y, but gradually ceded control of the region
in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental
manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and
resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist
Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist
rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista
contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990,
1996, and 2001, saw the Sandinistas defeated, but voting in 2006
announced the return of former Sandinista President Daniel ORTEGA
Saavedra. Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy - hard hit by the
earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - are slowly being
rebuilt.

Niger
Niger became independent from France in 1960 and experienced
single-party and military rule until 1991, when Gen. Ali SAIBOU was
forced by public pressure to allow multiparty elections, which
resulted in a democratic government in 1993. Political infighting
brought the government to a standstill and in 1996 led to a coup by
Col. Ibrahim BARE. In 1999 BARE was killed in a coup by military
officers who promptly restored democratic rule and held elections
that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power in December of that year.
TANDJA was reelected in 2004. Niger is one of the poorest countries
in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds
to develop its resource base. The largely agrarian and
subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended
droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa. A predominately
Tuareg ethnic group emerged in February 2007, the Nigerien Movement
for Justice (MNJ), and attacked several military targets in Niger's
northern region throughout 2007. Events have since evolved into a
budding insurrection.

Nigeria
British influence and control over what would become Nigeria
grew through the 19th century. A series of constitutions after World
War II granted Nigeria greater autonomy; independence came in 1960.
Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was
adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government
was completed. The government continues to face the daunting task of
reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been
squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and
institutionalizing democracy. In addition, Nigeria continues to
experience longstanding eth