The government and opposition parties in Niger will on Monday engage in their first negotiations aimed at ending their political dispute since the adoption in August 2009 of a Constitution extending for another three years, President Mamadou Tandja’s tenure.
The talks have been mediated by the ECOWAS facilitator Abdul Salami Abubakar, who has been in Niger for several days, sources close to the Coordination of the Forces for Democracy and the Republic (coalition of the opposition) have told APA.
Those discussions considered as the first step towards the setting up of a political transition in Niger could also be held in the presence of the opposition leaders.
As a token of its willingness to enter into discussions, the Nigerien government has announced the suspension of the warrants of arrest against the leaders of the opposition, including the former Prime Minister, Hama Amadou, who has been living abroad for several months and the main opposition leader, Mahamadou Issoufou.
The government and the opposition are at odds since the referendum of August 2009, which adopted a new constitution allowing incumbent President Mamadou Tandja to remain in office for three more years.
Mamadou Tandja, 71 years, who was elected twice in 1999 and 2004 was expected to leave power on 22 December at the end of his second five-year term of office, as provided by the country’s August 1999 constitution that brought him to power.
Source African Press Agency
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