NIGER - The Land of Fear. David Adams travels across the simmering heat of the Sahara with a Tuareg caravan, haggles for a pillar of salt and skis down the biggest sand dune in the world. This is the Land of Fear.
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Journeys To The Ends Of The Earth - Niger. Video hosted on Google. Niger could be the place at the beginning of the end of the world. It's the landscape that makes an impression in Niger. There's black volcanic mountains towering over green oases, cascading waterfalls, desert cities with wide tree-lined boulevards, camels, and the dramatic, if lonely, beauty of the desert. December to February is the best time to visit, as temperatures are at their coolest and rainfall is nonexistent. The only drawbacks are the dusty harmattan winds, which can reduce visibility to less than 1km (0.6mi) and spoil photographic opportunities, and surprisingly cold evening temperatures in the desert. This is also the best time to visit Parc W, Niger's wildlife reserve, which closes during the wet season. If you find yourself there a little earlier, in the month of September, you can catch the Cure Salée (Salt Cure or, Festival of the Nomads). The hottest part of the year is March to June. Desert travel is not feasible at these times. Similarly, travelling can be difficult during the rainy season (June to October). Generally speaking, Niger is either hot or hotter than hell; average temperatures are around 30°C (86°F), but are capable of reaching over 50°C (122°F) between March and June. The air is so hot during these months that rain evaporates before it hits the ground. December through to February are cooler months and the temperature can actually drop to freezing in the night-time desert. Rains dampen the south between late May and September, with August being the wettest time. The south's annual rainfall is usually 550mm (22in), while the north is lucky to receive 150mm (6in). The harmattan winds usually arrive just before the rains and can cut visibility down to almost nothing.
By the end of the 1950s, when colonisation started to get a bit whiffy on the ideological nose, de Gaulle offered a sop to the West African colonies in the form of self-government in a French Union, or independence, knowing full well that independence would spell economic disaster for countries propped up by French-owned infrastructures. Although the original vote was for self-government, the next two years saw a lot of political argument between the government and a number of disenchanted parties agitating for full independence. When Niger finally gained full independence in 1960, Hamani Diori was elected president unopposed, and, with help from a sympathetic French administration, remained in political power until the droughts of 1973 and 74. The droughts that affected most of the sub-Sahel countries knocked Niger for six years and, even today, the country has not fully recovered from its effects. When food stockpiles were found in the homes of Diori's ministers during the drought, it marked the end of Diori's rule. A bloody coup ensued and Senyi Kountché, a military officer, was put in the driver's seat.
It was good timing for Kountché. Shortly after coming to power Niger discovered uranium, becoming the fifth largest uranium producer in the non-socialist world. This unexpected windfall brought with it a heady illusion of wealth, and it was champagne, caviar, big dreams, and new buildings all round, although generally this was true only for the entrepreneurs and go-getters. The poor remained poor. The dream came crashing down in the early 80s when global opposition to uranium mining caused a collapse in world demand, and the uranium-fuelled boom went bust. The ex-pats with money were branded illegal aliens and sent home, and the streets began to fill with ex-entrepreneurs fallen on hard times, and one-time businessmen begging for small change. Kountché's honesty saw him avoid the bloody coups of former times and he continued on for another five years or so before dying in the saddle. Colonel Ali Saibou took over the reins with promises of democracy and reform, but it soon became obvious that this was just empty rhetoric, and little was had in the way of genuine reform. In the late 1980s and 90s the cities were crippled by mass student demonstrations and workers' strikes, but even more debilitating for the government was the rebel Tuareg movement in the countryside, centred around Agadez. In 1990 the Tuareg launched an all-out assault on the government over a string of empty promises and an even emptier cookie jar. Drought, desertification, modernisation, and urban change had all combined to threaten the traditional Tuareg way of life and, after many years of negotiation, the government had promised financial aid and assistance to preserve the Tuareg culture, but the aid was never forthcoming and the money earmarked for the Tuaregs disappeared. Rebel warfare, banditry, violent clashes, and general lawlessness continued unabated for over a year.
In 1991, at a specially convened conference, Saibou was stripped of his power, a new constitution was drafted, and an interim government was elected to run the country until the multiparty elections of 1992. Mohamane Ousmane, the winner of this election, set about restoring good relations with the Tuareg, but the Tuareg remained understandably suspicious and intransigent after so many false promises. Finally, in 1993 a kind of peace was brokered between the two sides, but the peace remained highly-strung. In 1996 Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara took over as president, and the country reverted to its pre-treaty shambolic state, with workers' strikes, threatened military actions, political unrest, banditry, widespread poverty, and Tuareg rebellions breaking out all over the place.
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