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Niger: Countries
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Niger became independent from France in 1960 and experienced single-party and military rule until 1991, when Gen. Ali SAIBOU was forced by public pressure to allow multiparty elections, which resulted in a democratic government in 1993. Political infighting brought the government to a standstill and in 1996 led to a coup by Col. Ibrahim BARE. In 1999 BARE was killed in a coup by military officers who promptly restored democratic rule and held elections that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power in December of that year. TANDJA was reelected in 2004. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds to develop its resource base. The largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa.
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Religion: At least 4,000 years ago, Niger was inhabited by a highly civilized people. Islam took root among the country's leaders a thousand years ago, but became the religion of the rural people only in the 19th century. Niger is predominantly Muslim. Despite constitutional religious freedom, pressures exist to make the nation more Islamic.
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Niger is the world’s poorest country, ranking 177th out of 177 in the UN Human Development Index. Nearly 70percent of Niger’s 11million people live on less than $1a day. Only 43 percent have access to drinking water. Scarcely 6.5percent have electricity. Slavery still exists in secret among some ethnic groups in Niger. Despite the government’s efforts, female genital mutilation is still practiced.
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Niger is a landlocked country in the heart of Africa, at the south end of the Sahara. It borders on Chad, Nigeria, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Benin and Mali. Most people of Niger are muslims, although there are quite some differences in their practice depending on the region where they are from. People of Arab descent tend to be a bit stricter than the Haussa from the south.However, these differences seem to be slowly disappearing.
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Niger is a landlocked nation in West Africa located along the border between the Sahara and Sub-Saharan regions. Its geographic coordinates are latitude 16°N and longitude 8°E. Its area is 1,267,000 square kilometres (489,000 sq mi) of which 300 square kilometres (115 sq mi) is water. This makes Niger slightly less than twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas, and the world's twenty-second largest country (after Chad). Niger is comparable in size to Angola.
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Niger is an arid, landlocked West African country with a population of 11,000,000. It is bordered by Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Chad and Libya. Niger is a former French colony which was granted independence in 1960. The land is mostly desert plains and dunes, with rolling savannah in the southeast.
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