THE European Union (EU) said on Friday it is preparing to cut all but humanitarian ties with Niger, following the brutal assassination of that country’s president earlier this month by his own bodyguard. “We have proposed suspending the application of the Lome Convention, except for humanitarian aid,” a European Commission spokesman said. The Lome Convention governs trade and aid relations between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The suspension must first be ratified by the EU council of ministers after consultation with the ACP group. Presidential bodyguard chief Major Daouda Mallam Wanke has been appointed interim leader of the west African country.