Niger: Travel Ban for Ex-Parliamentarians; Updates on the

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NIAMEY 000653 DEPT FOR AF/W AND AF/RSA; PLS PASS TO USAID FOR AFR/W ACCRA ALSO FOR USAID/WA ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU - J MAYBURY PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM SOCI PHUM NG SUBJECT: Niger: Travel Ban for Ex-Parliamentarians; Updates on the Legislative and Municipal Elections Ref: a) Niamey 646 b) Niamey 640 c) Niamey 625 d) Niamey 609 e) Niamey 584 NIAMEY 00000653 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: The Government of Niger (GON) banned foreign travel for former National Assembly members. On September 9, the Ministry of Interior closed the reception of candidacies for the October 20 legislative elections. On September 10, President Tandja announced the local elections for December 27. End summary. -------------- -------------- GON Imposes Travel Restrictions on Ex-Parliamentarians -------------- -------------- ¶2. Following the arrest and court cases against former National Assembly members (refs a and b),GON authorities forbade 124 ex-deputies from leaving the country for an unspecified period. While the GON has not publicly announced the ban or notified it to the incumbent, GON Minister of Justice Garba Lompo told an international radio that "Currently, they are under a judicial procedure. There are over one hundred of them who are prosecuted. They will appear before the judge; therefore, for the time being, they cannot travel outside the country. Also, a certain number of former deputies have already been charged. They are under judiciary supervision; therefore, if they should travel, they have the right to make a request, and it is up to the judge to determine. But I believe that the judge has told them to remain at his disposal, for the time being." ¶3. As a consequence of the travel ban, authorities told Ms. Fatouma Zara Zeine, a member of the dissolved National Assembly, to refrain from traveling to the United States. Ms. Zeine, selected as the primary candidate for an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on "Women as Political Leaders" was to depart Niamey on September 4 for the program that began the first week of September. ¶4. In another case, on September 10, police at Niamey Airport denied former Deputy Mahamadou Issoufou access to his flight to Cotonou, Benin. (Note: Issoufou is Niger's opposition leader, president of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS),former Prime Minister (1993-1995),and former President of the National Assembly (1995-1996). End note.) The police showed Issoufou a list of 124 people whom they stated they had been instructed to prevent from leaving the country. When Issoufou asked if they had written instructions, the police said they had only "verbal instructions." When he asked them to put what they said in writing and sign, they did not do so. Subsequently, Issoufou received a summons requesting him to appear before the judge on September 14 in line with the former National Assembly audit. In the end, he cancelled his travel plans and, in a radio interview, criticized "Tandja's spiteful and dogged attitude toward those who oppose his plans... but this will fire back on him." ¶5. Some legal practitioners claimed that the travel ban against former Deputies should be carried out only if warrant for arrest has been issued against them, or based on a final court decision. According to them, these requirements have not been fulfilled. -------------- -------------- Legislative Election Candidacy Submissions Closed; Local Elections Called for December 27 -------------- -------------- ¶6. September 9 was the deadline for the submission of lists for the legislative elections scheduled for October 20 (Ref d). Twenty-eight parties including a portion of the National Movement for a Society of Development (MNSD),the main party of the ruling coalition, 24 smaller parties that supported President's Tandja's continuation plan, and three small opposition parties have submitted their lists in fifty-three constituencies. Twenty-eight independent candidates will also run for National Assembly seats. Twenty opposition parties that counted 67 out of 113 members in the dissolved National Assembly will not participate in the elections (Refs c and e). Opposition leader Issoufou said, "To participate in these elections would be to legitimize [Tandja's] coup d'etat, completed by the referendum of August 4. The upcoming elections will be held under the new constitution. We decided that we did not have to participate, and our position is clear; it is reinstatement of the August 9, 1999 constitution." ¶7. On September 10, President Tandja announced that the local, municipal elections would be held on December 27. The campaign for NIAMEY 00000653 002.2 OF 002 these elections will open on December 16 and close on December 25. -------------- ECOWAS Parliament -------------- ¶8. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, during its ordinary session for the period September 7-22 in Abuja, Nigeria, drafted on September 9 a resolution regarding the political situation in Niger. The resolution condemns the persecutions, harassment and intimidation against Niger's Deputies and other political actors, and requested their immediate release and protection. ALLEN