Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between the traditional chief in Niger together with the process of decentralization The democratic process initiated in the early 90s in most of the African countries helped to establish a multi party system as well as kept good government structures The initiative could solve the excessive centralization of government powers in African countries In order to understand the decentralization process in Niger we should not only refer to the democratic context but also we should understand certain historical facts Besides the context of democracy it should be noted that the claims of the armed rebellion 1989 based on federalism have led to peace agreements in the October 9 1994 and April 24 1995 between the organization of armed resistance ORA and the Government of Niger to adopt decentralization as a form of governance The option is a full communalisation by changing the townships sedentary and area nomadic in commune status The communes are headed by an elected mayor The logic is to make these structures as real poles of local development But in the same way and during a long time at the head of same township there is a leader who administered his people according to traditional mode This two kind of powerful can create a social conflict if some rules are not defined I am interested to region of Tahoua particularly the two urban communes