Niger’s Minister of Employment and Labour, Mohamed Ben Omar, died on Sunday. His party made the announcement without stating the cause of death.
President Mahamadou Issoufou said he received the news with a “heavy heart”.
Omar, a top party official, died Sunday afternoon at a recognised hospital in the capital Niamey, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) said.
Ben Omar, born January 1, 1965, in the south-central town of Tesker, had led the PSD, which is allied with Issoufou’s Party for Democracy and Socialism.
Issoufou’s Labour Minister since 2017, Ben Omar began his political career in 1999 under President Mamadou Tandja, serving in Parliament or in various ministerial roles in the developing Sahel nation.
Ben Omar strongly supported a constitutional amendment that allowed Tandja to prolong his second term by three years in 2009, but a military junta overthrew Tandja the following February.
Before he created the PSD, Ben Omar was a part of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, the party of Tandja’s predecessor Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, who was assassinated in 1999 by some of his own bodyguard.
Niger Republic’s President Issoufou mourns Labour Minister, Ben Omar
