"Coup draws praise in Niger; In twist, junta seen as protector of democracy" by Todd Pitman, Associated Press | February 28, 2010
NIAMEY, Niger - It’s politics, upside down.
The elected president of a uranium-rich nation morphs into a despot and refuses to relinquish power, prompting the army to stage a popular coup with guns blazing in the name of democracy.
Most governments check executive excesses through sister branches - the Legislature, the judiciary. In Niger, the military has assumed the bizarre yet vital role of safeguarding democratic institutions by force - most recently by blowing a hole through the front gate of the presidential palace this month and taking hostage an entire government.
That sounds like more than just one despot, doesn't it?
The soldiers who overthrew Mamadou Tandja are vowing to restore civilian rule, an assertion that has often proved hollow among Africa’s myriad juntas. The difference in Niger, though, is profound: Most people here actually believe them.
“For democracy activists like us, it’s difficult to applaud a coup d’etat,’’ said Marou Amadou, a leading human rights worker who was jailed for a month and beaten by security forces during Tandja’s regime. “But this had to happen and we are overjoyed. There was no other way.’’
Though officially condemned by governments worldwide, Tandja’s ouster has been widely praised at home: by unions, human rights groups, civil society leaders, and local media.
But the criticism is tepid (if any; I haven't heard or seen much of anything here in AmeriKa), as in the case of another approved coup: Honduras.
Whadda ya mean WHO, readers!!!
Of course, you can be forgiven for that.
The trust is so great, in fact, that the director of one widely respected independent Niamey newspaper was working protocol for the junta....
THAT sure sounds FAMILIAR, 'eh, Amurkn?
Tandja ascended to power a decade ago through the ballot box and won elections again five years later. But in the twilight of his final term, he transformed his Islamic nation into a dictatorship, abolishing Parliament and the nation’s highest court and imposing rule by decree.
Sort of like executive orders and signing statements, right?
Been a long time since you heard any flap over them, huh, America?
Obama still issuing them just like Bush.
In a final blow last August, he forced through a controversial referendum that cast aside a constitutionally protected ban on term limits. A new constitution, which critics say was illegal, granted him three more years in power and the chance to run for president as many times as he wanted.
Tandja initially succeeded because, Amadou said, “he knew most our people fall into one of three categories. They are either illiterate, corrupt, or afraid.’’
We are SO ALIKE, my fellow Nigerians!!! Much of my nation is the same way!
The nation of 15 million on the Sahara’s southern edge has the dubious honor of being last among 182 nations on the UN’s Human Development Index, which ranks general well-being. It is regularly battered by drought and food shortages, and its lawless northern deserts have been the scene of repeated insurgencies, and more recently, kidnappings linked to Al Qaeda terrorists.
Just wondering which "Al-CIA-Duh" that would be.
This one?
Or this one?
After the referendum, a regional West African economic bloc suspended Niger from its ranks. The United States cut nonhumanitarian aid. Europe also froze vital support to a country whose budget is 40 percent dependent on donors. Amid the isolation, the putschists had little to lose. And, critics say, much to gain: Oil deposits have recently been discovered and there are plans to build the world’s biggest uranium mine.
Yes, you SEE WHY the nation makes the newspaper, right?
As for the politics, I could not care less.
That is for the NIGERIANS to DECIDE WITHOUT OUR INTERFERENCE!!
Of course, NOTHING about NIGER and the FALSE "yellowcake" story regarding Iraq (a market controlled by the French, not Niger).
(I notice no mention of the U.S. congressmen on the ground at the time in my MSM reports, either. WTF?)
“They present themselves as saviors of democracy, but are they?’’ asked Ali Sabo, a top member of Tandja’s ousted political party. “Who’s to say they won’t loot our country as other military regimes have done?’’
Like what has been done to AmeriKa?
The coup, he said, simply proves the army “is still a powerful political force that can intervene at any moment with arms.’’
Especially when we tell them to.
One reason the educated public has placed so much trust in the military is because it has a track record. Several of the top putschists engineered a similar coup in 1999, and went on to oversee free elections the same year that set the stage for a decade of democratic peace.
Except that a despot was elected(?).
Transparency International’s Aissata Bagnan Fall said the junta appeared comprised of a new generation of soldiers better educated than their predecessors, some of whom could not read or write.
Trained BY WHO, MSM?
Today, most officers have university degrees and many been trained abroad. They’ve studied human rights. Some, like coup leader Major Salou Djibou, have taken part in peacekeeping missions in Congo and Ivory Coast, giving them a firsthand look at how conflict can tear nations apart.
Related: The Quietest Holocaust You Never Heard Of
Yeah, some "peacekeeping," huh?
Also see: Congo Death Count Called Into Question
Oh, okay, yup.
Only one Holocaust™ that can't be questioned, and we all know about that one.
“They have laptops and access to the Internet,’’ Fall said. “They are aware of how they are perceived and that affects how they act.’’
Then how come Israeli leaders don't give a s***?
Still, Fall said the junta should be treated with great caution, because “you can only truly know a man when he is given money and power, and you see what he does with it.’’
What, the liberating coup treated with caution?
Why?
They tossed aside a dictator (and the rest of government; somehow that got lost in this piece).
--more--"
So what was the reporting and reaction at the time, dear readers?
Here is what the MSM in AmeriKa gave me, courtesy of New England's largest *ewspaper.
"Rebel soldiers announce coup after seizing Niger’s president" by Dalatou Mamane, Associated Press | February 19, 2010
NIAMEY, Niger - Renegade soldiers in armored vehicles stormed Niger’s presidential palace with a hail of gunfire in broad daylight yesterday, kidnapping the country’s strongman president and then appearing on state television to declare they staged a successful coup.
The soldiers also said on state TV that the country’s constitution had been suspended and all institutions dissolved. Their spokesman said it is being led by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, and asked citizens to have faith in them.
Smoke rose from the white-hued multistory palace complex, and the echo of machine-gun fire for at least two hours sent frightened residents running for cover, emptying the capital’s downtown boulevards at midday.
Radio France Internationale reported that soldiers burst in and neutralized the presidential guard before entering the room where President Mamadou Tandja was holding a Cabinet meeting. They escorted him outside to a waiting car, which drove him toward a military camp on the city’s outskirts. His whereabouts remained unknown hours later when the coup was announced.
Tandja was elected president in 1999 after an era of coups and rebellions in the landlocked desert country in West Africa. But instead of stepping down in December at the end of his second term, as mandated by law, he triggered a political crisis by pushing through a new constitution last summer that removed term limits and gave him near-totalitarian powers.
So why did the army take over the whole government and dissolve all institutions then if the problem was only one man?
Niger has become increasingly isolated since then, with a 15-nation regional bloc suspending Niger from its ranks, and the United States cutting off nonhumanitarian aid and imposing travel restrictions.
--more--"
Only a photograph the next day:
AFTER THE COUP -- The streets of Niger's capital, Niamey, were crowded yesterday after a junta seized power Thursday. Military leader Salou Djibo reopened the borders yesterday and canceled a curfew, saying "we are in control of the situation" in the uranium-rich country. The African Union condemned the coup.
And nothing since, readers, thus tipping the MSM hand of approval.
