Editing Niger Armed Forces (section)

== Political involvement ==
In 1974 General [[Seyni Kountché]] overthrew the first president of Niger [[Hamani Diori]]. The military regime that followed, while plagued by coup attempts of its own, survived until 1991. While a period of relative prosperity, the military government of the period allowed little free expression and engaged in arbitrary imprisonment and killing.<ref>For a detailed account in english of the inner workings of the military regime, see Samuel Decalo (1990), pp.241–285.</ref>
[[Image:Niger soldier-89-07307.JPEG|thumb|right|A paratrooper of the '''FAN''' Parachute Company armed with an Israeli-made [[Uzi]] submachine gun, 1988]]
In 1996, a former officer under Kountché and the then chief of staff, [[Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara]], staged his own coup, placing the military again in power. During the Maïnassara regime, human rights abuses were reported by foreign NGOs, including the discovery of 150 dead bodies in a mass grave at Boultoungoure, thought to be [[Toubou]] rebels. In April 1999, the third coup led by [[Douada Mallam Wanké]] was staged leading to murder of President [[Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara|Baré]] by his own guards. To date, the authors this crime have been prosecuted.<ref>[https://archive.today/20071019025427/http://fra.controlarms.org/library/Index/ENGAFR430032000?open&of=ENG-2F5 Niger: The people of Niger have the right to truth and justice], 6 April 2000, [[Amnesty International]]. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/315840.stm President Mainassara: A profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728131214/https://archive.today/20071019025427/http://fra.controlarms.org/library/Index/ENGAFR430032000?open&of=ENG-2F5 |date=2023-07-28 }}, BBC, April 9, 1999.</ref> Major [[Daouda Mallam Wanke]], commander of the Niamey-based military region and the head of the Republican Guard assumed power, but returned the nation to civilian rule within the year.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/315663.stm Niger: A copybook coup d'etat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202132822/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/315663.stm |date=2020-02-02 }}, April 9, 1999, BBC.  [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/316037.stm Military controls Niger ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202133756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/316037.stm |date=2020-02-02 }}, April 10, 1999, BBC.</ref>  The military regime of [[Douada Mallam Wanké]] ended with the election of [[Mamadou Tandja]] in 1999 who deposed ten years later by another military coup, the fourth in the history of the country.