Several thousand people took to the streets on Sunday in Niamey and other large cities in Niger, to demand the repeal of the budget law of 2018, defined by the opposition and trade unions as "antisocial" and to demonstrate against the international troops present in the country. “Down with the finance law, down with foreign forces”, “French, American and German army, go away!”; these are some of the slogans shouted by the demonstrators present at the Niamey march.
For the first time, the opposition and three out of ten unions have called together a demonstration. "We have a historical duty to continue the struggle until our legitimate demands are met," said Nouhou Arzika, one of the main leaders of the protest. Arzika called the foreign troops stationed in Niger "occupation forces" and asked for their immediate discharge.
Similar protests took place in several cities such as Zinder and Maradi in the south center of the country, Tillaberi and Tahoua in the west and Dosso in southern Niger. According to Ali Idrissa, another of the organizers of the demonstration, another march has been called for March 11. "We will go all the way", insisted Mariama Gamatié Bayard, head of the Independent Opposition Front (FOI), of which 7 activists arrested on 4 February for a similar demonstration were released last week.
The new finance law introduced inheritance and house taxes. The government argues that these measures are necessary to cope with the financial difficulties the country is facing and that more resources are needed to carry out the development projects in the pipeline. Under this law, water and electricity prices have also been raised, and businesses have seen an increase in profits taxes.
Despite having important mineral resources, including uranium, Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is also currently the scene of several foreign military missions to combat terrorist groups active in the Sahel region. On January 17, the Italian parliament approved the deployment of the “support mission in the Republic of Niger”, which should begin shortly with the deployment, in turn, of 450 Italian soldiers.