Niger: President Creates Technical Committee to Prepare

UNCLAS NIAMEY 000411 DEPT FOR AF/W AND AF/RSA PLS PASS TO USAID FOR AFR/W ACCRA ALSO FOR USAID/WA PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM SOCI PNAT NG SUBJECT: Niger: President Creates Technical Committee to Prepare Draft Constitution Ref: a) Niamey 378 b) Niamey 391 c) Niamey 357 ¶1. On June 1, President Mamadou Tandja created a five-person "technical committee," tasked to prepare a draft constitution that he intends to promote for a later constitutional referendum among the different social, professional layers of society. This action follows his dissolution of the National Assembly on May 26 (ref a) and his May 29 address to the nation (ref b). The decree also states "the committee may call upon any other person deemed competent to assist with accomplishing its task." ¶2. The committee is composed of five lawyers and is under the chairmanship of Issoufou Abba Moussa, a former president of the Constitutional Court of Niamey. The committee's vice president is the recently demoted Justice Minister Mamadou Dagra (ref c). According to previous constitution, the first version of the draft constitution requires extensive feedback from the Nigerien population before validation. Allen