Grémah Boucar

Grémah Boucar (born February 2, 1959 in Maïné-Soroa ; also Grémah Boukar and Grémah Boukar Koura ) is a Nigerien journalist , media entrepreneur and politician .

Life

Grémah Boucar belongs to the Kanuri ethnic group . He trained as a radio journalist at the Center de Formation aux Techniques de l'Information (CFTI), which was founded in Niger in 1977 as one of the first training centers for information technology in the region. Boucar first worked as a journalist for the state radio program Voix du Sahel . He worked for the journal Parlé for several years , initially in the capital Niamey and later in Zinder and Dosso . After studying sociology , he worked as a mediator for the United States Agency for International Development on the subjects of agriculture and the fight against desertification .

In the course of political and economic liberalization following the end of the rule of the Supreme Military Council , Grémah Boucar founded the multimedia company Agence Anfani ("Agency for Wellbeing") in 1989 . In its early days, Agence Anfani specialized in agricultural issues. Boucar gradually built it from a small company into one of the most important private media companies in the country. In January 1992 the first edition of the French-language monthly magazine Anfani appeared , the editorial staff of which was initially recruited from Boucar's relatives. The publication of the magazine was a losing business and could only be financed by other activities of Agence Anfani such as audiovisual productions for private customers. In Anfani , sharp criticism was leveled at the protagonists of the transition period to a multi-party system , such as Amadou Cheiffou and André Salifou . After the free parliamentary elections in 1993 , Anfani was close to the opposition party MNSD-Nassara , which was based personally and ideologically on the former regime of the Supreme Military Council. Due to the widespread illiteracy , Boucar only reached a small elite with the magazine . In contrast, his radio program, Radio Anfani , founded in 1994, quickly developed into one of the most important media for domestic and foreign news in Niger. Radio Anfani , which broadcasts in French, Hausa , Zarma and other Nigerian regional languages , also broadcast news programs from Voice of America and Deutsche Welle and was subsidized by the United States through the National Endowment for Democracy .

In early 1996, President-elect Mahamane Ousmane was ousted in a military coup led by Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara . The new rulers restricted the freedom of the press , which directly affected Radio Anfani and Grémah Boucar themselves several times:

• In July 1996, soldiers occupied and ravaged the office of Radio Anfani , which had given airtime to representatives of opposition parties, trade unions and NGOs in the run-up to the 1996 presidential elections . Broadcasting could only be resumed after three weeks.
• On March 1, 1997, the five armed men raided in military uniforms, the Office of Radio Anfani , destroyed equipment worth 80,000 dollars and forced the suspension of operations. The attack sparked demonstrations in the capital Niamey, in which thousands of citizens took part. Three journalists from the station were arrested in the weeks following the attack and detained without charge for four days. Boucar's magazine Anfani held the Nigerien armed forces responsible for the attack, whereupon the military brought a defamation lawsuit against the magazine. Boucar was arrested. He was accused of organizing the attack himself in order to get foreign subsidies.
• In April 1998 the government banned private radio stations from broadcasting news that would fuel the political protests. It happened against the background of demonstrations by opposition supporters in the streets of Niamey. Security officers kidnapped Grémah Boucar from his home and threatened him with death. In the same year Boucar was the first Nigerian to receive the CPJ International Press Freedom Award .

President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was violently killed in a coup on April 9, 1999. Even after the return to democratic order, journalists from Radio Anfani were repeatedly arrested and restricted in their activities. The International Press Institute honored Boucar as a World Press Freedom Hero in 2000 .

Grémah Boucar entered politics in 2004. In the local elections on July 24, 2004 he was elected for the party MNSD-Nassara in the municipal council of his native town Maïné-Soroa. This was followed in the parliamentary elections on December 4, 2004, his election as MNSD Nassara deputy in the National Assembly . He was elected one of the four elected secretaries of the National Assembly Office in 2008. In the following controversial parliamentary elections on October 20, 2009 , he did not run. Boucar joined the MODEN-FA Lumana Africa party, split off from the MNSD-Nassara , for which he reapplied for a seat in the National Assembly in the parliamentary elections on January 31, 2011 . However, he failed to return to parliament. In 2013 he left the MODEN-FA Lumana Africa and became a member of the PNDS-Tarayya party of President Mahamadou Issoufou .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Marie-Soleil Frère: Presse et démocratie en Afrique francophone. Les mots et les maux de la transition au Bénin et au Niger . Préface de Patrick Quantin. Karthala, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-86537-897-7 , pp. 131, 133-134 .
2. ^ Institut de Formation aux Techniques de l'Information et de la Communication (IFTIC), Niger. (No longer available online.) In: Images d'Afrique Formation. Agence française de coopération médias (CFI), formerly in the original ; accessed on December 31, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ ^{a b} Radio Anfani (Niger). Alternatives, accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Grémah Boukar Koura. (No longer available online.) International Press Institute , archived from the original on December 31, 2015 ; accessed on December 13, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ 1998 Press Freedom Awards - Boucar. Committee to Protect Journalists , accessed December 31, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Arrêt N ° 36 / CC / ME du 11 septembre 2004. (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, p. 22 , accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
7. ↑ Arrêt N ° 56/04 / CC / ME du 14 Décembre 2004. (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, p. 23 , accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
8. ↑ Arrêt N ° 53/04 / CC / ME du 01 November 2004. (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, p. 12 , accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
9. ^ Assemblée nationale. Renouvellement des membres du Bureau. (No longer available online.) In: Niger Diaspora. May 28, 2008, archived from the original on December 31, 2015 ; accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Arrêt N ° 08/09 / CC / ME on 19 September 2009 (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, accessed on 31 December 2015 (French). 
11. ↑ Arrêt N ° 002/11 / CCT / ME du 13 janvier 2011. (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, p. 19 , accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
12. ↑ Arrêt N ° 009/11 / CCT / ME du 16 mars 2009. (PDF) Cour Constitutionnelle, accessed on December 31, 2015 (French). 
13. ↑ Politique: Des nouvelles défections au sein du Moden FA Lumana. In: Tamtam Info. April 24, 2013, accessed December 31, 2015 (French).