Niger lawyers to strike, EU delays aid over vote row
* Niger lawyers to strike over referendum row
* European Commission to delay budget support
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY, July 12 (Reuters) - Niger's lawyers said on Sunday they would strike this week in protest at the president's plan to hold a referendum on extending his rule, a day after the European Union delayed an aid payment over the vote row.
Despite mounting opposition at home and abroad, President Mamadou Tandja is pushing ahead with an Aug. 4 vote to allow him to hold on to power for another three years in the uranium producing country after his second term expires in December.
"The General Assembly of the Order of Lawyers has decided to lay down its robes and not work on Monday, July 13, 2009 in solidarity with the Constitutional Court," the lawyers said in a statement referring to Niger's top court.
The court was dissolved last month after it declared Tandja's plans illegal. The president has also dissolved parliament, assumed emergency powers and imposed restrictions on the private press in his bid to hold the poll.
Critics including regional body ECOWAS, the United Nations and donors, have called the move a step backwards after some progress towards democracy over the last decade, but the EU is the first body to impose financial sanctions on the government.
"Because of the influence this could have on the management of public finances, it has been decided to postpone the payment of a tranche of budget support," a European Commission official in Brussels told Reuters on Sunday. The official, who asked not to be named, did not say how much money would be held back but said the EU has intensified discussions with the government. Niger's main opposition parties have called on their supporters to block and boycott the planned constitutional referendum, and opposition members of the national election commission have resigned in protest against the vote.
The commission has said the poll will take place as planned.
"Nigeriens are living in total confusion. All the powers have been concentrated in one man while we are being told that the laws are being respected and democracy exists," said Coulibaly Moussa, president of the bar in Niger.
"This is inadmissible," he added.
Calls for a strike follow U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ghana on Saturday when he encouraged Africans to hold their leaders accountable and criticised those on the continent who used coups or changed constitutions to stay in power.
Tandja says he needs more time in charge to carry out political reforms, which would hand more powers to the president, and complete infrastructure projects, including a dam, a Chinese-funded oil refinery and a massive uranium mine.
The latter, a 1.2 billion euro ($1.7 billion) investment by French state nuclear giant Areva CEPFI.PA, is expected to make the impoverished desert nation the world's No. 2 uranium producer.
(Additional reporting by Anne Jolis in Brussels; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Sophie Hares)
