Second food price strike cripples capital, clashes reported further north

Niamey, the capital of Niger, was virtually paralysed on Thursday as residents heeded calls to stay at home in protest at the imposition of a new tax on basic foodstuffs, diplomats in the country said. But local radio stations said there was trouble in Tahoua, an opposition stronghold 550 km to the northeast, where police fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators. It was the third day of protest in three weeks to be organised by the Coalition Against Costly Living, an opposition-backed alliance of civil society groups, formed to protest the recent imposition of a new 19 percent value added tax (VAT) on basic goods and services. The new tax has pushed up the price of everyday items such as flour, milk and sugar, as well as electricity and water tariffs in this arid land-locked state. Diplomats in Niamey told IRIN by telephone that many shops were shuttered, markets were deserted and schools were closed. Some civil servants stayed away from work despite government warnings on state television that they would be sanctioned, they said. However, banks were open and a few white and orange taxis continued to ply the streets. But in Tahoua the day of protest passed off less quietly. Private radio stations in Niger reported that youths had set up barricades of flaming tyres in the town and police had moved in with batons and teargas to break up their demonstration. No serious injuries were reported. Thursday's protests took place despite the arrest of five key leaders of the Coalition Against Costly Living, who have been charged with plotting against the state and forming an illegal association. They face up to 20 years in jail if convicted. The five men were rounded up over the weekend after taking to the airwaves to urge Muslim and Christian leaders to hold prayers to save the country from misery. A government spokesman described their appeal as "a veiled call to rebellion." However, the protest movement appears unbowed. It has called for a 24-hour general strike on 5 April to pile further pressure on President Mamadou Tandja, who has so far stayed on the sidelines of the food prices controversy. Tandja is in the international spotlight these days in his new role as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He is also chairman of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), which issues the CFA currency used by Niger and 12 other states in the region. Thursday's protest took place as UEMOA held its two-day annual summit in Niamey. Tandja, a 66-year-old retired army colonel, was re-elected for a second five-year term last December in a vote which foreign observers hailed as a consolidation of stability and democracy. But on Thursday international watchdogs criticised his government's crackdown on media coverage of the protests. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) both condemned the arrest of Moussa Tchangari, one of the coalition leaders, and the closure of his radio station Alternative FM. The CPJ also said the government had confiscated footage of street protests shot by the privately owned Radio Television Tenere and that the interior minister had appeared on state television to warn journalists about covering the coalition's activities. "(We) deplore ... the Niger government's attempts to stifle independent media coverage," Anne Cooper, the head of CPJ, said in a statement. "Journalists in Niger must be free to report on matters of public concern." Niger's government argues the tax hike is needed to boost state revenues and reduce the budget deficit, but the coalition says it is crippling the country's 11 million people, 60 percent of whom live on less than a dollar a day. The United Nations last year ranked Niger as the second poorest nation in the world in its Human Development Index. That was before the country suffered a drought and locust invasion during the second half of 2004, which has raised the spectre of looming food shortages. Last week, the World Food Programme (WFP) appealed for US $3 million to help feed some 400,000 people in Niger. The Coalition Against Costly Living began its protests on 15 March when tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Niamey in one of the biggest demonstrations the city has seen in recent times. The government subsequently banned public gatherings, so the organisation turned to stay-at-home protests instead. The coalition brought normal activity in Niamey to a virtual standstill with the first of these when it urged people not go to work on 22 March.