Editing Niger (section)

==== First military regime (1974–1991) ====
The coup had been masterminded by Col. [[Seyni Kountché]] and a military group under the name of the ''Conseil Militaire Supreme'', with Kountché going on to rule the country until his death in 1987.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The first action of the military government was to address the food crisis.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMEve?codeEve=574 Renversement du président Hamani Diori au Niger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022153822/http://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMEve?codeEve=574 |date=22 October 2014 }}. ''Perspective monde'', 15 avril 1974</ref> Whilst political prisoners of the Diori regime were released after the coup, political and individual freedoms in general deteriorated during this period. There were attempted coups (in 1975, 1976 and 1984) which were thwarted, their instigators being punished.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/>

[[File:Seyni Kountche 1983.jpg|thumb|200px|President [[Seyni Kountché]] during the state visit of West German President [[Karl Carstens]] to Niger in 1983]]
Kountché sought to create a 'development society', funded mostly by the uranium mines in [[Agadez Region]].<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> [[Parastatal]] companies were created, infrastructure (building and new roads, schools, health centres) constructed, and there was corruption in government agencies, which Kountché did not hesitate to punish.<ref>[https://nigerdiaspora.net/index.php/societe/2547-niamey-une-forte-tendance-a-la-depravation-des-moeurs Kountché: 30 ans après son coup d'état] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727084909/https://nigerdiaspora.net/index.php/societe/2547-niamey-une-forte-tendance-a-la-depravation-des-moeurs |date=27 July 2018 }}. ''Nigerdiaspora'', 10 novembre 2007 (republished on 6 November 2017).</ref> In the 1980s, Kountché began cautiously loosening the grip of the military, with some relaxation of state censorship and attempts made to 'civilianise' the regime.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The economic boom ended following the collapse in uranium prices, and [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]]-led austerity and privatisation measures provoked opposition by some Nigeriens.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> In 1985, a Tuareg revolt in [[Tchintabaraden]] was suppressed.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> Kountché died in November 1987 from a brain tumour, and was succeeded by his chief of staff, Col. [[Ali Saibou]] who was confirmed as Chief of the Supreme Military Council four days later.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/>

Saibou curtailed the most repressive aspects of the Kountché era (such as the secret police and media censorship), and set about introducing a process of political reform under the overall direction of a single party (the ''Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement'', or MNSD).<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> A Second Republic was declared and a new constitution was drawn up, which was adopted following a [[1989 Nigerien constitutional referendum|referendum]] in 1989.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> General Saibou became the first president of the Second Republic after winning the [[1989 Nigerien general election|presidential election]] on 10 December 1989.<ref name="auto1">Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p685 {{ISBN|0-19-829645-2}}</ref>

President Saibou's efforts to control political reforms failed in the face of trade union and student demands to institute a [[multi-party democracy|multi-party democratic system]]. On 9 February 1990, a violently repressed student march in Niamey led to the death of three students, which led to increased national and international pressure for further democratic reform.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The Saibou regime acquiesced to these demands by the end of 1990.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> Meanwhile, trouble re-emerged in Agadez Region when a group of armed Tuaregs attacked the town of Tchintabaraden (seen by some as the start of the first [[Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995)|Tuareg Rebellion]]), prompting a military crackdown which led to deaths (the precise numbers are disputed, with estimates ranging from 70 to up to 1,000).<ref name="H-Dictionary"/>

[[File:Ali Saibou cropped.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Ali Saibou]], President 1987–93, helped oversee the transition from military to civilian rule.]]