Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja has been ousted in a dramatic military coup on Thursday. The long serving leader was in a cabinet meeting with his ministers when a group of soldiers stormed and disarmed the guards. In this article Africanews.com interviews our reporter with rich experience in covering Niger:
AfricaNews: What’s the situation right now in Niger?
Kingsley Kobo: I can confirm that it is over for President Mamadou Tandja. Mutinous soldiers emanating from the “green beret” squad who instigated the coup d’etat has constituted themselves to form a governing body known as the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy. They have as leader, one Salou Djibo. He’s Niger’s new leader.
AfricaNews: But wait, how did this all happen?
Kingsley Kobo: Yesterday was a tough day in Niger. Things went so fast in the capital Niamey. President Tandja was in a cabinet meeting with his ministers in the presidential palace when a group of heavily armed young soldiers penetrated the yard, after disarming the presidential guards – even killing some who resisted and injuring others. There went a general panic. The armed men entered the hall, seized Mr President and took him away in a vehicle to a military camp in the suburb of the city; while the ministers were taken to another hall and locked up there.
AfricaNews: Why was there no reinforcement from the other military units?
Kingsley Kobo: That’s the big question. The other military units refused to move when a call for reinforcement came from the presidential palace. That’s to tell you they were all aware of the coup, but funnily Tandja, who had bragged to be in total control of the country, wasn’t aware such a thing was in preparation.
AfricaNews: Had there been any signs at all that a coup was in preparation?
Kingsley Kobo: Yes! I saw it coming. After dissolving the Constitutional Court and National Assembly last year, and then amending the constitution to remain in power, Tandja became so unpopular not just within the ordinary population and within the opposition, but even inside the military circle. There have been groans here and there. But, I think, he was so sure of himself and so trusted his clique in the army, fending off any possibility of a downfall.
AfricaNews: But this is just a bad news for Africa of the 21 century and Niger in particular – a country nursing a nascent democracy.
Kingsley Kobo: Look, it’s a pity but it was necessary.
AfricaNews: Are you in support of a military coup?
Kingsley Kobo: Not categorically, but when there is no other way out, the only way out seems to be acceptable. What has just happened in Niger is a military coup against a palace coup. Tandja, by refusing to step down after exhausting his two maximum terms, staged a coup against the people of Niger, against the constitution and against democracy at large. Imagine, 2.7 million people are facing famine right now because of drought and lack of funds to provide crops for farmers and to step up irrigation. All these caused by aid and trade sanctions on Tandja and his government from the European Union and the United States, simply because one man refuses to leave office when he was supposed to.
AfricaNews: Are people happy at the moment in Niger?
Kingsley Kobo: Even if there are no overt manifestations of it, everybody knows the opposition is in ecstasy at the moment, the masses are smiling, even the international community may pretend to condemn the coup, but deep down they know one of their headaches has been cured.
AfricaNews: But how are we sure this new junta wouldn’t cling to power as well, like Dadis Camara attempted in Guinea and Guei Robert in Ivory Coast?
Kingsley Kobo: That’s another problem. Will these guys organise free and fair elections without having a mate running as candidate? Will they hand over to a civilian government like Amadou Toumani Touré did in Mali? Or, they would be seduced by power and attempt to hijack democracy once again. These are questions only the near future can answer.
Datei:Tandja in Nigeria June 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Foto von Tandja Mamadou von 2007.
Lage des Niger

 Am Donnerstag, dem 18. Februar, ist es in Niger zu einem Putsch gekommen. Eine Gruppe von Soldaten, die sich „Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy“ nennt, drang nach längeren Gefechten in der Hauptstadt Niamey in den Präsidentenpalast ein und nahm Staatschef Tandja Mamadou, der gerade eine Kabinettssitzung leitete, gefangen. In einer öffentlichen Erklärung der Putschisten wurde mitgeteilt, man habe beschlossen, alle Regierungsinstitutionen aufzulösen und die Verfassung außer Kraft zu setzen. Luftwaffenkommandeur Salou Djibo, der die Putschisten anführt, wurde zum Chef der neuen Militärregierung ernannt. 

Mamadou wird einer AFP-Meldung zufolge möglicherweise in einer Militärbaracke 20 Kilometer außerhalb der Hauptstadt festgehalten.

Sowohl die Afrikanische Union als auch die Westafrikanische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft verurteilten den Staatsstreich. Frankreich, dessen frühere Kolonie Niger ist, forderte alle Seiten dazu auf, durch einen Dialog eine Lösung der Verfassungskrise zu suchen.

Dem Putsch war eine lange politische Krise vorausgegangen, die ihren Anfang im August 2009 nahm, als Tandja Mamadou ein Referendum über eine Verfassungsänderung durchsetzte, wodurch ihm eine dritte Amtszeit ermöglicht wurde. Zuvor hatte er das Parlament und das Verfassungsgericht aufgelöst, da sich beide Organe gegen das Referendum ausgesprochen hatten.

Tandja Mamadou ist seit 1999 Präsident des Landes, das als eines der ärmsten Länder der Erde gilt. Während seiner Amtszeit begann die Ausbeutung von Uran in dem Land. Die Uranmine gilt laut BBC als die weltweit zweitgrößte Abbaustelle des Schwermetalls.