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Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara

 

 
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Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara
 
 
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Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara (May 9, 1949 – April 9, 1999) was a military officer in the West Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
n country of Niger
Niger

Niger , officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east....
 who seized power in a January 1996 coup d'état
Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
 and ruled the country until his assassination during the military coup of April 1999.

Maïnassara, a member of Niger's Hausa
Hausa people

The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West Africa regions of northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger. There are also significant numbers found in regions of Sudan, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Chad and smaller communities scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route across the Sahara Desert and Sa...
 ethnic majority, was born in Dogondutchi in 1949, and pursued a military career. Maïnassara was named Army Chief of Staff in March 1995, under a constitution which had moved Niger from military rule in 1991.
iamentary elections in January 1995 resulted in cohabitation
Cohabitation (government)

Cohabitation in government occurs in semi-presidential systems, such as France's system, when the president of France is from a different political party than the majority of the members of parliament....
 between President Mahamane Ousmane
Mahamane Ousmane

Mahamane Ousmane is a Nigerien political figure. He was the first democratically elected president of Niger, serving from 16 April 1993 until his ouster in a military coup d'?tat on 27 January 1996....
 and a parliament controlled by his opponents, led by Prime Minister Hama Amadou
Hama Amadou

Hama Amadou is a Nigerien politician and the President of the National Movement for the Development of Society . He was Prime Minister of Niger from 1995 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2007....
. Rivalry between Ousmane and Amadou effectively paralyzed the government, and Maïnassara seized power on January 27, 1996, pointing to the difficult political situation as justification.
r Maïnassara's rule, a new constitution was approved by referendum in May 1996, and a presidential election was held on July 7 – July 8, 1996.






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Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara (May 9, 1949 – April 9, 1999) was a military officer in the West Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
n country of Niger
Niger

Niger , officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east....
 who seized power in a January 1996 coup d'état
Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
 and ruled the country until his assassination during the military coup of April 1999.

Maïnassara, a member of Niger's Hausa
Hausa people

The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West Africa regions of northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger. There are also significant numbers found in regions of Sudan, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Chad and smaller communities scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route across the Sahara Desert and Sa...
 ethnic majority, was born in Dogondutchi in 1949, and pursued a military career. Maïnassara was named Army Chief of Staff in March 1995, under a constitution which had moved Niger from military rule in 1991.

Political conflict

Parliamentary elections in January 1995 resulted in cohabitation
Cohabitation (government)

Cohabitation in government occurs in semi-presidential systems, such as France's system, when the president of France is from a different political party than the majority of the members of parliament....
 between President Mahamane Ousmane
Mahamane Ousmane

Mahamane Ousmane is a Nigerien political figure. He was the first democratically elected president of Niger, serving from 16 April 1993 until his ouster in a military coup d'?tat on 27 January 1996....
 and a parliament controlled by his opponents, led by Prime Minister Hama Amadou
Hama Amadou

Hama Amadou is a Nigerien politician and the President of the National Movement for the Development of Society . He was Prime Minister of Niger from 1995 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2007....
. Rivalry between Ousmane and Amadou effectively paralyzed the government, and Maïnassara seized power on January 27, 1996, pointing to the difficult political situation as justification.

Rule of Niger

Under Maïnassara's rule, a new constitution was approved by referendum in May 1996, and a presidential election was held on July 7 – July 8, 1996. Maïnassara took about 52% of the vote, but the election was widely viewed as fraudulent. On the second day of polling he had the electoral commission dissolved and replaced it with another electoral commission; on the same day, he also had the four opposition candidates placed under house arrest, which lasted for two weeks. Maïnassara was sworn in on August 7.

The National Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal (UNIRD) was established in 1996 to support Maïnassara in that year's elections, but subsequently the Rally for Democracy and Progress-Jama'a
Rally for Democracy and Progress (Niger)

The Rally for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Niger. It was established as the ruling party during the presidency of Ibrahim Bar? Ma?nassara....
 was established as the ruling party. With the constitution barring presidents from leading parties, Hamid Algabid
Hamid Algabid

Hamid Algabid is a Nigerien politician, former Prime Minister and President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress party.A member of the Tuareg ethnic group, Algabid served in the government during the rule of Seyni Kountch?....
 became leader of the RDP-Jama'a in August 1997.

Local elections were held in February 1999, and in early April the Supreme Court released results which showed the opposition winning more seats than Maïnassara's supporters; the Court also cancelled the results in many areas and ordered elections there to be held again. The opposition called for protests against the cancellation of results on April 8.

Death

On April 9, Maïnassara was shot to death by soldiers at the airport in the capital city of Niamey
Niamey

Niamey, population 674,950 , is the Capital of Niger. It is Niger's largest city, lying on the Niger River, mostly on the east bank. It is an administrative, cultural and economic center....
 as he was going to board a helicopter. The circumstances of the killing were not clear; rumors suggested that Maïnassara was attempting to flee the country. Initially his death was officially described as an "unfortunate accident", but this claim was widely considered implausible. Coup leader Daouda Malam Wanké
Daouda Malam Wanké

Daouda Malam Wank? was a military and political leader in Niger. He was a member of Hausa ethnic group.Wank?'s year of birth is disputed. Many sources claim it is 1954, while others claim it is 1946....
 succeeded him as head of state and initiated a political transition that ended with elections late in the year.

The constitution adopted in a July 1999 referendum provides for an amnesty
Amnesty

Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent persons....
 for participants in both the 1996 and 1999 coups. An investigation into Maïnassara's death had begun in June 1999, but following the amnesty it was ended in September. The RDP-Jama'a has demanded an international inquiry into his death in the years since.