Niamey - Smokers in the desert state of Niger who break newly enforced anti-smoking laws by lighting up in public or at work, face punishments of up to three months in prison, the government said on Friday.
Smugglers, bandits and rebels in Niger profit from the illegal trans-Saharan cigarette trade - estimated by analysts to be worth $1-billion a year - criss-crossing the impoverished West African state's lawless north.
The government's council of ministers in the faraway southwestern capital decided late on Thursday to adopt ways of applying a May 2006 anti-smoking law, it said in a statement.
Punishments for breaking the newly-enacted law will range from a 5,000 CFA franc ($12) fine to three months in prison, a government source told Reuters.
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Many countries across the world are clamping down on the tobacco industry - with bans on advertising, fines and even laws against actors smoking on television or in films - but few have threatened smokers with prison.
The Niger government cites smoking as one of the leading health problems in the country, a uranium-producing nation that regularly faces droughts and needs food aid.
One in five children in Niger die before their fifth birthday and aid agencies fear the current rising world prices for basic foods will put nutrition out of reach of millions even if the harvest there is good.
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