Niger

The military in Niger will be voting today ahead of everyone else in a referendum on a new constitution that would allow President Mamadou Tandja to remain in power until 2012.

This is to free them up for security duties when other voters will be casting their ballots tomorrow.

Under the current constitution President Tandja should step down at the end of his second five-year term in December.

But having assumed emergency powers in order to overcome strong opposition to his third term ambitions, he has succeeded in forcing a vote on the constitution.

Our reporter in Niamey Idy Baraou earlier told Peter Ndoro how much this issue has divided the country.