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The AU wants Africa to manufacture and export finished products to its trading partners rather than just selling them the raw materials as it does now. She cited China, India, the EU and US and other rising stars in trade with the continent, including Turkey and Latin America, and said the AU had held talks on the new breed of partnerships with some of them. The AU also wants Africa to have a veto-wielding seat on the UN Security Council, and a place at the G20 negotiating table, Ali said. The peace and security that have eluded Africa for decades...

A Gallup survey done across 20 sub-Saharan African countries on the main sources of lighting for households saw Mauritius fair best, with 100% of respondents saying this was provided by power lines. South Africa came in second at 80% in terms of households with grid supplied power for lighting, followed by Ghana (67%), Nigeria (66%) and Cameroon (65%). At the bottom of the list in this survey for electrical grid power supplying household lighting was Liberia at 4%, followed by Chad and Burkina Faso at 8%. In Chad, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Uganda and...

Niger officially became an oil producer Monday with the opening of a refinery run by the state and a Chinese company. Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou and China National Petroleum Corporation boss Jiang Jiemin cut the red ribbon at the new plant at Olelewa in the east, near the country's second city Zinder... Energy Minister Foumakoye Gado said locally produced fuel will be sold at the pump starting Thursday at a price of 570 CFA francs (0.86 euro cents) per litre of petrol -- down from the current 679 CFA francs (1.02 euros). The price of diesel will drop to 577...

SURRENDER COMPLETELY AND RECEIVE MY LOVE FOR YOU ! My surrender to you is eternal , for as My Sacrifice was a promise and a statement of My Love coming down through the Father ! It is Now time for You to SURRENDER wholeheartedly to Me . I need to see a heart opened forth right and true ; to discern My Presence ! That you make " ALL " Known to Me ~ free for release and in this surrender as you raise your hands and lower your defenses and pride I WILL COME ! And My SPIRIT ,...

Weapons smuggled from Libya after the collapse of Muammar Qaddafi's government are flowing through the surrounding region, the president of neighboring Niger said, a development that threatens to destabilize a swath of the continent already struggling against ethnic unrest and a regional branch of Al Qaeda. "Arms were stolen in Libya and are being disseminated all over the region," Niger's president Mahamadou Issoufou said following a meeting with South African president Jacob Zuma. "Saharan countries are facing terrorist threats, arms and criminal trafficking. The Libya crisis is amplifying those crises." Issoufou's remarks came days after Niger's military clashed with arms...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said it had held talks - through intermediaries - with Saif al-Islam about his possible surrender. Prosecutors stressed that Gaddafi's son, who is wanted for crimes against humanity, would get a fair trial. Saif al-Islam, who was once the presumed successor to his father, has been in hiding for months. Recent reports claimed he was in a convoy heading toward Libya's desert border with Niger, where other Gaddafi allies have fled. But those reports have not been confirmed, and the ICC said it did not know where he was. Zimbabwe-bound? ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo...

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son and heir apparent, Saif al-Islam, and ex-intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi have reportedly suggested turning themselves in to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. ­The news comes from NTC senior Libyan military official Abdel Majid Mlegta, as quoted by Reuters. Since NTC forces took control of Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, the colonel’s son has remained in hiding. He is believed to be somewhere near Libya's southern border with Niger. According to the NTC official, Saif al-Islam and Senussi are trying to broker a deal to surrender to the court through a neighboring country. Which country...

No fewer than 8,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have defected to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Niger State ahead of the local government election scheduled for next month in the state. The leader of the defectors, Mohammed Sanusi Salihu, who spoke weekend in Suleja at the flagging off campaign for the local government election next month and reception for the defectors, took the CPC members by surprise as he revealed the alleged strategy they (PDP) used to rig election when they were in the PDP... He said that even when sometimes the PDP would not...

The violent conflict in Libya has turned the neighbouring Sahel desert into a powder keg, regional powers said yesterday in Algiers, as former leader Muammar Gaddafi's arsenal risks being snapped up by al- Qaeda's local franchise... Algeria and other Libyan neighbours have expressed fears that the ousted Libyan leader's arsenal and remaining loyalists would be scattered across the Sahel, an 8- million-square-kilometre desert area south of the Sahara. Mr Bazoum said half a ton of Semtex explosive was seized in Niger in June, and warned that there might have been more, as well as surface- to-air missiles... French, American and...

