Sahelian country celebrates eight years of peace

The Republic of Niger this week celebrated eight years of peace which began on 24 April 1995 with the signing of the first of a series of agreements that ended a rebellion by Tuareg nomads in the north of the Sahelian country. The accord was signed in Niamey following mediation by Algeria, Burkina Faso and France between the state and the rebels. It was followed by an additional protocol signed in Algiers, Algeria, on 28 November 1997 and the N'Djamena Accord, initialled on 21 August 1998. They paved the way for the restoration of definitive peace and stability in the country. Subsequent efforts in this direction have included a ceremony on 25 September 2000 at Agadez, 900 km north of the capital, Niamey, at which arms collected from the rebels were burnt. The ceremony, dubbed 'Flamme de la paix' (Peace Flame) was followed by at least four other arms destruction campaigns in Agadez and parts of eastern Niger which had also been affected by rebel activity. A two-year arms collection project is currently underway in Diffa, eastern Niger, located in an area where arms left over from the rebellion and trafficked from as far as north Africa have fuelled cross-border banditry The anniversary of the 1995 agreement is now a public holiday known as the Journee de la Concorde" (Harmony Day) during which events organised throughout the country constitute opportunities for the expression of Niger's cultural diversity and the mixing of cultures. The rebellion began in the north in 1990, with an attack on the locality of Tchintabaraden, 800 km north of Niamey, and later spread to the far east of the country, where it was joined by other nomadic groups such as the Toubou. It centred on social, political, and economic demands targetting the poor direction of economic policies and the excessive centralisation of the government. The rebels called for a federal system that would allow them to run their own affairs in their mineral-rich areas. The official death toll of the five-year conflict was 150. Thousands were displaced. After the accords, former combatants were integrated into the defence and security forces, public service, professional training institutions, universities and secondary schools. The agreements also paved the way for the mounting, with support from the UN Development Programme, of a medium-term social and economic development programme in pastoral areas. Results of the accords have included the disarmament of all former frontlines and the establishment of 'Unites sahariennes de securite' (Saharan security units) in former conflict zones. The establishment of the USS is aimed at strenthening security in the north and thereby facilitating the movement of goods and people. Operations aimed at the social and economic reintegration of former combattants have started in the town of Manga in the far east of the country under a Consolidation of Peace Project (Projet Consolidation de la Paix). In the north, studies on local development and the socio-economic reintegration of ex-rebels are under way. In a message to the nation in connection with this year's anniversary, President Mamadou Tandja reaffirmed that the government would stick to the commitment made in the accords, in particular pledges not to use arms to resolve differences, to give precedence to democracy and law in resolving conflicts and develop a culture of peace. He recalled that a National Commission for Social Dialogue (Commission nationale de dialogue social) and an Ad Hoc Committee on Conflict Management (Comité ad hoc sur la gestion des conflits) had been set up in this connection. Other structures aimed at strengthening peace have also been created, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for the Restoration of Peace (le Haut Commissariat à la restauration de la Paix), the Army and Democracy Committee (Comité Armée et démocratie) and the National Commission for the Monitoring and Collection of Illicit Arms (Commission nationale de contrôle et de collecte des armes illicites). "The advent of peace in our country was laboriously negotiated and, since then, we have striven to implement rigorously the clauses of the peace agreement," he said. There had been "significant" results, he added, such as a civic education programme in army barracks aimed an ensuring peaceful relations between civilians and the military, as well as intensive awareness campaigns throughout the country to convince owners of weapons to hand them over voluntarily to the competent authorities. "The return of lasting peace to our country must be based on production through the mobilisation of all the live forces of the nation, especially the young people," Tandja said, calling on all those who had left their villages to go abroad to return so as to develop Niger's "many dams and hydro-agricultural schemes".