By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Seven poll workers were killed during Niger’s presidential vote on Sunday when their vehicle struck a landmine, an election official said, marring a day meant to usher in the country’s first democratic transition of power.The West African country regularly suffers attacks by Islamist militants and had stepped up security to protect the poll, in which ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum is facing former president Mahamane Ousmane.A vehicle belonging to the electoral commission (CENI) and carrying election workers to their polling stations hit a mine in the rural...…By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Seven poll workers were killed during Niger’s presidential vote on Sunday when their vehicle struck a landmine, an election official said, marring a day meant to usher in the country’s first democratic transition of power.The West African country regularly suffers attacks by Islamist militants and had stepped up security to protect the poll, in which ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum is facing former president Mahamane Ousmane.A vehicle belonging to the electoral commission (CENI) and carrying election workers to their polling stations hit a mine in the rural...WW…

By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger began counting the votes on Sunday from an election that is expected to lead to the West African nation’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.Results are expected in the coming days.A smooth handover would be a rare bright spot for a country that has seen four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, and is blighted by poverty and Islamist violence that has killed hundred of civilians and soldiers in the last year alone.It would also contrast with Ivory Coast and Guinea, whose presidents this year used constitutional...…By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger began counting the votes on Sunday from an election that is expected to lead to the West African nation’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.Results are expected in the coming days.A smooth handover would be a rare bright spot for a country that has seen four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, and is blighted by poverty and Islamist violence that has killed hundred of civilians and soldiers in the last year alone.It would also contrast with Ivory Coast and Guinea, whose presidents this year used constitutional...WW…

By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger began counting the votes on Sunday from an election that is expected to lead to the West African nation’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.Results are expected in the coming days.A smooth handover would be a rare bright spot for a country that has seen four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, and is blighted by poverty and Islamist violence that has killed hundred of civilians and soldiers in the last year alone.It would also contrast with Ivory Coast and Guinea, whose presidents this year used constitutional...…By NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger began counting the votes on Sunday from an election that is expected to lead to the West African nation’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.Results are expected in the coming days.A smooth handover would be a rare bright spot for a country that has seen four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, and is blighted by poverty and Islamist violence that has killed hundred of civilians and soldiers in the last year alone.It would also contrast with Ivory Coast and Guinea, whose presidents this year used constitutional...WW…

By , NIAMEY (Reuters) - Six gunmen on motorbikes with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped an American man from his home on the edge of a rural village in southern Niger in the early hours of Tuesday, multiple sources said.The kidnappers seized 27-year-old Philip Walton, who kept camels, sheep and poultry and grew mango trees near the border with Nigeria, at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT), a police source, two local officials and three security sources told Reuters.His wife, young daughter and his brother were left behind in their home in the village of Massalata, the police source said.The...…By , NIAMEY (Reuters) - Six gunmen on motorbikes with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped an American man from his home on the edge of a rural village in southern Niger in the early hours of Tuesday, multiple sources said.The kidnappers seized 27-year-old Philip Walton, who kept camels, sheep and poultry and grew mango trees near the border with Nigeria, at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT), a police source, two local officials and three security sources told Reuters.His wife, young daughter and his brother were left behind in their home in the village of Massalata, the police source said.The...WW…

By , NIAMEY (Reuters) - Six gunmen on motorbikes with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped an American man from his home on the edge of a rural village in southern Niger in the early hours of Tuesday, multiple sources said.The kidnappers seized 27-year-old Philip Walton, who kept camels, sheep and poultry and grew mango trees near the border with Nigeria, at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT), a police source, two local officials and three security sources told Reuters.His wife, young daughter and his brother were left behind in their home in the village of Massalata, the police source said.The...…By , NIAMEY (Reuters) - Six gunmen on motorbikes with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped an American man from his home on the edge of a rural village in southern Niger in the early hours of Tuesday, multiple sources said.The kidnappers seized 27-year-old Philip Walton, who kept camels, sheep and poultry and grew mango trees near the border with Nigeria, at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT), a police source, two local officials and three security sources told Reuters.His wife, young daughter and his brother were left behind in their home in the village of Massalata, the police source said.The...WW…

By , NIAMEY/PARIS (Reuters) - France launched a coalition of West African and European allies on Friday to fight jihadi militants in the Sahel region, hoping more political cooperation and special forces would boost a military effort that has so far failed to stifle violence.Slideshow Former colonial power France has deployed thousands of soldiers in the arid region south of the Sahara desert since 2013, and now has 5,100 troops there. But violence by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has been on the rise.The coalition, first announced at a January summit after a series of attacks...…By , NIAMEY/PARIS (Reuters) - France launched a coalition of West African and European allies on Friday to fight jihadi militants in the Sahel region, hoping more political cooperation and special forces would boost a military effort that has so far failed to stifle violence.Slideshow Former colonial power France has deployed thousands of soldiers in the arid region south of the Sahara desert since 2013, and now has 5,100 troops there. But violence by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has been on the rise.The coalition, first announced at a January summit after a series of attacks...WW…