Africa General Military& Security News

Na, not Soros' modus operandi at all

Of course what post-coup Gabon's policies would be is anyone's guess. Could they be friendly with the US? Sure, if the US doesn't try to threaten them or bully a regional political bloc into a military intervention to bring the previous corrupt dictator back into power.

As for Niger though both the event itself and the military elites who pulled it off are very much connected to the revolutions in nearby Burkino Faso, Mali and Guinea earlier; which were always explicitly anti-French and very friendly to Russia and China, and by extension anti-Western as the rest of the West supported France in its activities in West Africa.

When will Cameroon's President Paul Biya be overthrown in a coup? He is also a French puppet.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34868721-cameroon

andalusia wrote:When will Cameroon's President Paul Biya be overthrown in a coup? He is also a French puppet.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34868721-cameroon

Half the African continent is still filled with such 'Bongos'

Real question is which country has elections next

Africa has become the gravedigger of Europe, by Elena Karaeva for RIANovosti. 08.31.2023.

A new slap in the face of France, and indeed of the entire EU, the military in Gabon removed the newly elected president from power, and at the same time the entire Bongo family, which ruled this small but rich (by African standards) country for many decades in a row.

The charm of the situation is in the details, in the time and in the places of action.

It was on the day when Macron completed the traditional briefing of the French ambassadors, who specially gathered in Paris , and on the day when the heads of the EU defence departments conferred in Toledo , Spain , that these ladies and gentlemen flew in from Africa. Moreover, if it was still possible to fight off Niger somehow, saying that there is "Islamism and tribal strife" so that the change of power by the military would look less offensive for the "blooming garden", then with Gabon the situation for Europe and France is a real tin.

The removal of the Bongo clan from power is not a pinch or even an uppercut to the soft and sluggish underbelly of the Old Continent, it is not even a slap in the face to politicians who exist today and then they are gone, but an irresistible blow to a business with billions of dollars in turnover. We are talking about oil production, which is carried out in Gabon by two French companies. The main one is Total Gabon, the second is Maurel & Prom. Their shares on the stock exchange instantly lost about a quarter of their value. There is also the Eramet corporation - it specializes in the extraction of manganese. These names may not say anything to the general reader, but they have multibillion-dollar turnovers, profits too. Due, of course, to very low — more precisely, let's face it, scandalously low — costs. The almost zero cost of resources was provided by loyal and devoted power structures. And, of course, if in Europe you talk about "nepotism" and "oligarchs", then it is always "Russian nepotism" and "Russian oligarchs", but in a number of African countries, until recently the EU and France were especially loyal, it is always "leaders elected by the people" and "nationally oriented business". The main thing here is not to confuse.

However, for some reason, the military of these countries have ceased to reckon with such a European attitude, and those who, in their opinion, are not too devoted to protecting the interests of the state and society, are removed from power. An attempt to call what is happening a rebellion no longer works either, since a rebellion cannot end in success.

Two days ago, Macron admonished the ambassadors that France did not intend to cooperate with the new authorities of Niger , condemned those who make such attempts, and said that Paris was ready to support the ECOWAS military operation against the "rebels". The EU headache has been exacerbated by the crisis in Gabon, turning it into a migraine. Migraine is not known to be curable. Moreover, this disease knocks down the optics and makes it difficult to make sound decisions. Yes, and looking at yourself from the outside is also not always possible.

While in Paris they were discussing how "sanctions against Russia demonstrated the strength of the EU and brought the Russian economy to its knees," in Gabon they were thinking how to bring France itself to its knees, and the EU behind it. Judging by the bustle in Paris, Brussels and Toledo (where the head gardener Borrell is now conferring with his junior assistants), Libreville is doing better than Paris so far.

In this regard, of course, the hopes for EU enlargement by 2030, which are cherished in Brussels, calling their ideas "ambitious and thoughtful", are beginning to take on a rather pale appearance.

