Niger's military plans to run the uranium-exporting country until politicians agree on a new constitution

NIAMEY Niger’s military plans to run the uranium-exporting country until politicians agree on a new constitution and are ready for fresh elections, West Africa’s regional mediator said after meeting the junta on Sunday.No timeframe has been set for the transition back to civilian rule but a spokesman for the junta said on Sunday that elections would be held “as soon as possible” and the situation was similar to a coup in 1999 that led to transparent elections.

Niger’s military ousted President Mamadou Tandja in a swift coup last week, putting an end to months of political wrangling between him and the opposition.The seizure was formally condemned but it is also widely seen at home and abroad as a chance to end a political impasse.”They have assured us there will be an opening for everyone here in Niger, for an inter-Nigerien dialogue,” Mohamed Ibn Chambas, president of the ECOWAS Commission, told reporters after meeting the military junta.

“It is this process that will lead to a new constitution and credible elections,” Chambas added. “They said they want a short transition that ends as soon as possible, but it is also the political dialogue that will define the timetable.”Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Niamey on Saturday to show support for the army, but also to call for elections to be organized.Tandja and his rivals were locked in a dispute over the president’s extension and deepening of his powers last year, a move that drew criticism and sanctions from abroad.

Although he held a successful referendum that officially gave him three more years in power after his mandate ran out in December, the row divided the nation. The military ended it by blasting their way into Tandja’s palace to arrest him.The junta says it had to act to end tensions.”We were encouraged by the fact that the authorities themselves are mindful that this is not their normal function and they are eager to finish this task and go back to their normal military and security duties,” Chambas said.

COUP-HAPPY ARMY?

It was the third coup in West Africa in the last 18 months, in what some observers say is an alarming shift away from democracy in a region seeking stability and investment.But a spokesman for the military junta, known as the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, said the 1999 coup, when the army ousted the president but held elections soon afterwards, should allay concerns about the military’s plans.”If you want proof, in 1999 we had a similar situation and we handed back power and we had 10 years of stability. We are going to do the same thing,” Colonel Djibril Hamidou Hima said.Hamidou Hima also rejected accusations that the army, which has ousted four of Niger’s presidents, was too eager to step in.

“This is not the case. We left the political actors to try and find a solution. This did not happen. Social tensions got worse. We didn’t launch a coup we just re-imposed legitimacy, because this had already disappeared,” he said.Hamidou Hima said Tandja was being held in a villa in Niamey. The prime minister, interior minister and finance minister are also under house arrest.Despite a flurry of international criticism and Niger’s suspension from the African Union, many in Niger and diplomatic circles say the ousting of Tandja has unblocked a political stalemate that months of ECOWAS-run talks failed to resolve. (Reuters)

Three accused al-Qaida associates have been arrested in Africa and brought to New York

drugs terrorism

WASHINGTON Three accused al-Qaida associates have been arrested in Africa and brought to New York on charges they conspired to support terrorism by smuggling drugs bound for Europe, authorities said Friday.The arrests mark the first time U.S. authorities have captured and charged al-Qaida suspects in a drug trafficking plot in Africa, in a case officials say demonstrates the spread of the terror network into global criminal activity.The three suspects – believed to be in their 30’s and originally from Mali – were arrested in Ghana earlier this week and arrived in the United States early Friday morning, according to law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

The three suspects are expected to appear Friday in federal court in New York on charges stemming from a months-long undercover investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Authorities say the men are members of al-Qaida’s North African branch, and told DEA informants that al-Qaida could protect major shipments of cocaine in the region.A criminal complaint unsealed Friday charges that Oumar Issa, Harouna Toure, and Idriss Abdelrahman worked with al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb.

Oumar Issa

Harouna Toure

The three face narcoterrorism conspiracy charges, as well as conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.Court papers say the DEA infiltrated the al-Qaida offshoot in western Africa by using informants posing as supporters of Columbia’s rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization.

In recent years, drug networks in South America are increasingly using Africa to funnel cocaine into Europe, according to U.S. officials.The three suspects allegedly claimed to be associated with al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb, and said they had been moving shipments of drugs in Africa.During the negotiations, according to law enforcement officials, the al-Qaida suspects offered to move cocaine from west Africa to north Africa for about 3,000 euros – roughly $4,200 – per kilogram.

The criminal complaint claims that when the informant asked how their drug shipments could be protected, “Issa confirmed that the protection would come from al-Qaida and the people that would protect the load would be very well armed.”

The DEA has long seen close ties between Afghanistan terrorists and the booming drug trade there, but the African case marks an expansion of both al-Qaida’s illegal activities around the globe and U.S. efforts to stop the type of black market deals that generate money for terror operations.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb is an Algeria-based group that joined Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network in 2006 and conducts dozens of bombings or ambushes each month.It operates mainly in Algeria but is suspected of crossing the country’s porous desert borders to spread violence in the rest of northwestern Africa.