Location | |
Flag | |
Quick Facts | |
Capital | Niamey |
Government | Military Government |
Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF) |
Area | total: 1.267 million km2 water: 300 km2 land: 1,266,700 km2 |
Population | 11,665,937 (July 2006 est.) |
Language | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Religion | Muslim 80%, remainder indigenous beliefs and Christian |
Electricity | 220V/50Hz (European plug) |
Calling Code | +227 |
Internet TLD | .ne |
Time Zone | UTC+1 |
WARNING: Areas near the Mali border are essentially lawless, and travel near the border is STRONGLY discouraged. Several western tourists have been kidnapped in recent years and at least two (a Frenchman & Briton) have been executed by al Qaeda after being kidnapped near the Mali-Niger border. Agadez is the center of the ongoing Tuareg rebellion (as of June 2009) and travel to the city and surrounding region is dangerous and discouraged. |
Niger (pronounced: nee-ZHAIR) is an arid, landlocked country of the Sahel with a population of 12 million. It is bordered by Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Chad and Libya. Niger is a former French colony which was granted independence in 1960. The land is mostly desert plains and dunes, with rolling savanna in the southeast.