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Amnesty International Report 1994 - Niger

Some 70 members of the Tuareg minority ethnic group detained without charge or trial from August 1992 onwards were released in April and Tuareg rebels released all their prisoners. Two Tuareg may have been extrajudicially executed. Peaceful demonstrators were detained briefly.

President Mahmane Ousmane came to power in April following multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections and ending the transitional period set up by a National Conference in 1991. A cease-fire between government forces and Tuareg insurgents had been in effect during the election period.

More than 20 people still held hostage by the Tuareg rebel organization, the Front de libération de l'Aïr et de l'Azawad (FLAA), Liberation Front of Aïr and Azawad, were released by 12 April. Negotiations between the new authorities and the FLAA led to a three-month renewable truce in June which was subsequently renewed for the rest of the year. Also in June the government lifted the state of emergency which had been imposed in April 1992. However, disagreement among the Tuareg rebels about the truce led to the creation of two new groups. In October the three rebel factions came together again for negotiations with the government, but these were broken off in November. No acts of violence by armed rebels were reported from June onwards.

In July, soldiers mutinied in several army barracks, mainly with economic demands, but also in protest against the truce signed with the FLAA, which apparently confined them to barracks. The mutineers took some 11 officials hostage, including the Deputy Chief of Army Staff, and the Prefect of Tahoua, but all were released by 13 July. The mutineers apparently went unpunished.

A commission set up by the National Conference to examine past political crimes and human rights violations concluded its work by presenting its findings to the new Prime Minister, Mahamadou Issoufou, in line with provisions of the new Constitution. The commission's work was incomplete, as it had not investigated most of the allegations of human rights abuse reported to it. It had only completed investigations into five cases, all concerning corruption. Parliament apparently refused to renew the commission's mandate because it considered that the normal courts were competent to deal with any outstanding cases. No new prosecutions for past human rights violations were initiated as a result of the commission's findings, but the secrecy surrounding the commission's recommendations made it impossible to establish if this was for political reasons. When two army officers were prosecuted in November 1992, the government had ordered their release the day after they were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The work of the commission had been hampered by the arbitrary arrests of leading Tuareg in 1992, which provoked the commission's chairman to go into exile for eight months (see Amnesty International Report 1993). The High Court of Justice, a special court set up in 1991 to try former government and security officials, and which allows no right of appeal to those convicted, remained in place, but heard no cases during the year.

On 2 April the authorities ordered the release of remaining Tuareg prisoners held for political reasons, believed to number about 70. They were among more than 200 Tuareg arrested by the army from August 1992 onwards (see Amnesty International Report 1993). Some had been held outside any legal framework. Many appeared to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely because they were Tuareg, with no evidence that they were involved in the Tuareg rebellion. Of 31 Tuareg prisoners who were held at the main prison in Niamey, the capital, on 2 April, 11 were taken hostage by other prisoners who demanded that they too should be released. On 23 April, some 900 prisoners, including criminal suspects, convicted common law prisoners and the 11 remaining Tuareg detainees, escaped from prison in Niamey.

Demonstrations and marches in Niamey were broken up by the security forces on several occasions and resulted in a series of arrests. It seemed that the security forces intervened on the grounds that the demonstrations had not been authorized, although in all but one case they appeared to be peaceful until the security forces intervened.

Fourteen organizers of a demonstration protesting against disruption in education were held in custody for 24 hours in January and then released. They were charged with responsibility for damage caused when the security forces intervened. They had not been brought to trial by the end of the year.

At least eight leading members of the former sole political party, the Mouvement national pour la société de développement-Nasara (MNSD-Nasara), National Movement for a Society in Development, were arrested on 13 August after a march. The eight were not charged but were reportedly kept in custody on the personal orders of the Minister of Justice. On 19 August a court ordered their release on the grounds that their arrest had been illegal.

In September, a member of the mnsd-Nasara was held briefly by the mayor of a village near Maradi for playing music which he considered to be insulting to the authorities. Ten members of the mnsd-Nasara, who apparently assaulted the mayor while demanding the release of their colleague, were sentenced to three years' imprisonment on charges of assault. Five others were acquitted.

Two Tuareg killed near Agadès in December may have been victims of extrajudicial execution, on account of their ethnic origin. The two market gardeners were travelling to market when soldiers opened fire on them. The incident took place in the context of increased tension when the truce between the government and Tuareg rebel organizations was not renewed.

Amnesty International appealed for the release of all prisoners of conscience and welcomed the releases of Tuareg detainees.