Who wants to join the one who is driven out from everywhere, and driven out without listening to objections and requests? This is when you are strong, rich and aware of your own importance, they want to be friends with you and even join your company. Well, it's nice to be in the circle of the wealthy and breathe the aromas of the "well-groomed garden." And when it starts to blaze around the garden, and blaze for real, and not the reflections of fireworks, then the desire to join in order to sit on the side chair in line fades away.

This simple thought, sooner or later, will undoubtedly reach those who dream of co-opting into the European community. In the meantime, sensible politicians - in particular, the chief of Hungarian diplomacy - declare the weakening of the European Union. Peter Szijjártó points out that the reason for this was "the erroneous decisions of Brussels in connection with the Ukrainian crisis."

If we continue the logic of his reasoning, it will turn out that the EU began to dig, by itself and with its own hands, its own grave, almost completely breaking off economic relations with our country.

Europe - without Russian raw materials and goods and without the possibility of counter-export - limped, lost its former stability and staggered.

And then a number of African countries began to dump the rudiments of colonialism from their ships. Now the EU has no choice but between a terrible end or horror without end. This is what complacency, aplomb and habits can bring in politics, acquired not even in the era of colonialism, but much earlier - under the feudal system. The fact that a number of African countries are now the gravediggers of neo-feudal Europe can and should be called historical justice.

https://ria.ru/20230831/afrika-1893239819.html

I think this is called getting ahead of the curve, fire (sorry retire) most of the army officer corps.

Sprinter
@Sprinter99800
·
59m
Like Cameroon, the Rwandan government has made major changes to its national army.

In particular, by the decision of Paul Kagame, several high-ranking army officers were dismissed, including the influential General James Kabarebe.

Macron, where is Gabon?, by Dmitry Bavyrin for VZGLYAD. 08.31.2023.

France's attempt to play again in a policy for which the United States is hated in the world, but under the leadership of Macron, who is lucky like a drowned man, is where the real bottom will be. And the fact that the French will knock on him is still a likely development.

The presidency of Emmanuel Macron will go down in French history as the period when the influence of Paris in Africa collapsed. Mali, CAR, Burkina Faso, Niger, and now also Gabon - the French colonial empire seems to be dying "for an encore", but without any respect for its well-deserved body.

When declaring independence from Paris in the 1950s and 1960s, the leaders of the new African countries, for the most part, shook hands with its representatives and swore eternal friendship. Now people with the same positions are kicked out of Africa.

Thus, the organizers of the military coup in Niger demanded that the French ambassador leave the country. If he does not obey (and he should not, because the French do not recognize the new government), he will be arrested.

In 1964, when a military coup took place in Gabon, President Charles de Gaulle sent paratroopers to its capital, Libreville, and reversed the rebellion in two days. Among other things, the paratroopers released from the hostages the vice-president of Gabon, Bongo, who soon became president and author of the well-known metaphor in Paris, that Gabon without France is like a car without a driver.

President Bongo, who is placed under house arrest by modern putschists and calls on his “friends in the world” to “ raise a fuss ”, is the son and successor of the first Bongo, and their entire dynasty ruled Gabon on par with the French for more than half a century.

From the way the ousted president carries himself, and even more so from the jubilation with which rebel leader Bris Oligi is greeted on the streets of Libreville, it is clear that this stuffing cannot be turned back. Gabon, rich in oil and uranium, which served for France, according to the same expression of Bongo Sr., a gas station, was lost by it.

What is important: lost not because of evil fate, but because of an inept political game. Black Africa is a space of unpredictability, but something like this was to be expected in Gabon.

Gabon is a rich country with a poor population. Significant minority incomes formally make it one of the most prosperous countries on the continent, but up to a third of its inhabitants have no income at all - they are unemployed, living at best at the expense of the garden. A typical example from the series of “average temperature in the ward” and “housing paradox”, when officially there are two apartments for two, but one is a rentier, and the second is a homeless person.

The Bongo dynasty, which gained fame as fabulously rich and fantastically corrupt people, has become very tired of the Gabonese for 57 years. Since the 1990s, all presidential elections extending the family's mandate under invariably murky circumstances have been accompanied by protests (up to the burning of the parliament building) and the opposition's refusal to recognize the official results. The same happened with the elections in August 2023, in which Bongo Jr. was, as it were, re-elected again. Only his fate was already hanging in the balance: having survived a stroke in 2019 and a ten-month absence from the ranks of the able-bodied, he was never able to recover.

