No respite for the world’s poorest country

IN 2005, then president Mamdou Tandja scoffed at the very suggestion that there was widespread famine in Niger, even while international aid agencies like GOAL were fanning out across his country, delivering food and medical assistance to tens of thousands of starving men, women and children.

The offhand callousness of his remarks gave some indication of where the welfare of fellow citizens ranked on Tandja’s list of priorities.

At the time, Niger was ranked by the UN as the poorest country in the world, despite having some of the richest mineral deposits in Africa.