Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09NIAMEY342
2009-05-12 15:54:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Niamey
Cable title:  

POST DIFFERENTIAL NIAMEY

Tags:  AMGT ASIG CMGT NG 
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VZCZCXYZ0020
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNM #0342/01 1321554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121554Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5023
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

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