20091227

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger went ahead with boycotted local elections on Sunday despite increasing international isolation of President Mamadou Tandja over his move to extend his rule over the Saharan uranium-producer.

The United States terminated trade benefits for Niger on Wednesday, a day after former army colonel Tandja's five-year term in office was originally due to have ended. In August Tandja amended the constitution to prolong his mandate.

Tandja told reporters after voting in the capital Niamey he hoped the vote would be peaceful. Members of the security forces voted on Saturday to enable them to guard voting stations and main transport routes on the main day of the poll.

"These elections are the latest step undertaken by the illegal and illegitimate rule of Tandja," the CFDR grouping of opposition parties and trade unions said in a statement urging voters to boycott the municipal vote.

Tandja and his allies already hold a comfortable majority in the national parliament and there is little chance of the local elections loosening his grip on power.

The U.S. sanctions were the latest in a line of measures taken by African neighbours, the European Union and others to punish Tandja for his power grab, which he argues was necessary to ensure important infrastructure projects are completed.

However analysts question the impact of such measures while Niger continues to see revenues from exports of uranium, used notably by France as a part of its reliance on nuclear power.

Separately, Nigerien media reported late on Saturday the last Tuareg rebel faction still bearing arms after an October peace deal with the government had surrended its weapons in the northern Agadez region, a key uranium-producing zone.

Although the move brings the prospect of an end to an insurgency that has killed 300 rebel fighters and some 80 government forces, Nigerien authorities are are still on alert in the region for activity by local allies of al Qaeda.