AGADEZ, Niger — A large military convoy from Libya arrived in the northern Niger city of Agadez late Monday, a military source told AFP. "I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey," the source said, amid speculation that toppled leader Moamer Kadhafi may be in it. "There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source said. A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading...

... "Hundreds of Malian and Nigerian Tuaregs are coming home from the Libyan front. Among them are former Malian and Nigerien rebels, but also Tuaregs of Malian origin who were in the Libyan army," said a security source at Gao in the north of Mali. The Tuaregs from the army obtained Libyan nationality in the 1990s and mostly fought alongside Kadhafi's other troops. Some of them were integrated into an elite military unit, the same source said. ... "We need to fear a destabilisation of the whole Sahel with this new development. States like Mali and Niger are not prepared...

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger fears that Islamic militants could seize power in Libya as a result of the civil war in its northern neighbour, President Mahamadou Issoufou said late on Saturday. Speaking on state television, Issoufou said Niger would not take sides in the conflict, unlike several other African nations which back the rebels, and insisted the only solution to the violence was through a negotiated political accord. "Niger's interest is that this crisis does not result in fundamentalists taking power, that's our concern," said Issoufou, who won March elections which returned Niger to civilian rule after a year of...

Algeria on Wednesday called for an inclusive dialogue in Libya with the participation of all Libyan parties to reach a peaceful settlement of the crisis. Speaking at a press conference in the capital Algiers, Abdelkader Messahel, Algerian Delegate Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs, said his country is in contact with all concerned parties in Libya, and aims to help end the crisis in the neighboring country in a peaceful way. Messahel said Algeria supports the African Union (AU) roadmap for solving the conflict, which calls for political dialogue between different parties in Libya, necessary political reforms, and more effective...

The armed conflict in Darfur, Sudan, intensified throughout the year, resulting in tens of thousands of newly displaced people, some of whom crossed into neighbouring Chad. Civilians were directly targeted in some attacks by armed groups and by government forces. Parts of Darfur remained inaccessible to humanitarian organizations and the joint UN-African Union (AU) mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Humanitarian workers and UNAMID staff were frequently abducted in Darfur, following a pattern similar to that seen in eastern Chad in recent years. Various mediation efforts during the year produced no tangible results. Repression by the Sudanese authorities continued in Darfur, with...

Niger's appeals court has dropped all corruption charges against ousted President Mamadou Tandja and ordered his release from jail. It said that under the country's law it was not possible to try a head of state after he had left office. Soldiers led the coup in February 2010 -- angered that after 10 years in power, he was seeking a third term in office. Last month, the junta officially handed power to opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou, who won an election in March. "All proceedings against Mamadou Tandja have been cancelled. He has been wholly exempted from the accusations against him,"...

Married to the mob: the man who married 107 women ... and had 185 kidsRobyn Dixon May 13, 2011 He fell in love with his first wife because she was sincere and eager to please. His second wife, a cousin, was irresistible because she did everything he wished and nothing he didn't. "That alone made me love her." His third wife won him because she submitted to his every request. "I saw her, I liked her. I went to her parents and asked for her hand in marriage." Wife No. 4 was very obedient. So was wife No. 5. Wife...

Army chiefs from Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Algeria are on alert as the crisis in nearby Libya deteriorates, placing the entire region at risk, a military source said on Saturday. Speaking after a meeting Friday between the four army heads, a Malian officer who attended said: "The situation in Libya is of great concern. There is a risk of destabilising the entire region." The meeting was to reinforce the fight against insecurity in a region threatened by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). "Moreover, because of the Libyan crisis, the security situation in the Sahel has deteriorated, so it is...

'Al-Qaeda snatched missiles' in Libya From correspondents in Paris From: AFP March 26, 2011 1:03PM AL-QAEDA'S offshoot in North Africa has snatched surface-to-air missiles from an arsenal in Libya during the civil strife there, Chad's President says. Idriss Deby Itno did not say how many surface-to-air missiles were stolen, but told the African weekly Jeune Afrique that he was "100 per cent sure" of his assertion. "The Islamists of al-Qaeda took advantage of the pillaging of arsenals in the rebel zone to acquire arms, including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries in Tenere," a desert region of...

NIAMEY, Niger — Hidden among the curios and trinkets in Niger’s National Museum, a small, seemingly innocuous glass vial filled with thin metallic pellets is perched tenuously atop a wooden stand. [Snip] Niger’s uranium deposits, among the world’s largest, have drawn the attention of two very disparate groups. On one hand, international investors, led by the French state-owned energy giant Areva and joined more recently by the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation, have long coveted these reserves for use as nuclear fuel. On the other hand, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM, which thrives in the vast and...

