WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama has removed Madagascar, Guinea and Niger from a list of African countries receiving trade benefits, but reinstated Mauritania, according to the White House.
The decision was taken as the United States conducted an annual review of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program, which evaluates participating countries in part on the strength of democratic reform.
The three countries removed from the program have all seen democratic backsliding in the past year.
In Niger, President Mamadou Tandja has refused to relinquish office at the end of his term, while both Guinea and Madagascar have seen military or military-backed coups.
Mauritania was also the scene of coup last year, but the country held elections in July that returned coup-leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to power.
The AGOA program passed Congress in 2000 and establishes a framework of economic cooperation with the African continent that runs through 2015.
Niger, Madagascar and Guinea will be suspended from the program for a year.
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