Niger leaders in Brussels for political crisis talks

(NIAMEY) - Niger Prime Minister Ali Badjo Gamatie held talks in Brussels on Friday with EU officials aimed at resolving a crisis sparked by constitutional changes allowing the president to stay in power, state radio said.

Niger has been in crisis since President Mamadou Tandja earlier this year unveiled plans for an August referendum that allowed him to stay in power at least until 2012, changing a law that would have forced him to step down this month.

Tandja, 71, a former colonel in power for 10 years, also dissolved parliament and the constitutional court which had opposed the move.

EU leaders at the start of November told Niger authorities to open talks in Brussels within a month, for a "return to constitutional order in the shortest possible time."

The EU was among a plethora of world and regional bodies that condemned Tandja for changing his country's constitution to allow him to extend his tenure and to possibly rule the uranium-rich country for life.

Radio Sahel did not state the duration of the mission to Brussels by the Niger delegation which also includes the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, justice and the head of the electoral commission.

The EU warned that it may have to apply the 2000 Cotonou Accord, signed with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations, on failure to uphold democratic principles and defend human rights.

The accord provides for the suspension of EU cooperation with an ACP nation after four months of discussions if the talks lead nowhere.

The EU has already suspended 180 million euros of budgetary aid in protest at the August 4 referendum.

On October 20, Tandja's government staged contested parliamentary elections which were boycotted by the opposition. The disputed poll led the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to suspend Niger's membership for violation of ECOWAS pacts on democracy.

On Sunday thousands of protesters demanded Tandja's departure at the end of his final five-year mandate on December 22. The former military colonel came to power in elections in 1999 and under the previous laws, he should have stepped down at the end of his two five-year terms later this month.