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Viewing cable 09NIAMEY342, POST DIFFERENTIAL NIAMEY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09NIAMEY342 2009-05-12 15:54 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Niamey
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 
 
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