POST DIFFERENTIAL NIAMEY

UNCLAS NIAMEY 000342 SIPDIS DEPT FOR A/OPR/ALS AUDREY THURMAN and AF/EX PMO LAWRENCE JOHNSTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT ASIG CMGT NG SUBJECT: POST DIFFERENTIAL NIAMEY REF: a) STATE 41619, b) STATE 42818, c) Niamey 00108, d) 08 NIAMEY 001170 ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see para 11. ¶2. (U) On April 24, Post received Ref A announcing the lowering of Niamey's hardship differential from 25 to 20 percent. On April 28, Ref B was received advising that the decrease was due to the lower crime threat rating (from critical to high) and the improvements in airline availability under emergency travel. ¶3. (U) While post acknowledges that the Diplomatic Security crime threat rating did in fact decrease in 2007 from critical to high, post would also like to point out that Diplomatic Security is currently recommending an upward shift in Niamey's terrorism threat rating scheduled to be released in June or July 2009. Shortly after submission of post's hardship differential questionnaire in early December 2008, two Canadian diplomats were kidnapped 25 miles outside of Niamey. In January 2009 a group of four European tourists were also kidnapped in an area near the border between Niger and Mali. Four of these hostages were only released on April 22, after four months of captivity, while two hostages (one British man and one Swiss man) continue to be held. Al-Qaeda recently threatened to execute the British hostage if the Government of the United Kingdom did not agree to release an extremist imam awaiting extradition to Jordan. As a result of these hostage-taking activities, Embassy personnel are currently under even tighter travel restrictions in country and are unable to travel more than 15 kms north of Niamey towards the Mali border. In addition, on February 24, the Government of Niger extended the two-year state of alert on the northern part of the country (as detailed in post's submission of the differential hardship questionnaire and in Ref C). Travel restrictions (including a prohibition on travel after dark and restrictions on solo travel) severely limit the movement of personnel within the country, contributing to the overall sense of isolation at this post. ¶4. (U) The lowering of the Diplomatic Security crime threat rating can be attributed in part to the effectiveness of Embassy Niamey's local guard program. Although the official community has experienced fewer incidents of criminal activity, the level of overall crime in Niamey remains a concern. The Embassy has assisted 37 official Americans in the past 41 months who have been victims of crime, as reported in Diplomatic Security's Security Incident Management and Analysis System (SIMAS). This report does not/not include reports of daily crimes committed against non-Americans. If every crime in Niger were reported, the Regional Security Office would require a dedicated individual whose sole purpose would be to enter SIMAS crime activity. The Consular section has also provided assistance to five private Americans who have been victims of crime in the past year; this is a significant number, given that there are only an estimated 600 Americans in-country at any given time, and most of those are missionaries with deep roots in the community. Most recently, an American tourist was mugged by five machete-wielding robbers who held him up in broad daylight in the presence of witnesses in downtown Niamey. No one assisted the victim and the thieves fled with all of his belongings (including his passport and credit cards as well as cash). A World Bank employee was mugged in downtown Niamey on a busy Saturday morning recently, in broad daylight with multiple witnesses. He was injured to the point that hospitalization was required, and he subsequently departed post definitively. In January, the GON arrested a gang that had been burglarizing residential properties throughout Niamey. The presence of 24- hour guards serves as an effective deterrent for the official community, but home robberies occur regularly in neighborhoods where official personnel reside. ¶5. (U) The DSSR defines Hardship Differential as being designed to provide additional compensation to employees for service at places in foreign areas where conditions of environment differ substantially from conditions of environment in the continental United States and warrant additional compensation as a recruitment and retention incentive. Post submits that of the fourteen weighted factors that are considered in calculating the hardship differential, there has been virtually no change in ten of the factors (Sanitation & Disease, Climate, Social Isolation, Housing, Political Harassment, Food, Education, Recreation, Community Facilities, and Importation Restrictions). ¶6. (U) Reftel B cited the improvements in airline availability under emergency travel as another factor that contributed to a change in the evaluation of the physical isolation at post. Although Air France did in fact add a fourth flight to its weekly schedule, since April 2009 two other airlines (Air Senegal and Air Ivoire) have ceased operations to Niger completely. This has had an impact on diplomatic pouch operations (which were delivered on Air Senegal) as well as the ability of