but he’s an obvious choice.
• 11:30 NY time: France 24 TV just reported that witnesses say the soldiers who stormed the Presidential Palace “left with the President”.
• 15:30 GMT: Reuters now is quoting a French Diplomatic source saying that the coup was “short lived” and “an attempted coup d’etat” which had been contained in the barracks of the Presidential Guard. Another source said that they traveled across the city at 15:00 GMT and without seeing any military personnel.
• Paris demande aux Français de rester chez eux AFP. It seems the only two reporters on the ground are from Reuters (Abdoulaye Massalatchi) and BBC (Idy Baraou). France is telling the ~500 Europeans in Niamey to stay inside. Reuters is the only one reporting the President is captured, but all the sources are now talking of heavy weapons being used against the palace at the beginning of the fighting, and military blocking streets across the Plateau of north central Niamey, home to government offices, embassies, etc.
• Niger’s leader Mamadou Tandja ‘held by soldiers’
• Reuters 2:28 PM GMT
• The BBC is reporting four military installations within a mile of the Palace. This just scratches the surface. The Armed forces of Niger (FAN) include the Army, Air Force, the FNIS (a paramilitary force controlled through the Ministry of the Interior), the Gendarmerie (in charge or rural policing and government installations), the Police Nationale (engaged in what we would think of as civil policing), the Medical Corps, and the reserves. There is a Joint Staff, which was expected to answer to the Minister of Defense under the old 5th Republic, but in practice answers directly to the President. This is General Boureima. The Army (Armee de Terre, excluding Air/police/FINS), below him, is divided into 8 “Defense Zone” commands, roughly matching the Regions. Zone 1 (Niamey and Tillabery) is headquartered in Niamey, commanded by Gen. Mamane Ousseini. General Maï Manga Oumara is the presidential military adviser (Chef d’Etat-major particulier) and I believe also commands the President’s guard: the Republican Gard, formerly the Presidential Guard.  This had been a Tuareg unit under president Diori, and fought the 1974 coup.  It was thereafter disbanded. Most FAN administration is run from the large Tondibiya military and police complex near the Airport, south of the city center, where the training school is located, along with the Army hospital and the Gendarme training school.
• Reuters is reporting a Niamey Police claim that “the attackers came from outside the city in armored vehicles.” The small armored units of the FAN are based in Tahoua, a couple of hours (at least) to the northeast.

"Cri inacheve?": Adamou Idé's first book of poetry from 1984.

Adamou Idé is no slouch. An acclaimed poet and novelist, Adamou left his Niamey home to study in the Sorbonne and return to Africa as a government official and to work internationally for La Francophonie. A progressive, he authored the Labor Code used under the Third Republic which followed the overthrow of the military dictatorship in 1991. But since winning the nation’s highest poetry prize in 1981, he is best known for writing less dry documents. His poetry, both in French and Zarma, was first collected in published form in 1984, and he has written several volumes of poems, three novels, adapted writing for screenplays, and even penned politically satirical short stories in Zerma that are used in Niger’s schools.  Its title “Wa sappe ay se!” is Zarma for “Vote for Me!”

There’s little in English about or by him, but his 2005 appearance at the Medellin Festival of Literature brings us one of his poems, translated into English. The poem, “J’ai Peur” (“I’m Scared”) is a sparse, hard indictment of the general, the dictator, and the presidents everywhere in this world today, who crush the joy from our lives because of their own fear of our power. One of the festival’s amazing collection of African poets reading their works, shows Adamou reading this.

I’m Scared!

I’m scared!
 Yes, I do not conceal it from you
 I say it: I’m scared!
 I’m scared
 Of all anthems you sing
 Elixirs vomited noisily
 Brought forward
 I’m scared of your flags
 cracking in the wind of your madness
 I’m scared!
 To you I confess my fear
 I’m scared of your erected tents
 Sparse in the flowered gardens
 I’m scared of your adult games
 In the pedestrian corridors
 I know that one day
 You will shoot me!
 I’m scared
 Yes, I confess my fear
 I’m scared of your gloved hands
 Hiding numerous cactus
 I’m scared when a child
 Claims for life in his cold cradle
 I’m scared when he shows ecstasy
 I know that one day
 You will shoot him!

Adamou Idé writes: “…From my very inside, an acute feeling of injustice and bitter revolt emerged. I think I have not tried to understand… and I have cried: it was the voice of poetry! It became a weapon and a tribune for protest and denunciation. I claim for liberty, solidarity, brotherhood among men and I think that in every man there is a poet: But I also feel that poets are feared by those in power that use violence, who are prosperous at the expense of the collective suffering. When they are denounced, some poets are imprisoned, tortured, killed or exiled as if this was enough to kill the power of the word in them. The poets continue paying a harsh tribute for their liberty of thought. Again, poetry appears as the last bastion for the struggle for liberty! In these times, some powerful men of this world believe they are able to enslave others by means of unilateral thought, unfair economical laws, unjust wars and they want poets to speak in one way or another. Now, more than ever, we need poetry and poets committed to the struggle for peace, justice and tolerance! Lullaby poetry is intended for making children sleep, meanwhile bombs fall and destroy their legs: I have never believed in this kind of “colorless” and “odorless” poetry. I believe in words that name suffering and that wake up hope in open furrows by misery and tears. The poetic writing has allowed me to live an incredible adventure. An always-new adventure in a mysterious world of words. In the poem one feels that the agitated life of the words is being written, that they heap together to find a place in the verse, they hug each other to create rhythm, to provoke or stimulate the reader’s senses, and one never knows when the poem is finished or if it’s the poet that being tired has put down the weapons. But what is the matter if the poem is there and sings before you the real love and liberty!… “