NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger's military-led rulers said on Monday that mining contracts signed under ousted President Mamadou Tandja passed through the appropriate procedures but some companies may not be able to fulfil their obligations.
The comments come amid speculation that the military junta that removed Tandja in a February coup, and has since vowed to clean up business and politics, may cancel a ream of contracts signed while Tandja ran the West African the uranium producer.
"There is lots of speculation over this question of the mining permits. The 159 licenses were issued by decree ... they were handed out legally," Souleymane Mamadou Abba, minister of mines and energy in the government put in place after the coup, said on state radio on Monday.
"There were no contracts handed out under the table."
Under Tandja foreign companies secured a flurry of exploration permits to work in Niger, which is rich in uranium and oil but better known for hunger and poverty.
The lack of transparency linked to many of the deals fuelled speculation over the conditions they were signed under. And many in Niger welcomed the soldiers' vows to clean up business and politics, as well as restore democracy after they ousted Tandja.
Elections are due by February 2011.
Despite apparently ending speculation over a far-reaching review of the contracts, Mamadou Abba raised other issues:
"Behind the legality of the distribution (of the contracts), there could be other problems. There could be companies that are simply not able to operate the number of operate the number of permits they have been allocated. But that is another thing".
The minister did not give any further details, but the government has said that it will examine the country's mining contracts and invalidate those that do not benefit Niger.
The country's biggest mining contracts are with nuclear energy group Areva, though the French firm is unlikely to be targeted by the interim government, whose prime minister is currently touring Europe to seek the resumption of donor aid. Link
