Useful Links
The official Niger tourism site. Mme Amadou Aissa Siddo is now the new Minister for Tourism, Arts and Crafts. She replaced Amadou Nouhou in June 2007.
An excellent site covering the Agadez region, Tuareg culture, tourist facilities, good forum.
Les Amis de Timia is a charity based in Timia. The organisation offers aid to caravans, particularily during times of drought. Please contact them to make a donation.
Niger is ranked 177th - last on the UNDP human development index. We are officially the poorest country on earth. And yet, Niger remains a profoundly beautiful and hospitable land. One of the best ways to help, is to come and spend your money. Point-Afrique run direct charter flights from Paris to Agadez. The company is actively involved with various West African aid programmes.
PLEASE NOTE : Point-Afrique has cancelled flights to Agadez for the 2007/08 season due to ongoing security problems in northern Niger.
To quote Toby Porter, Save the Children's Director of Emergencies - "There is no war in Niger, no rebel groups, no despots, no problems getting the aid in. It is just poverty." Alas, since Mr. Porter's fine words, northern Niger is practically a military zone. The Tuareg rebel group MNJ - Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice, has carried out a series of deadly attacks since Feb. 2007 killing at least 40 soldiers. The MNJ allege that terms of the 1995 peace accords were not fully implemented.
News on relief, development, social, economic and political affairs, by the Integrated Regional Information Network - IRIN of the UN. The site provides good coverage of Niger's current unrest.