AFRICA TWELFTH STOP NIGER

NIGER

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


NIGER

The Republic of Niger is yet another land-locked African country. It is bordered to the North by Algeria and Libya, to the  East by Chad, to the South East by Lake Chad and to the South by Nigeria and Benin and to the South West by Burkina Faso and to the West by Mali.

Niger is the 22nd largest country in the World, being about 1/6th the size of Australia.It is the 60th most populous country in the World with 19.26 million people( Australia 52nd with 23.8 millions).

The great FACT about Niger is that 80% of its land area is part of the Sahara Desert. The population is therefore concentrated in the South.The people are predominantly Mohammedan.Niger ranks 187th in the United Nations " Human Development Index", it is thus shown to be an underdeveloped nation.

The country's history since it won independence from France in 1958 has been turbulent and it is now into its 7th Republic that history includes 4 Military Regimes.

The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture . However, there are limited exports to surrounding countries - such foreign exchange earnings as there are come from food and cattle - all unprocessed, save for some hides and skins and handicrafts.There are also mining and oil exports.The former have prominently featured uranium exports. A little more than one fifth of the roads in the country are paved. 574 Kilometres of railway are being built to connect the capital Niamey to Parakou in neighbouring Benin is due to be completed by 2016.

The history of Niger's territory is long and varied, with human habitation dating back to 5,000 B.C. But it was the period around 500 B.C. before substantial activity can be identified, and this seems related to the trans Saharan trade routes. This also led to the introduction of the Mohammedan religion. From A.D. 600 to 1591 the Songhai Empire ruled and this became Mohammedan after the Mohammedan wars of expansion began around A.D. 700. From the mid 14th Century the Songhai were displaced by the various Mohammedan Hausa Kingdoms which multiplied throughout  the region.

In this period also there were intrusions by the Mali Empire and the Kanem - Bornu Empire.

Following the notorious 1885 Berlin Conference in which the European Powers decided on how Africa should be carved up for the purposes of colonisation, the French set-up what became known as the Voulet - Chanoine Mission to explore the possibilities in the Chad Basin and to unify all French territories in West Africa. It set out from Senegal in 1898. Nine Europeans led the Mission which was composed of an aggregation of some 1,300 men - 800 of whom were porters. The two leading men, Voulet and Chanoine were , to say the least of an unstable psychological make-up (the term psychopaths has been used by a  British historian). In fact it seems that they were callous and even blood-thirsty. armed with artillery, machine guns , hundreds of rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition, and led by such characters the worst could be expected. They came to reject orders from Paris and proceeded in a scandalous manner. The expedition was adversely effected by scarcity of supplies in the region and an outbreak of dysentery which soon killed 148 of the porters. Voulet's troops proceeded pillaging, raping, looting and killing.On 8th January, 1899 they attacked a village and killed 101 people including 30 women and children - to set an example for the region, after a couple of his soldiers were wounded in a fray! In May the same year in a similar reprisal he led his men in the massacre of another village in which it seems thousands were killed - on account of the earlier killing of 4 of his soldiers.

Some months before one of Voulet's Officers had resigned - disgusted at the slaughtering , he returned to Franc and wrote a detailed account of the first massacre which via his fiancee got into the hands of the Government Minister responsible. He promptly ordered the Governor of Timbuktu , Governor Klobb, to take control and arrest Voulet. Klobb set out with 50 troops and a French Officer.  

After travelling 2,000 Kms in pursuit of the villains, Klobb received reports he was very close to them and sent ahead A Sergeant and two soldiers demanding Voulet's immediate return to Paris, In his reply Voulet reminded Klobb that he had 600 guns against Klobb's 50 and declined to obey. He and Chanoine were careful to keep Klobb's letter from the other French Officers. He kept on raiding and on July 13 after a villager killed one of his men, he massacred 150 women and children at another village. He sent a second letter to Klobb warning him to come no closer.

Klobb came on. Voulet ordered his own men to fall back so that they would not know the true nature of Klobb's mission. Klobb proceeded boldly on his own , whilst wearing his Legion d'Honneur  - Voulet insisted he stop, but Klobb ordered those with Voulet to be loyal to their duty. Voulet ordered them to fire a warning volley in the air , but as Klobb kept coming he ordered him to be shot. He fell dead after having ordered his troops not to return fire. They in fact fled.

Voulet and Chanoine tried to rally their men in the coming days , to help them set up their own "kingdom" abandoning French association altogether. Within a few days both were dead at the hands of the troops. In due course, under other officers, despite much strife, order was restored and the original mission was completed in a civilised manner( as much as that can be said for dispossessing people of their independence and property.) 

Ultimately it was decided by the Ministry of Colonies in Paris that the outrages committed under the direction of Voulet and Chanoine were due to a "Sudanese sickness and the dreadful heat sending the two mad."