Niger's first democratically elected President was apparently ousted in a military coup today and put under arrest in the presidential palace.
Col. Barre Mainassara Ibrahim announced on state-run radio that President Mahamane Ousmane was under arrest, that the Constitution was suspended and that a temporary national council was in control of the Government.
Colonel Ibrahim, who referred to himself as the new head of state, said that Prime Minister Hama Amadou had also been arrested and that political parties would be banned.
A soldier and a presidential guard were killed when army soldiers surrounded the presidential palace and Government headquarters, Colonel Ibrahim said.
Gunfire was heard around the Government headquarters late this evening. Normal radio programming was replaced by military music.
Niger, a former French colony, has been in political crisis since parliamentary elections in January 1995. Mr. Ousmane's attempts to create a government with the opposition, which won 42 of the 82 seats in the National Assembly, have failed.
Continue reading the main storyDrought and tumbling world prices for the biggest export, uranium, have ruined the economy, and state workers have not been paid in months.
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