Background
Mamadou Thandja was born in 1938 in a minor landlord’s family. The accurate date of his birth is unknown because in Niger, like in many other African countries, children’s birth dates were not registered, because of people’s illiteracy.
Mamadou Thandja was born in 1938 in a minor landlord’s family. The accurate date of his birth is unknown because in Niger, like in many other African countries, children’s birth dates were not registered, because of people’s illiteracy.
After getting elementary and higher education Mamadou Thandja chose the military career. His military serving started after his graduation from a couple of military schools in Mali, Madagascar and Côte d’Ivoire. He got his first rank of junior lieutenant in 1967. After that he took up a number of command posts.
In 1974 there was a revolution in the country that was organized by the military. As the result, Diori Hamani, the first elected President of Niger, was overthrown. Mamadou Thandja took part in the revolution and for that he was given another rank – the captain.
Starting from 1976 Thandja takes up different positions in the structures of the government and military: he was a prefect in Maradi and Takhua, he also was the commander of a battalion.