The special UN appeal to be announced Monday in Geneva is intended to address the burgeoning humanitarian crisis on Libya's borders with Tunisia, Egypt, and Niger, according to UN officials. Most of the Egyptian refugees who fled Libya into Tunisia have been returned to Egypt, the officials say, but they add that thousands of mostly Bangladeshi nationals are still stuck just over the border from Libya in Tunisia, in rapidly deteriorating conditions. The torrent of refugees fleeing Libya has slowed to a trickle -- from nearly 15,000 a day crossing into Tunisia to fewer than 2,000 on Thursday, officials said...

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

When Hollywood decides a former White House aide is fair game for attack, facts don't come into play. History, however, cannot be so cavalier about the truth. The new movie "Fair Game" - based on the outing of CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson during political battles concerning the war in Iraq - is anything but fair or honest. In depicting former vice-presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a sinister point man in a broad effort to destroy Mrs. Wilson's career while concocting a fraudulent case for the war, the movie perpetuates myths that improperly damage U.S. credibility....

... the title is drawn from how Karl Rove told Matthews that the CIA agent Valerie Plame was fair game for critics of her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson. Wilson, you’ll recall, was dispatched by the CIA in 2002 at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office to investigate whether Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. Wilson came back with the answer no, and he was outraged when President Bush nevertheless stuck with the claim in his 2003 State of the Union address, which made the case for war with Iraq. Just three...

Al-Qaeda is poised to overrun five states in North Africa and the Middle East, creating terrorist safe havens from which the network can launch attack on the West, Europe and the US have been warned. Mauritania, Mali and Niger have seen a steady escalation of al-Qaeda activity targeting Western aid workers and experts. Somalia, to their east, has disintegrated in the face of Islamist assault. In Yemen, across the Red Sea from Somalia, security forces have been waging a losing battle against resurgent jihadist armies that have claimed the lives of dozens of troops. Amadou Marou, the President of Niger's...

PARIS (AP) - France has declared war on al-Qaida, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network's North African branch, after the terror network killed a French aid worker it took hostage in April. The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its behind-the-scenes battle against terrorism. "We are at war with al-Qaida," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death of 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau. The humanitarian worker had been abducted April 20 or 22 in Niger...

Militants linked to Al Qaeda are building fortified bun-kers in the Algeria and Mali areas of the Sahara desert to shelter militants from air attacks, security experts claim. The members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have hidden themselves in the desert without any notion of national boundaries, according to the experts. “We have different verifiable reports which enable us to state that AQIM is currently in the process of building shelters, or bunkers, in which to hide against attacks in the desert shared by Mali and Algeria,” a Malian source told Middle East Online, reported AKI. “There is...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

SNIPPET - quote: Travel Warning United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Washington, DC 20520 This information is current as of today, Wed May 12 2010 23:23:37 GMT-0700 (PDT). NIGER May 11, 2010 The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Niger and recommends against all travel to the north of the country due to kidnapping threats against Westerners. Al-Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a terrorist group, continues its attempts to kidnap Westerners, including U.S. citizens in Niger, and has been successful in kidnapping Europeans in the region. On...

Florida Congressman and national embarrassment, Alan Grayson made a fortune as a plaintiffs' attorney specializing in whistleblower fraud cases aimed at Iraq war contractors. For example, employees of one contractor Custer Battles, were found guilty of making fraudulent statements and submitting fraudulent invoices on two contracts in 2003 Grayson disclosed his attorney fees and costs for the case exceeded $4 million, and that's just one case. In 2006, a Wall Street Journal reporter described Grayson as "waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq" and as a "fierce critic of the war in Iraq" whose car was "emblazoned" with...

The embattled representative from the state of Florida, Alan Grayson found himself on the verge of being caught in a coup in Niger earlier this week. www.southernstudies.org Representative Alan Grayson Democrat from Florida. Alan Grayson, the often outspoken Democratic Representative from Florida was on a trip to Niger earlier this week. While on his trip there was a military coup that Grayson almost found himself caught up in. According to a Grayson's press secretary, Todd Jurkowski, "He heard the gunshots. They were literally in the building next door." Grayson was serving as part of a congressional delegation that was...

