Pays Bas (Niamey)

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Aerial photograph of the Pays Bas (2011)

Pays Bas (also: Saga Kourtey ) is a district of Niamey in Niger . In the 1990s it developed into a poor district known nationwide.

geography

Pays Bas is part of the Pays Bas-Tondi Gammé district in the Niamey IV arrondissement . To the north of the district is the Talladjé district , to the northeast is Niamey Airport , to the southeast - separated by gardens - the Tondi Gammé district , to the south is the Saga Sahara district and to the west is the industrial area of ​​the Gamkalley Golley district .

Pays Bas lies on a river terrace of the Niger River that is subject to erosion . A dry valley runs through the district , which carries water when it rains heavily, which endangers residential buildings. The soil is partially covered by laterite . The rainwater collects in pools and, in the south of Pays Bas, in temporary pools. The formative plants are Guiera senegalensis and Kinkéliba . There are also neem trees and, in the gardens to the south, mango and lemon trees .

The houses in Pays Bas are usually adobe buildings without any comfort. Cooking takes place outdoors. There is no running water and accordingly no showers and water closets. The fact that these are adobe houses indicates that the residents are better off economically than in some other settlements in the city, in which round straw huts are the usual form of living. Nevertheless, Pays Bas, which among Niamey's districts most closely resembles a typical slum in appearance , is a widely known poor district. It is dangerous to walk here at night.

  • Street scenes in Pays Bas (2017)
  • Pays Bas Niamey I.jpg
  • Pays Bas Niamey II.jpg
  • Pays Bas Niamey III.jpg

history

During the French colonial period, there was a shooting range in the Pays Bas area. By the 1930s at the latest, three or four shepherd families settled here. They were members of the ethnic groups of the Fulbe and Kurtey from Saga , who practiced cattle breeding and agriculture.

In the 1980s, the traditional landowners from Saga began selling land. The state authorities did not approve the creation of the district, which developed as an informal settlement . The practice of informal parcelling existed in some areas of Niamey from the 1960s to the early 1990s. Other examples of districts that have emerged in this way are Talladjé, Zarmagandey , Nialga and Koubia . The new settlement was called Saga Kourtey. Saga Kourtey is actually a district of Saga on the Niger River, in which the traditional chief (chef traditionnel) had his seat, to whose area the new district belonged. The residents had to pay their taxes to him. He had a representative living on site.

Land sales and influx accelerated in the mid-1990s during the economic crisis in Niger at the time, when land and building materials could be purchased cheaply. In the 1990s the district was named Pays Bas. The French place name means on the one hand "lower country". From the National Road 1 in the north, only a few houses can be seen on the lower river terrace of the district. On the other hand, Pays Bas is also the French name for the Netherlands . Some derive the place name from the fact that the Netherlands financially supported the erection of electricity pylons.

Both immigrants from outside Niamey and former residents of the city center increasingly settled in Pays Bas. These included members of various ethnic groups such as Hausa , Zarma , Songhai , Fulbe and Tuareg . President Mamadou Tandja , who sought a third term in office not provided for in the constitution in 2009, tried to send a signal against the state's neglect of the slums by building a public fountain in Pays Bas. The fountain was called Pompe Tazartché . The Hausa term Tazartché , which means “it must go on”, was the motto of his campaign.

In 2012, Pays Bas merged with Tondi Gammé to form the new district (quartier) Pays Bas-Tondi Gammé. A quarter is entitled to its own traditional mayor. The district developed into a transit station for migrants from other African countries who were on their way to Europe. The settlement, which continued to grow illegally in the approach path of Niamey Airport, raised safety concerns. In 2013 the Ministry of Transport made a first attempt to persuade residents of the endangered zones to give up their homes. The city council of Niamey finally arranged for the violent evacuation and destruction of large parts of the new settlements in 2017. This was accompanied by strong resistance from residents and resulted in several injuries.

literature

  • Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 (and diva-portal.org [PDF]).
  • Hassane Younsa Harouna: L'accès à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement dans les quartiers précaires de Niamey: cas de Pays-Bas (Commune IV) . Mémoire de maîtrise. Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niamey 2011 ( memoireonline.com ).

Web links

Commons : Pays Bas (Niamey)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b National Repertoire des Localités (ReNaLoc). (RAR) Institut National de la Statistique de la République du Niger, July 2014, p. 717 , accessed on 7 August 2015 (French).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Hassane Younsa Harouna: L'accès à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement dans les quartiers précaires de Niamey: cas de Pays-Bas (Commune IV) . Mémoire de maîtrise. Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niamey 2011, p. 20–21 ( memoireonline.com [accessed May 10, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 , pp. 95–96 ( including diva-portal.org [PDF; accessed on May 8, 2019]).
  4. ^ A b Patrick Gilliard: L'extrême pauvreté au Niger. Mendier ou mourir? Karthala, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-84586-629-1 , p. 143 and 149 .
  5. ↑ Kokou Henri Motcho, Hamadou Issaka: Diversité of stratégies résidentielles des familles démunies à Niamey. (PDF) Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, July 25, 2018, p. 2 , accessed on May 5, 2019 (French).
  6. ^ A b Hilary B. Hungerford: Water, Cities, and Bodies: A Relational Understanding of Niamey, Niger . Dissertation. University of Kansas, Lawrence 2012, pp. 117 ( kuscholarworks.ku.edu [PDF; accessed on May 10, 2019]).
  7. ↑ a b Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 , pp. 17-18 ( including diva-portal.org [PDF; accessed on May 8, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Kokou Henri Motcho: Croissance urbaine et insécurité dans la ville de Niamey . In: Geographica Helvetica . Vol. 59, No. 3 , 2004, p. 201 ( geogr-helv.net [PDF; accessed April 19, 2019]).
  9. ↑ a b c Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 , pp. 93–94 ( including diva-portal.org [PDF; accessed on May 8, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Kokou Henri Motcho: Niamey, Garin captan Salma ou l'histoire du peuplement de la ville de Niamey . In: Jérôme Aloko-N'Guessan, Amadou Diallo, Kokou Henri Motcho (eds.): Villes et organization de l'espace en Afrique . Karthala, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-8111-0339-2 , pp. 25 .
  11. ↑ Hamadou Issaka, Johnson Cassidy: Niamey face au défi du développement urbain sensible aux risques: multiplicité des acteurs et deficit de synergie . In: Revue Ivoirienne de Géographie des Savanes . No. 5 , December 2018, ISSN  2521-2125 , p. 118 ( riges-uao.net [PDF; accessed April 26, 2019]).
  12. ↑ Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 , pp. 132 ( uu.diva-portal.org [PDF; accessed on May 8, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Gabriella Körling: In Search of the State. An Ethnography of Public Service Provision in Urban Niger (=  Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology . No. 51 ). Uppsala University, Uppsala 2011, ISBN 978-91-554-8127-8 , pp. 91 ( uu.diva-portal.org [PDF; accessed on May 8, 2019]).
  14. ^ Nicolas Pinault: En images: A Niamey, des migrants en transit vers l'Europe racontent leur histoire. In: VOA Afrique. March 10, 2016, accessed on May 16, 2019 (French).
  15. ^ Niamey: L'opération de déguerpissement au quartier Pays bas vire à l'émeute. In: ActuNiger. October 19, 2017, accessed on May 16, 2019 (French).

Coordinates: 13 ° 29 '  N , 2 ° 9'  E