The '''Republic of Niger''' is a landlocked country in western [[Africa]]. It gained its independence from [[France]] in 1960, but it still has close ties with its former colonial ruler through [[bilateral agreement]]s for economic and cultural issues. Niger was under single party military rule until 1991, and has had 2 [[coup]]s since then, but has been functioning as a [[Democracy]] since the end of 1999.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ng.html</ref> | The '''Republic of Niger''' is a landlocked country in western [[Africa]]. It gained its independence from [[France]] in 1960, but it still has close ties with its former colonial ruler through [[bilateral agreement]]s for economic and cultural issues. Niger was under single party military rule until 1991, and has had 2 [[coup]]s since then, but has been functioning as a [[Democracy]] since the end of 1999.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ng.html</ref> |