AU issues six-month ultimatum for elections in Niger
(PANA)-- The African Union (AU) on Thursday demanded an urgent election timetable, leading to the return to constitutional order in Niger following the ousting of President Mamadou Tandja in a coup on 18 February in the West African nation.
The peace and security council (PSC), meeting on Thursday to receive a briefing following an earlier mission to Niger, called for a ‘clear timeframe’ for the return to constitutional order and told the ruling military junta there to ensure the elections were done within the next six months.
‘They must put the supreme interests of the people at heart’ said Zambian ambassador Albert Muchanga, the PSC President for March.
The ruling junta in Niger has already declared that none of its officials would contest for any office during the elections to be held in the West African nation to restore constitutional order. The PSC also reiterated that none of the current Niger junta leaders would be candidate during the elections as stated in the existing rules governing access to power through illegal means.
AU’s commissioner for peace and security Ramtane Lamamra said his team presented a ‘hopeful report’ following a three-party mission to Niger in February to meet with the junta leaders.
‘We interacted with the members of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy and we discussed the issue of their not standing for the elections when they are held. They gave us assurances but said they could not determine the length of the transition’, Lamamra told journalists.
An AU delegation is expected to head back to Niger on 14 March to help work out an electoral calendar for the West African nation. The team would include officials from the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union’s Special Envoy, Albert Tevoedejre of Benin, and UN Special Envoy for West Africa, Said Djinnit.
They will meet with the politicians there to work out an election timetable and possible amendments to the country’s laws.
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