Hundreds, if not thousands of people have taken to the streets of the capital, Niamey, Saturday in support of the military junta who seized power in a coup this week. Demonstrators were also out on the streets Friday showing their support for the coup that ousted the increasingly unpopular president, Mamadou Tandja. The demonstration of support comes as condemnations pour in from the international community. On Friday, the African Union suspended Niger and demanded a return to constitutional order.

News has a way of following U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson — even when he travels overseas. The bombastic lawmaker from Orlando was in the Niger capital this week when military officials overthrew President Mamadou Tandja in a show of force. Tandja has dissolved key government institutions in a bid to stay in power indefinitely. “He was very close to the action; he heard the gunfire” said Todd Jurkowski, a Grayson spokesman. He said the freshman Democrat already was on his way back to the United States and should land sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Jurkowski said Grayson’s stay in...

Niger's new military junta says it has dissolved the government after a coup that toppled President Mamadou Tandja in the impoverished but uranium-rich west African country. The Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) announced on Friday that its head would be squadron leader Salou Djibo, whose heavily armed unit played a key role in Thursday's coup. "The government is dissolved," said a statement signed by Djibo and read by an unnamed military officer on state television.

Niger's President Mamadou Tandja was detained by mutinous troops on Thursday after a coup in the west African uranium exporter that left at least three soldiers dead, military sources said. Three Nigerian military sources said the coup was led by a soldier named Major Adamou Harouna. "The coup leader has succeeded. It is being led by Major Adamou Harouna," one source said. The president and the ministers are being detained not far from the presidential palace, the sources added. Earlier in the day plumes of smoke were seen rising from the palace after soldiers attacked the building where Tandja was...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_4546.html Travel Alert U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs This information is current as of today, Thu Nov 19 2009 21:45:59 GMT-0800 (PST). Niger November 19, 2009 The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the risks of travel to Niger due to threat of kidnapping, and recommends against all travel to Niger at this time. This Travel Alert expires February 28, 2010. On December 14, 2008, two United Nations officials, former Canadian diplomats, were kidnapped by the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) while...

The cause of democracy in Africa could have done without this latest affront. Barely six months after giving the French president an undertaking that he would leave power at the end of his second term, Niger’s president, Mamadou Tandja, has rewritten the rules to give himself power for as long as he wishes. A general election was held on 20 October to renew 113 seats in parliament, which Tandja dissolved in May to overcome its opposition to his plans to change the constitution. He organised a referendum on 4 August to obtain popular approval for new rules, doing away with...

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AFP) – Three top Nigerian militant leaders in the volatile oil hub of the Niger Delta gave up their weapons along with thousands of fighters on Saturday under a government amnesty. A senior commander of the main armed group MEND surrendered his weapons in the oil city of Port Harcourt, on the eve of the expiry date of the amnesty extended to rebels who have wrought havoc on Nigeria's oil industry in recent years. "I Farah Dagogo, overall field commander for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) accepts together with field commanders in...

NIAMEY — A Niger opposition chief was put back in prison Tuesday after being freed following his arrest for calling for protests against a new constitution extending the president's rule, his organisation said. Earlier in the day, Niger police teargassed a crowd of political figures and human rights activists who had come to attend the trials of the opposition leader and a prominent journalist. "Marou Amadou has just been kidnapped aboard two 4x4 vehicles by members of the Republican Guard at the prison in Niamey as he was trying to complete formalities for his freedom from prison," Ali Idrissa, a...

Mamadou Tandja, president of the desert nation of Niger, has secured another three years in office and unlimited runs at future terms, in a referendum that opposition officials have called a coup d’etat in all but name. Tandja, a 71-year-old former army colonel, who had promised to step down after his second term expired in December, thanked voters even before the official results were announced on Friday by the country’s electoral commission. Giant posters appeared in the capital of Niamey by Thursday, expressing gratitude for the “renewed confidence” of voters. The commission said Tandja’s proposal for a new constitution received...

Niger's president pushed ahead Tuesday with a controversial referendum on a new constitution that would remove term limits and grant him another three years in office with increased powers. Security forces on trucks with mounted machine-guns blocked the streets around the mayor's office in Niamey, where President Mamadou Tandja cast his ballot. Opposition leaders called the move "illegal" and are boycotting the vote. International donors may respond by cutting aid to one of the world's poorest nations. Ruler of the uranium-rich country since 1999, Tandja, 71, has twice won elections that were hailed as free and fair. But in the...