personnel to schedule travel within West Africa where access to European flight connections could be facilitated. The local airline workers union held strikes throughout the month of April that closed the airport in Niamey for one period of four days and another period of five days, requiring the Embassy to transport personnel overland to neighboring Burkina Faso (an 8-hour drive) to facilitate departures and collect returning personnel who re-routed their travel through the airport in Ouagadougou. Such occurrences are not uncommon, with the frequent cancellation of regularly scheduled flights. The local airline workers union typically strikes on an annual basis during the period of contract negotiations. The addition of one flight per week has not appreciably impacted the physical isolation of this post and in light of the fact that two other airlines no longer service Niamey, it could be argued that post is even more isolated than before. The differential report also noted the prohibitively high cost of airfare to Europe, which deters employees from taking international flights even if they are available. ¶7. (U) In December 2008 the FSHP reviewed the information entered into the post medical capabilities database in conjunction with the submission of the hardship differential questionnaire. The recently-arrived FSHP noted that the ratings no longer reflected the current state of medical care available in Niamey (as reported in Ref D). Ratings in each of the four categories were downgraded from adequate to level 1 (emergency use only): Emergency Trauma Capabilities, Lab and X-Ray, Medical Capabilities, and Medical Facilities. Post provided an e-mail copy of Ref D on December 19, 2008, to ensure that this information was considered when Allowances undertook the analysis of Niamey's hardship differential. In fact the Medical & Hospital factor comprises 10% of the weighted factors used to calculate the hardship differential (as opposed to crime, which is only 7%, and physical isolation, which is 8%). ¶8. (U) The Political Violence factor comprises 14% of the weighted factors used to calculate the hardship differential, but the hardship differential questionnaire does not contain questions on political violence. Niger is currently in the midst of an election year - with elections slated at the regional, communal, municipal, parliamentary, and presidential levels. Post reporting has highlighted the GON's delay in undertaking election preparations, the detention of the former Prime Minister and the call for "Tazartche" (Note: Hausa for "let it continue." End note.),which promotes an extra-constitutional extension of the sitting president's term (currently prohibited by the constitution, in an article that cannot be amended). ¶9. (U) Post has provided the Washington audience with reports on no less than a dozen demonstrations since November 2008 by political parties to either support or protest Tarzartche, by unions to protest taxation of salaries and benefits and increases in the cost of living, and by civil society to protest globalization and Israeli actions in Gaza. Students, teachers, and unions have demonstrated throughout the country, closing schools while demanding resolution of salary discrepancies among contract teachers. Two of these demonstrations resulted in rioting, property destruction, and arrests of protestors. Police have intervened on at least two occasions to disrupt political party meetings convened to nominate new leadership, resulting in injuries and detentions. ¶10. (U) A divisive split in the ruling MNSD party threatens to destabilize government institutions. Supporters of the former Prime Minister (Hama Amadou),who is currently seeking medical treatment abroad while on provisional release from prison, held a mass demonstration in Niamey on May 9 that attracted 20,000 - 30,000 supporters. In March, two separate community clashes resulted in the death of 28 people when conflict broke out between sedentary agrarian populations and itinerant herders. Vendors in Niamey have protested the imposition of fines for overland trucks exceeding weight restrictions at all major borders where hundreds of trucks are blocked, and in April, merchants at the Grand Marche went on strike to oppose infrastructure improvements that would lead to higher rental fees. The truck blockage has left Niamey without some basic food stuffs for days at a time. ¶11. (U) Action Requested: In light of the information provided, post requests that the Office of Allowances review the calculation of the hardship differential for Niamey. As per the DSSR, a hardship differential is established for any place when, and only when, the place involves extraordinarily difficult living conditions, excessive physical hardship, or notably unhealthful conditions affecting the majority of employees officially stationed or detailed at that place. As one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 174 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index, Niamey, Niger meets the criteria for a hardship differential. In order to attract and retain qualified staff, the differential must be set at a rate that is reflective of the current conditions and adequately compensates employees for the daily challenges faced at this post. ALLEN