There has been a coup d’état in Niamey, the new strong man in Niger seems to be the army major Adamou Harouna. President Mamadou Tandja is hold in captivity by the rebels.

Is this the end of the Nigerien constitutional crisis convulsing Niger since August 2010? Difficult to judge now, – perhaps the situation will improve, perhaps the situation will worse. Nobody knows.

This is the fourth coup d‘ Etat since 40 years in Niger. Niger is one the world’s least-developed nations, perhaps one of the poorest African states. But Niger is still a state. A state with some financially rewarding resources like Uranium.  But also a state where natural resource depletation,  growing demographic pressures, ecosystem degradation will enormously stress every form of government.

Finishing the short posting with the question – how long will the news of the Coup d’état in Niamey take to reach the world (outside the francophone world) ( BBC news has posted this report „Niger leader Mamadou Tandja ‚held by soldiers‘ „ ), when will the news arrive in Germany? Is anybody in Germany concerned by political struggle in Niger?  Perhaps some motor-bike tourists searching the famous „Arbre du Ténéré„? Perhaps?

P.S. I (19.2.2010 8:40): The eastern Sahel , Niger included, is facing a new hunger crisis  – and perhaps this should also be taken into consideration in our analysis of the current political process in Niger.

P.S. II (19.2.2010 11:40): The new strong men seems to be chef d‘ escadron (major) Salou Djibo. He heads the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (French: Conseil suprême pour la Restauration de la Démocratie , or CSRD).

P.S. III (19.2.2010 11:50): At 11:40 19.2.2010 the SPON published an article called „Putsch – Militär übernimmt die Macht in Niger“ – describing the coup and analyzing the actual political situation in Niger.