Niger

Publish What You Pay* welcomes the recent decision of the civil society representatives sitting on the national Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)** multistakeholder group to resume their participation in the EITI process in Niger.

On 15 September 2009, an appeal court in Niger’s capital Niamey ordered the provisional release of Rotab/PWYP Niger member Marou Amadou.

Marou Amadou, also President of the United Front for the Safeguard of Democratic Assets (FUSAD), was arrested on 10 August 2009 for “undermining state authority” following the publication of a declaration by FUSAD criticising President Tandja’s regime.

Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* is gravely concerned by the increased repression of civil society activists in Niger after ROTAB**/PWYP Niger member Wada Maman was arrested in Niamey on Saturday 22 August.

UPDATE 27 August: Wada Maman provisionally released; Marou Amadou remains in detention

On 16 August, civil society members of the EITI multistakeholder group in Niger unanimously announced their decision to suspend their participation in the national EITI process ‘until further notice’. The decision was made following increasingly serious incidents of harassment and intimidation against civil society activists campaigning for good governance and transparency in Niger, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of Rotab/PWYP Niger Member Marou Amadou*.

PWYP strongly condemns the transfer into police custody of Marou Amadou, president of the United Front for the Safeguard of Democratic Assets (FUSAD), coordinator of the Advisory and Orientation Committee for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CROISADE), and member of the Réseau des Organisations pour la Transparence et l’Analyse Budgetaire (ROTAB) – Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Niger.

An international delegation comprised of Michel Roy (PWYP France), Michel Saraka (Economic Governance Program Manager, OSIWA), Evelyne Tsague (RWI Deputy Coordinator for Africa), and Marie-Ange Kalenga (PWYP Africa Coordinator) traveled to Niger last week to attend a multistakeholder Forum on Extractives Industries.

The Forum, which was organised by ROTAB/PWYP Niger¹ in Niamey from 13-15 July, aimed to step up dialogue and collaboration between various stakeholders to advance revenue transparency so that the country’s mining wealth benefits all Nigerien citizens.

PWYP is extremely concerned by the arrest last week of Abibou Garba, Director General of independent TV and radio station Dounia and President of the Association des Radios et Télévisions Indépendantes (ARTI) which is a member of PWYP Niger¹ (ROTAB).

On the occasion of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s two-day tour of Africa on 26-27 March 2009, PWYP Africa and PWYP France have called on the French leader to ensure France does more to increase transparency, enable a fairer sharing of resources between companies and producing countries, and to respect its commitment to accountability in the management of natural resource revenues.

The French President is visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, and Niger on his fifth tour of Afr