On 4 May, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja laid the first brick in what will become Africa’s largest uranium mine at Imouraren in Niger. He was joined by Anne Lauvergeon, President of French nuclear conglomerate Areva, and Alain Joyardet, French Cooperation Minister. This followed President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Niamey on 27 March. Neither side will publish the financial terms of the deal, said to be highly disadvantageous to Niger. Environmental groups say that Areva’s previous operations in the area poisoned the water supply. On the same day as the Areva inauguration, Tandja announced a national referendum allowing him to change the constitution and run for a third five-year presidential term, apparently with Sarkozy’s approval. The day before, the government had signed a ceasefire with the mainly Tuareg rebels in the north. The rebels have been fighting for a greater share of mining revenue since February 2007 in a conflict that has killed at least 300 rebels and 80 government soldiers. Tandja met representatives from the three main rebel groups: the Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice, the Front des Forces de Redressement and the Front Patriotique Nigérien in Agadez. No timetable for disarmament has yet been set but mediation by Libyan leader Moammar el Gadaffi and French diplomatic pressure have yielded results in the short-term. So, we hear, have payments to rebel groups by Areva to protect their staff: some French diplomats have drawn a comparison with oil companies in the Niger Delta and say the payments could ‘set a dangerous precedent in the long term’.