Niger
Niger opposition leader claims election win despite official results
According to provisional results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), former interior minister Mohamed Bazoum picked up 55.75% of...
Niger is the world's poorest nation, according to the UN's benchmark of development of 189 countries, and is struggling with jihadist insurgencies that have spilled over from Mali and Nigeria.
The manifesto was first read out on Monday to more than 3,000 people in Niamey's main sports arena.
It was the biggest single massacre of civilians in the Sahel's eight-year-old history of Islamist unrest, according to a US group, ACLED, which tracks the violence.
The attacks on the villages of Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumadareye occurred just as first-round presidential results were announced.
Around 7.4 million people are registered to vote for the ballot for presidency, which coincides with legislative elections.
The world's poorest country by a key UN benchmark, the Sahel nation has never had two elected leaders hand over power since independence from France 60 years ago -- the last coup was only a decade ago.
The ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) won almost 1,800 council seats from just over 4,200 available, according to the national electoral commission CENI.
The unilateral move was criticised for violating commercial and freedom of movement treaties signed under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Aid needs are likely to surpass 2019 levels, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Attackers on motorbikes ambushed the group on Sunday while they were driving through the reserve, a popular destination for expatriates southeast of Niamey in the Tillabery region.
Intikane is home to around 20,000 Malian refugees and 15,000 internally displaced Niger citizens -- all of whom previously fled their villages due to jihadist violence -- as well as the local population.
The UN agency said the refugees, 'mainly desperate women and children', were being allowed to seek protection in Niger despite border closures as a result of the new coronavirus pandemic.
An unknown number of armed bandits' attacked three villages on Sunday at around 5:30 pm local time (1630 GMT), said governor Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella.
The minister's Social Democratic Party (PSD) reported Ben Omar, 55, had died on Sunday at the main hospital in the capital Niamey but did not list the cause.
Aid workers confirmed the account and said about 10 people had been injured.
The attack on the remote village took place before Christmas when Jihadis approached the fishing village disguised as traders.
The violence has hit Mali and Burkina Faso the hardest, rendering large swathes of those countries ungovernable, but it has also spilled into Niger, which shares long and porous borders with its two neighbours.
UN's World Food Programme (WFP) Herve Verhoosel said some 20 million people were living in conflict-affected areas across the region, nit by violent clashes involving a range of armed groups.