WORLD FUTURE - NIGER FUTURE

NIAMEY — The opposition in Niger on Saturday said police had detained 30 former lawmakers in two days of an exercise it denounced as witch-hunting. The ex-parliamentarians were taken in for suspected embezzlement of public funds, said the Coordination of Forces for Democracy and the Republic (CFDR), an opposition grouping that comprises political parties, non-governmental organisations and labour unions. “CFDR denounces the witch-hunt … of its activists in contempt of judiciary proceedings,” the opposition coalition said in a statement broadcast on radio stations. It said “30 personalities,” essentially opposition lawmakers in the parliament that was dissolved by President Mamadou Tandja on May 26, had been placed in police custody in the capital since Thursday. Tandja, who has been in power since 1999, dissolved parliament as it opposed his bid to hold a constitutional referendum. But early last month he went ahead with the highly controversial referendum and promulgated a new constitution which will allow him to stand for re-election and then seek unlimited mandates. CFDR demanded the release of its members saying the arrests were based on a report commissioned on the orders of Tandja, whom it accused of “diverting state … resources to settle political scores”. “The real motive of these arrests is political… (The) regime has decided to proceed with the arrest of members who are trying to reinstate the National Assembly,” opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou, told Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Friday. But a judicial official told AFP the arrests came in the wake of an investigation by prosecutors following the inspection of parliament’s books which revealed irregularities. She spoke of false contracts and invoices running into about 10 billion CFA francs (15 million euros, 22 million dollars).