Niger’s Tuareg rebels demand share of uranium cash

Niger’s Tuareg-led rebel movement chief said his Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), whose desert fighters have waged a rebellion against Niamey government troops, wants up to 30 percent of uranium revenue to be allocated to the northern region populated mainly by Tuaregs.

“One of our demands is to set aside between 20 percent and 30 percent from the uranium earnings to benefit the population living in the north of Niger,” Aghaly Ag Alambo told Al Jazeera television in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
“Every company doing uranium business in Niger has to do this, whether this company is foreign or local,” Alambo added.

He did not say how his group planned to force firms or the government satisfy the demand.

The MNJ wants greater autonomy for the uranium-producing northern Agadez region and a bigger share of its mineral wealth for local people.

Encouraged by rising world prices, Niger hopes to become the world’s number two uranium producer by 2011 thanks to new mines being opened by France’s Areva and the China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U).

Reuters