Niger voted on Tuesday in a referendum the president hopes will give him a mandate to change the constitution and rule beyond the end of his term. Mamadou Tandja’s growing authoritarianism has raised fears of unrest in Africa’s second biggest uranium producer. The European Union on Tuesday warned that Mr Tandja’s actions could lead it to cut aid. In recent months, the president has governed by decree after dissolving parliament and disregarding the Supreme Court’s ruling against his plans to extend his stay in office beyond a two-term limit. “In voting today [Tuesday], I believe I have responded to the...

NIAMEY, July 23 (Reuters) - Niger's President Mamadou Tandja will not bow to foreign pressure or the threat of economic sanctions as he sticks to plans for a referendum on prolonging his rule, the head of the uranium-exporting nation said. Tandja wants to hold an Aug. 4 vote on extending his final term which ends later this year. His plans have led to protests in Niger as well as criticism and aid cuts from donors abroad. The latest rejection of his critics came a day after Tandja told senior diplomats from the United Nations, the African Union and West Africa's...

“These decisions undermine Niger’s efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law,” said Robert Gibbs in a statement Thursday. The “decisions” he was referring to have been made by Niger president Mamadou Tandja in an effort to extend his rule over that nation. When Niger’s high court ruled against Tandja’s attempt to rule for three more years, the president removed the entire court, then named an entirely new cabinet. “We are encouraged that the African Union has sent a delegation to Niger to attempt to find resolution to this political crisis,” Gibbs said...

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. government voiced concern on Wednesday over actions taken by Niger's President Mamadou Tandja to extend his rule in the West African country. "These decisions undermine Niger's efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. Tandja responded to the rejection by Niger's highest court of his plan to seek at least another three years in power by sacking the judges and naming a new Cabinet. ....U.S. concern about the situation in Niger comes at a time when Washington...

As the curtain closes on the presidency of George W. Bush, the one loose end dangling is the pardon of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. In 2007 Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was convicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Let us be clear about the Bush legacy. After September 11, not a year into Mr. Bush's term, his became a war presidency. George Bush's place in history will turn on what becomes of Iraq and al Qaeda. If Iraq fails, history will mark down the Bush presidency. If by fits and starts Iraq grows into the...

SENEGAL — A West African regional court found the government of Niger guilty on Monday of failing to protect a young woman who was sold into slavery at the age of 12. The landmark ruling, which was delivered by a regional tribunal sitting in Niamey, Niger's capital, ordered the government to pay about $19,000 in damages to the woman, Hadijatou Mani, who is now 24. Slavery is outlawed in Niger and the rest of Africa, but it persists in pockets of Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Anti-slavery organizations estimate that 43,000 people are enslaved in Niger alone, where nomadic tribes have...

The European Union, increasingly anxious to reduce its dependence on Russian gas following the conflict in Georgia, has offered Nigeria financial and political backing for a €15bn ($21bn, £12bn) trans-Saharan pipeline to pump its gas directly to Europe. Renewed European interest in the project comes against a backdrop of mounting fears that Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, is intent on winning access to Nigeria's vast gas reserves as part of a strategy to tighten its grip on energy supplies to Europe. Gazprom, which has also offered to back the planned 4,300km pipeline, appeared to steal a march on its European...

Remember Joe Wilson? He's the diplomat who went to Niger to investigate Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium, a raw material used in building nuclear bombs, from Africa. He wrote in a July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed that he had spent the previous February in Niger, "drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people ... associated with the country's uranium business. It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place." A story that has to be the most underplayed...

Got this off some blog a while back, but the person makes some interesting observations. His central point is that, since the forgeries were such obvious fakes, were they 'planted' specifically to be exposed as frauds? (i.e., not to actually convince anyone)... July 13, 2003Niger Uranium - Why the Forgeries During the lead-up to the Iraq war, documents surfaced which purported to show an attempt by Saddam to buy Niger uranium. These documents turned out to be forgeries. Nobody is asking: Why were these forgeries made and who made them?They certainly served a purpose: they cast serious doubt on any...

NIAMEY (AFP) - International donors have pledged almost one billion euros to save Africa's Niger river, which runs across 4,200-kilometres (2,600-miles), a source said Tuesday. At a donors conference in the Niger capital, Niamey, about 907 million euros (1.4 billion dollars) was raised with pledges from the World Bank (500 million euros), France (250 million) and the Islamic Development Bank (100 million) comprising the lion's share. The money will allow the Niger Basin Authority (ABN), an intergovernmental body grouping the countries irrigated by Africa's third-longest river, to begin work on the first phase in a 5.5 billion-euro, 20-year rescue plan...