Niger: Five leaders of protest against new tax charged with plotting against state

Niger has jailed five leaders of recent protests against a new tax on basic food stuffs, and has charged them with plotting against the state and forming an unauthorised association, government officials said on Wednesday. The five were members of the “Coalition Against Costly Living,” an alliance of civil society groups that has staged two major protests so far this month against the government's imposition of a 19 percent value added tax (VAT) on basic foodstuffs and other essentials of life.