Since 1975, Niger has celebrated Arbor Day as part of its Independence Day: 3 August.

President Compaoré has mediated a political crisis in Togo and helped to resolve the Tuareg conflict in Niger.

Chad has been an active champion of regional cooperation through the Central African Economic and Customs Union, the Lake Chad and Niger River Basin Commissions, and the Interstate Commission for the Fight Against the Drought in the Sahel.

Delimitation of international boundaries in the vicinity of Lake Chad, the lack of which led to border incidents in the past, has been completed and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.

Hausa is also spoken various parts of Cameroon and Chad, which combined the mixed dialects of Northern Nigeria and Niger Republic, French has made a great influence in the way Hausa is spoken by the native Hausa speakers.

The NTC has been in negotiations with Algeria and Niger, neighboring countries to which members of the government and defecting military commanders have fled, attempting to secure the arrest and extradition of Al-Saadi Gaddafi and others.

Libya also has sought to expand its influence in Africa through financial assistance, ranging from aid donations to impoverished neighbors such as Niger to oil subsidies to Zimbabwe.

Mali has no seaports because it is landlocked, but Koulikoro on the Niger River near Bamako, serves as a principal river port.

Mali has 1, 815 kilometers of inland waterways, principally the Niger River, some portions of which are navigable for medium and large shipping during the rainy season ( June / July – November / December ) in years of normal rainfall.

Considerable evidence indicates that about 60, 000 years ago, humans inhabited what has since become the desolate Sahara Desert of northern Niger.

Niger borders seven countries and has a total of 5 697 km of borders.

Niger also has short borders in its far southwest frontier ( Burkina Faso at 628 km and Benin at 266 km ) and to the northnortheast ( Libya at 354 km ).

Niger, is a landlocked Sub-Sahara African nation, and over the past two decades has consistently been ranked near or at the bottom of worldwide indexes of the Human development index, GDP, and percapita income.

An Indian proposal has surfaced to link the railways in Benin and Togo with landlocked Niger and Burkino Faso.

Kaura-Namoda via Sokoto to Birnin-Konni ( about 250 km altogether ) on the border with Niger, which has no railway.

Niger has maintained close ties with France, its former colonial power.

A conservative foreign policy has meant that under Niger's first president and — following military coup — the 1974 – 1991 military government, Niger maintained good relations with the United States, Israel, and NATO governments in general.

Niger has close relations with its neighbour Mali, with large scale trade links and sizable population movement between the two nations.

Niger has only 24 permanent embassies abroad, although more have permanent representation in Niamey, either through national embassies or other representatives.

Libya has in the past claimed a strip along their border of about 19, 400 km² in northern Niger.

An agreement has been completed and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.

Niger has an ongoing conflict with Benin over Lété Island, an island in the River Niger approx.

The country has two major rail lines: one connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin and Nguru in the northern state of Yobe ; the other connects Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta and Maiduguri in the northeastern state of Borno.

* Conflict in the Niger Delta ( 2004 – present ) – an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

* USAID Assistance to Niger / Sahel-Information on relief efforts and ongoing bilateral assistance from the United States Agency for International Development

The region has, however, seen a number of bloody civil wars, including the Nigerian Civil War ( 1967 – 1970 ), two civil wars in Liberia in 1989 and 1999, a decade of fighting in Sierra Leone from 1991 – 2002, a Tuareg Rebellion in Niger and Mali in the early 1990s, and an ongoing conflict in Côte d ' Ivoire that began in 2002.

The attack came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection.

The surrounding Niger River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the Sudan province, which in turn is part of the larger African massive physiographic division.

The Niger, Gambia, and Senegal Rivers are among the 22 West African rivers that have their origins in Guinea.

Over the succeeding centuries they extended their range from Egypt to the Niger Basin.

The Constitutional Court of Niger and the National Assembly of Niger must advise the president, but there is no provision that the president must heed their advice.

Nigeria maintains close relations with the Republic of Niger, in part because both nations share a large Hausa minority on each side of their 450-mile ( 1500 km ) border.

Niger and Mali have fought related Tuareg insurgencies in their respective northern territories in the 1990s and mid 2000s.

Niger Delta cities and their annually rainfall totals in millimeters:

Nigeria maintains close relations with the Republic of Niger, in part because both nations share a large Hausa minority on each side of their 1500 km border.

The modern nations of Nigeria and Niger take their names from the river, marking contesting national claims by colonial powers of the " Upper ", " Lower " and " Middle " Niger river basin during the Scramble for Africa at the end of the 19th century.

In order to further coordinate their efforts, in April 2008 the riparian countries which form the Niger Basin Authority adopted a Niger Basin Water Charta, a basin-wide 30-year investment plan and a 5-year priority investment plan.

Mauritania and Niger only include a band of the Sahel along their southern borders.

* The Roman governors Clodius Albinus ( Britannia ) and Pescennius Niger ( Syria ) claim with support of their troops the imperial throne.

Hutus speak Rwanda-Rundi as their native tongue, which is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger – Congo language family.

Tutsis speak Rwanda-Rundi as their native tongue, which is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger – Congo language family.

Nomads such as the Tuareg and Fulani, who make up about 20 % of Niger's 12. 9 million population, had been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk.

They are those languages west of Kru which have the noun-class systems characteristic of the Niger – Congo family ; in this they are distinguished from their Mande neighbors, which do not.

On the West African coast they set up Zāwiyas on the shores of the river Niger and even established independent kingdoms such as al-Murābiṭūn or Almoravids. The Al Hakika Mizaan Mizaani Sufi Order deals with heavy internalization and meditations, their spiritual practice is called Al Qudra MizaanStates ) The Sanusi order were also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century, spreading both Islam and a high level of literacy into Africa as far south as Lake Chad and beyond by setting up a network of zawiyas where Islam was taught.

Gĩkũyũs speak the Gĩkũyũ language as their native tongue, which is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger – Congo language family.

The map included with the article highlights geographical features the Brontës reference in their tales: the Jibbel Kumera ( the Mountains of the Moon ), Ashantee, and the rivers Niger and Calabar.

Their ultimate goal was to have an uninterrupted link between the Niger River and the Nile, hence controlling all trade to and from the Sahel region, by virtue of their existing control over the caravan routes through the Sahara.

Traditionally harvested by seminomadic desert pastoralists in the course of their transhumance cycle, acacia gum remains a main export of several African nations, including Mauritania, Niger, Chad, and Sudan.