Francophone group suspends cooperation

The organisation of francophone nations suspended its cooperation with Niger this week in protest the assassination of President Bare Mainassara in a military coup on 9 April, AFP reported on Monday. In a dispatch from Paris, it said Boutros Boutros Ghali, president of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie (OIF), had issued a statement "strongly condemning the assassination of President Bare and expressing his deep concern at the coup d'etat in Niger". Analysts said the suspension was a blow to Niger. Earlier, Niger's main European partner, France, also suspended aid. Japan and the European Union have announced that they too would "review" cooperation with the impoverished West African nation. Mainassara was gunned down by members of the presidential body guard, whose commander, Major Daouda Mallam Wanke, assumed the leadership of the country. Wanke has pledged a nine-month transition to general elections and civilian rule. The francophone nations demanded an inquiry, and said it "deplores this brutal rupture in the democratic process which runs counter to fundamental francophone values". Wanke, has maintained that Mainassara died in "an accident" and that there was no need for an investigation into the circumstances of his death.