Showdown looms as Niger declares general strike illegal
Printer-friendly version Date of publication: July 23, 2009
Source: AFP
Author: Boureima Hama
Niger has banned a general strike called for Thursday and planned weekend demonstrations as President Mamadou Tandja flouted international pressure to call off a referendum that would extend his tenure.
The west African nation's seven main trade unions called a 48-hour strike on Wednesday but a Niamey court ruled the action illegal.
"The unions' strike was declared illegal because its motives are not proper labour demands but purely political," Niger's Communication Minister told Ben Omar told Radio France Internationale (RFI)...
