AFP - EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said Wednesday that he has a "proposal" for Niger's President Mamadou Tandja which could help end the west African nation's deepening political crisis.
   
Speaking on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Libya, Michel told reporters that he was "very concerned by the situation in Niger".
   
"There could still be space to bring President Tandja toward a more appealing situation," Michel said.
   
"I urge President Tandja to listen to the proposal that I have for him," he said, refusing to give details on his proposal or how he would deliver it to Niger's leader.
   
"This is a country and a president that until now had a good image," Michel added.
   
Tandja, a 71-year-old retired army colonel whose legal term limit hits in December, is fighting to retain the country's top job.
   
He has scrapped the national constitutional court a month after he dissolved a parliament that had challenged him, and has claimed emergency powers allowing him to rule by decree.