Editing History of Niger (section)

==Independence==
On 11 July 1960 France agreed to Niger becoming fully independent.<ref>https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70F1FFD385A1A7A93C0A8178CD85F448685F9 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> The [[French Fifth Republic]] passed a revision of the [[French Community]] allowing membership of independent states. On 28 July the Nigerien Legislative Assembly became the Nigerien National Assembly. Independence was declared on 3 August 1960 under the leadership of Prime Minister Diori. Subsequently, in November 1960 Diori was elected to the new position of [[President of Niger]] by the [[National Assembly of Niger|National Assembly]].  During his presidency, Diori's government favored the maintenance of traditional social structures and the retention of close economic ties with France. He was re-elected unopposed in 1965 and 1970. For its first 14 years as an independent state Niger was run by a single-party civilian regime under the presidency of Hamani Diori. The 1960s saw an expansion of the education system and some limited economic development and industrialisation.

Links with France remained, with Diori allowing the development of French-led uranium mining in Arlit and supporting France in the [[Algerian War of Independence|Algerian War]]. Relations with other African states were mostly "positive", with the exception of [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]] (Benin), owing to a border dispute. In the 1970s, a combination of economic difficulties, droughts and accusations of rampant corruption and mismanagement of food supplies resulted in a coup d'état that overthrew the Diori regime.

Diori gained worldwide respect for his role as a spokesman for African affairs and as a popular arbitrator in conflicts involving other African nations. Domestically, however, his administration was rife with [[political corruption|corruption]], and the government was unable to implement much-needed reforms or to alleviate the widespread [[famine]] brought on by the [[Sahel drought|Sahelian drought]] of the early 1970s. Increasingly criticized at home for his negligence in domestic matters, Diori put down a coup in 1963 and narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 1965, most of this activity was masterminded by Djibo Bakary's MSA-Sawaba group which had launched an abortive rebellion in 1964. Diori used French advisers and troops to counter threats to his rule, despite student and union protests against what they perceived French [[neocolonialism]]. However, his relationship with France suffered when his government voiced dissatisfaction with the level of investment in uranium production when French President [[Georges Pompidou]] visited Niger in 1972.

The PPN functioned as a platform for a handful of Politburo leaders grouped around Diori and his advisors [[Boubou Hama]] and [[Diamballa Maiga]], who were largely unchanged from their first election in 1956. By 1974 the party had not held a congress since 1959 (one was scheduled for late 1974 during the famine induced political crisis, but never held). The PPN election lists were made up of traditional rulers from the main ethnic regions who, upon election to the Assembly, were given only ceremonial power. Ethnic tensions, too, mounted during Diori's regime. The Politburo and successive cabinets were made up almost exclusively of [[Zarma people|Djerma]], [[Songhai people|Songhai]] and [[Maouri people|Maouri]] ethnic groups from the west of the country, the same ethnic base the French had relied on during colonial rule.  No Politburo ever contained a member of [[Hausa people|Hausa]] or [[Fula people|Fula]] groups, even though the Hausa were the plurality of the population, forming over 40% of Nigeriens.<ref>Decalo (1979) p. 180-82.  Entry on the "Parti Progressiste Nigerien (PPN)"</ref>

Widespread civil disorder followed allegations that some government ministers were misappropriating stocks of food aid and accused Diori of consolidating power. Diori limited cabinet appointments to fellow Djerma, family members, and close friends. In addition, he acquired new powers by declaring himself the minister of foreign and defense affairs.<ref>for details on this section, see: James Decalo (1979), and especially, Finn Fuglestad (1983) who describes the process of party formation and political horse-trading in the 1950s in great detail</ref>