Niger's Foreign Policy With France under General Seyni Kountché (1974-1987)

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Niger gained its independence on August 3^rd, 1960 from France. President Hamani Diori ruled the country. The foreign policy of Niger was highly conducted and personalized by President Hamani Diori, and because foreign policy debates in the national Assembly were indeed very rare, one is, therefore, obliged to look into the statements or communiqués issued after the meetings of these multinational organizations in which the president himself participated. Relations with France started since before Niger's independence and continued after independence.

On April 15^th, 1974, a shadowy group of twelve (12) military officers led by Lt. Col. (later General) Seyni Kountché, who had become chief of staff of the FAN (Nigerien Armed forces) a year before, seized power from civilians. He became the new head of state under «Conseil Militaire Suprême». The coup d' État occurred when a combination of devastating drought and accusations of rampant corruption ruined the country under Hamani Diori's regime. After overthrowing Hamani Diori in an almost bloodless coup (the only casualty reported was Madam Diori, Aissa), Lt. Col. Seyni Kountché went on the air on the April 15^th, 1974 and announced his government's domestic and external policies. Referring to the foreign policy of Niger, he said,

We will continue to belong to all African and International Organizations and will respect our undertakings to them on the condition that they take account of the interest of our people¹.

In fact, he mentioned no significant departure in the foreign policy principles of the previous regime. The new regime's immediate occupations were to tackle the drought situation, to modify the former agreement with France to suit Niger's interest and to obtain a better deal for uranium exploitation . . .

Niger's connection with France has been its most important relationship by far since independence. For France, a new factor had entered into its interest with Niger: Nigerien uranium for French weapons and nuclear power plants. By 1974, Niger was considered to be one of France's closest allies in Africa, and France had decided to increase its level of economic assistance to Niger by nearly one -third².

One of the cardinal principles of Niger's foreign policy is her special relation with France. This aspect has assumed so much importance that it has overshadowed and influenced Niger's relations with other nations in Africa and the world. Relations with France continued to be friendly since much of the aid came from her. As mentioned earlier, because of the poor economic conditions of Niger, the country could not afford to offend the leaders of France; particularly when France has been continuously providing cash and technical aid to make up Niger's deficit budgets³.

The «Conseil Militaire Suprême» coup of April 1974 changed very little in the basic relationship apart from style. After an initial period of unsettled relations, France supported the Kountché regime by renegotiating the price of uranium and by increasing Niger's share in the SOMAIR mine. In February 1977, it officially instituted a new more bilateral process of granting foreign assistance to Niger, leading Kountché to state that the new deal «eradicated all traces of paternalism» in Franco-Nigerien relations⁴. Despite Kountché's forays into pro-Arab and Pro-southern foreign policy in the late 1970s, relations with France remained good, dominated by continuing French interest in Nigerien uranium. When Nigerien concerns over Libyan threats to its uranium fields grew in 1981, new Franco-Nigerien military agreements ostensibly designed to protect French nationals in the desert mining communities, were promulgated.

Franco-Nigerien relations were expected to improve still further with the election of French President, François Mitterrand in 1981, owing to the new socialist Party President's long-standing personal interest in African affairs, his personal relationship with a number of African leaders and the historic commitment of his party to «socialist solidarity». He and his new foreign aid minister, Jean Pierre Cot, promised to base France's relationship with its former colonies on a « more sincere and just policy» and pledged support without intervention and understanding for policies of Non-alignment, such as those espoused by the government of Niger⁵. In 1981, Francois Mitterrand promised a new deal for the third world, pledging to double French aid overall, to 0.7 percent of the French GNP by 1988, and committing France to undertake longer-term assistance programmes to be defined by national leaders, such as the Kountché government⁶. In May 1982, he visited Niger and tackled a long-standing issue in uranium politics, Franc's failure to help Niger obtain a cheap, usable source of domestic power for its own industrialization. Reaffirming a 1979 promise, he committed French financing to help build the Kandaji dam, which was to be Niger's first domestic source of hydroelectric power. The Kountché government warmly welcomed these changes.

From its very inception, Niger has been dependent on France for military protection, codified by a set of agreements, «The Accords de Coopération» which provide for French military assistance against both external and internal threats⁷. Not even the Kountché regime, however which came to power committed to reducing foreign military presence renounced these agreements. France removed its troops, but its military advisers remained, and it promised more extensive military support if requested.

Overall, Niger's relationship with France under General Seyni Kountché has depended on a considerable element of mutuality of interests. The key to understanding the evolution of this relationship, however, lies much more in shifting French interests than in changes in Nigerien priorities.