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Niger
Negotiated independence within the French Community framework after the colonial administration helped remove the pro-independence Sawaba government in 1958.
- Independence
- August 3, 1960
- Before
- Colony of Niger
- Metropole
- France
- Leader
- Hamani Diori
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Parti Progressiste Nigérien (PPN-RDA); opposition Sawaba
Conquest and Revolt
French columns, including the notorious Voulet–Chanoine mission of 1899, which massacred the people of Birni-N'Konni, conquered the region around 1900. It was administered as a military territory from July 1900 before becoming the Colony of Niger in 1922. Resistance was fierce, notably the Tuareg rising led by Kaocen in 1916–17, when rebels besieged the French garrison at Agadez until relieved in March 1917. Niger remained thinly administered.
Sawaba and the 1958 Referendum
Under the Loi Cadre, Djibo Bakary's Sawaba party won the 1957 territorial elections and led Niger's first African government. In the September 1958 referendum Bakary campaigned for a 'No' vote and immediate independence, but the colonial administration threw its weight behind the PPN and 'Yes' won with about 78 per cent of valid votes on a turnout of roughly 36 per cent. Hamani Diori became Prime Minister in December 1958, and Sawaba was banned in 1959, its leaders driven into exile.
Independence Under Diori
Niger negotiated independence with its Conseil de l'Entente partners and became independent on 3 August 1960, with Diori as head of government; the National Assembly elected him President in November 1960. He ruled through a single party, the PPN, supported by chiefs and French advisers. Sawaba answered from exile: guerrillas trained abroad launched a failed armed incursion in autumn 1964, and in April 1965 a Sawaba militant threw grenades at Diori during prayers at Niamey's Grand Mosque.
Chronology
- 1899 — Voulet–Chanoine mission's violent advance through the region
- 1916–1917 — Kaocen revolt against French rule
- 28 September 1958 — 'Yes' vote in the referendum amid French pressure on Sawaba
- 1959 — Sawaba banned; Bakary in exile
- 3 August 1960 — Independence under Hamani Diori
- 15 April 1974 — Diori overthrown by Seyni Kountché
Aftermath
Diori ran a one-party state closely tied to France, whose companies developed Niger's uranium, mined commercially at Arlit from 1971. Economic difficulties, the Sahel drought and famine of the early 1970s and accusations of corruption undermined his government, leading to Kountché's military coup in 1974.
Legacy
The removal of Sawaba ensured a cooperative post-colonial government under which French firms retained a dominant role in strategic resources such as uranium. Niger's later history has been shaped by the struggle to assert economic sovereignty.