Transportation in Niger

Essay by mehddy89College, Undergraduate April 2009

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Downloaded 5 times

Communities are constantly working on their transportation system. The difference is the workload between communities which vary according to the History of the community and its capabilities. In order, to provide you with the best look on the matter, we decide necessary to give a brief summary of Niger's History. Niger (capital is Niamey) 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. The transport in my community Niger is very crucial to the economy of this vast landlocked nation, with cities separated by huge uninhabited deserts, mountain ranges, and other natural features. A poor nation, Niger's transport system was little developed during the colonial period (1899-1960),relying upon animal transport, human transport, and limited river transport in the far south west and south east. No railways were constructed in the colonial period, and roads outside the capitol remained unpaved. The Niger River is unsuitable for river transport of any large scale, as it lacks depth for most of the year, and is broken by rapids at many spots. Camel caravan transport was historically important in the Sahara...