Students, teachers protest in Niger

The government in Niger has promised to pay university students three-months arrears of their grants, following a protest by several thousand students today.

Police intervened to break up the demonstration after the students blocked a key bridge in the capital, Niamey, forcing city workers to cross the Niger river by boat.

Meanwhile teachers have begun a five-day strike to demand payment of salary arrears; like many other civil servants, they are owed several months' pay.

Last week, some forty-thousand employees held a two-day strike to support their demands for the payment of wage arrears.However schools in Mali began reopening as part of a deal aimed at restoring calm after unrest over unpaid student grants.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service