Niger govt and rebels in talks
2009-05-05 20:12
Niamey - Niger's government and Tuareg rebels were engaged in talks on Tuesday on disarming the three rebel fronts in the northern town of Agadez, a Tuareg source said.
"The discussions are under way in a technical committee to sketch out the practical means to disarmament in the next few months," the Tuareg source close to the negotiations told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
The talks would also have to cover the reintegration of Tuareg fighters into the society of the arid sub-Saharan country in west Africa, as well as barracks to accommodate them in the north, the source added.
President Mamadou Tandja on Sunday held a landmark meeting with the rebels, his first after long dismissing them as "bandits" and "drug traffickers", where he pledged an amnesty on condition that they lay down their arms.
That radical change in policy coincided with a vital deal with French mining giant Areva to open up an enormous new uranium mine at Imouraren in northern Niger, on the traditional territory of the Tuareg desert nomads.
Appeal to lay down arms
Uranium is the only substantial source of foreign exchange for the very poor and landlocked nation, where Tandja refused to deal with the Tuaregs from 2007 after the emergence of the Movement of Nigeriens for Justice (MNJ).
The Niamey government and the rebels began discussions under the auspices of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who on March 15 made an appeal from Niger's capital for the rebels to lay down their arms.
"The process of turning in weapons will be a rather long one," Saidou Kaocen Maiga, a delegate of the rebel Front of Forces for Recovery (FFR), told Tuesday's edition of the state-owned daily Le Sahel.
For a return to peace, the Tuaregs are demanding the integration of some of their number into the army and the gendarmerie, as well as to reap greater benefits from the uranium mining carried out on their historical territory.
The Imouraren deal provides for Areva to hold 66.65% of shares in the subsidiary set up to build and operate the mine, with Niger holding the remainder. Tandja was present on Monday at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the project.
Areva already has other mines in the landlocked sub-Saharan country, which is one of the world's poorest but derives the bulk of its foreign trade income from uranium. Nuclear power is an important energy source in France, accounting for three-quarters of electricity production.