VZCZCXRO3418
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHNM #0653/01 2541129
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111129Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5309
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1659
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC

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. 
 
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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