Former PM calls on citizens not to accept Tandja's 'dictatorship'

Former premier Hama Amadou called Monday for Niger's citizens not to "bow to dictatorship" under President Mamadou Tandja (pictured) after Tandja won a referendum to extend his mandate past its December expiration date until 2012.

AFP - Niger's former prime minister Hama Amadou called Monday for people in the country to act against the "dictatorship" of President Mamadou Tandja after his controversial attempts to cling to power.      

"People who bow to dictatorship without reacting will die under the feet of a dictator... I know Niger people will not be willing to die under Tandja's boot," he told private Niamey radio station Radio Anfani.    
   
"I therefore ask them to react," he urged, speaking in Nigerian capital Abuja where he was meeting representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
   
"The poorest country in the world is trying to take on the rest of the world," he said of Niger, which has faced international sanctions in the wake of its recent political turmoil.
   
Amadou, who is based outside Niger, has been a staunch critic of Tandja's moves to stay in power beyond his elected mandate.
   
The president has faced criticism at home and abroad since staging an August 4 referendum that allowed him to stay in power until 2012 -- he was supposed to step down in December after two successive five-year terms.
   
He won that vote and has since faced international sanctions over disputed polls in October, which the government won but which were boycotted by the opposition.
   
ECOWAS suspended Niger in the wake of the disputed polls and the European Union this month provisionally froze development aid to Niger.
  

Date created : 2009-11-17