January 27, 1996
Web posted at: 6:40 p.m. EST (2340 GMT)
NIAMEY, Niger (CNN) -- Niger's military seized power Saturday, forcibly unseating the West African nation's first democratically elected president and placing him under arrest in the presidential palace.
Niger state radio said a soldier and a presidential guard were killed when army soldiers surrounded the presidential palace and government headquarters. Some 10 people were reportedly wounded in clashes in the capital Niamey during the afternoon.
Army chief of staff Lt. Col. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara announced on state-run radio that President Mahamane Ousmane had been stripped of his powers and was under house arrest.
Mainassara declared a state of emergency and said the constitution had been suspended, the government and parliament dissolved, and political parties banned.
Mainassara said a temporary national council -- the National Salvation Committee -- had been set up to control the government.
The army chief who referred to himself as the new head of state said Prime Minister Hama Amadou had also been arrested.
He said personal political ambitions had sabotaged multi-party democracy in Niger and that the army had to act to save the nation.
"The people hailed the advent of multi-party politics," Mainassara said. "Unfortunately neither the transition nor the Third Republic met the people's expectations. So many hopes disappointed on the altar of personal ambition."
The nation was in danger, Mainassara said. "Faced with this major threat, the army has decided to assume its responsibilities." He promised to respect Niger's international obligations.
Gunfire was heard around the government headquarters late Saturday evening. There was a blackout of information, with military music replacing normal programming on the radio.
France Telecom said phone links to the city had been dead since midday.
Mahamane become Niger's first democratically elected president in 1993. His victory was hailed as a rare example of a peaceful transition to democracy in the continent.
But a year later, faced with a vote of no confidence, Mahamane preferred to dissolve the parliament and called for elections in January 1995. His opponents won a slender majority in those elections, but Mahamane managed to hang on to his position despite friction with his prime minister.
The first civilian leader of Niger was ousted in a military coup in 1974. The military remained in power until multiparty politics were restored in 1992.
The sub-Saharan nation, a former French colony, has been also been battling an arid economy after drought and tumbling world prices for the biggest export, uranium, crippled state coffers.
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