A Secular Charter Under Military Rule in Niger

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Niger's constitution describes the country as a secular state and separates religion from politics on paper, even though public life is saturated with Islamic reference and religious leaders are regularly consulted by whichever government holds power. Religious associations register with the Ministry of Interior and Religious Affairs, which also engages an Islamic Council to advise on religious matters and to help mediate disputes between the state and religious groups.

The ruling military council that took power in the July 2023 coup suspended much of the constitution but has continued to work through this same registration framework, treating religious oversight as a matter of continuity even amid broader political rupture. That the junta kept the Ministry of Interior and Religious Affairs running unchanged while suspending other constitutional articles says something about where Niger's state actually locates its stability: not in the formal document but in the working relationship between government and Sufi religious authority that document merely describes.