When the post-election crisis typical of Gabon began, the head of the National Guard, Bris Oligi, cut this hair. It is not a fact that he had any other way out at all: flagrant inequality, unpopular power and the decrepitude of the president created a pre-revolutionary situation in the country. If Bongo had not been deposed by the military, he would have been deposed by the mob.

In Paris, they didn’t come up with anything smarter than recognizing Bongo as the legitimate winner of the elections (tea, Libreville is not Minsk), that is, betting on a horse that barely walks, thereby setting the jubilant crowds against themselves and the new government represented by Oliga.

It is not a fact that now Gabon, relatively speaking, will invite Wagner PMC to guard its oil rigs, but it will certainly change its patron, for example, to the United States, whose creature Oligi is considered. The experience of Niger and the visit of Victoria Nuland showed that the Americans easily sacrifice French interests in order to preserve their own positions.

Thus, the loss of Gabon is precisely the failure of political management on the part of Macron, although 10-20 years ago Paris kept Africa in check, selected capable proteges and sent troops to the continent as often as congratulations on the accession (or re-election) of the next "mon ami" - as thieving and cruel as you like, but always the one who has a wedge in Paris.

Therefore, even former President Francois Hollande, representing the "herbivorous" by French standards, the Socialist Party, hints that it was necessary to act "wrongly", and starting from Mali. When the putschists got away with everything, the rest stopped being afraid of the reaction of Paris.

But the very fact that the question “Macron, where is Gabon?” seems to hang in the French air proves that Macron still has room to fall.

Those who reproach him for the loss of Africa are essentially calling for the return of the practice of regular military interventions to protect French proteges. Therefore, it is not so bad that Macron is a bungler, but that ego and a hot-tempered national character can play in him. In other words, he can start a full-fledged war in West Africa.

He will not dare to invade Gabon - obviously a disastrous thing, and the Americans will clearly be against it. But the junta of Niger with the arrest of the ambassador can be strongly substituted, since this is a classic incident of belli - a pretext for declaring war.

France's attempt to play again in a policy for which the United States is hated in the world, but under the leadership of Macron, who is lucky like a drowned man, is where the real bottom will be. And the fact that the French will knock on him is still a likely development.

Of course, this is a matter not only of desire, but also of opportunities, and the military capabilities of Paris, taking into account its generosity for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, are a reason for speculation. But the current leadership of France is known for its ability to fit into obviously losing projects (for example, in the “defeat of Russia on the battlefield”), and President Macron usually chooses the most stupid of all possible behaviors.

https://vz.ru/opinions/2023/8/31/1228310.html

This explains why France is so keen to keep their hold over the use of the African Franc

I want to know why has France maintained such post colonial control in West Africa like printing their currencies? Why didn't France do something similar in their former Asian or Middle Eastern colonies?

Was it because West African nations are so weak militarily or that they simply closer to France geographically compared to their former Asian colonies?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Indochina


Was it because Vietnam defeated France military for independence in 1949?


Did France ever offer to print Laos and Cambodia currencies?

France got into Africa for big money, by Valeria Verbinina for VZGLYAD. 09.06.2023.

Negotiations began on the withdrawal of French troops from Niger.

France reluctantly agreed to the withdrawal of its military from Niger - at least in part. For Paris, this is not only a political but also an economic defeat. It turned out that for many years France received uranium from Africa almost for free. She won't get that number again.

It looks like France will still have to withdraw its troops from Niger, its former African colony. The French military in the amount of about 1,500 people were there under the pretext of fighting terrorists. Under the previous government of Niger, which was headed by President Mohamed Bazum, they could not boast of much success in this area.

The new rulers of the country, who came to power as a result of a military coup, annulled the previous agreements and demanded that the French get out of where they came from. In response, the French authorities began to incite ECOWAS - a local regional association of states - to impose maximum sanctions, turn off everything that is possible (up to the electricity that Niger used to receive from neighboring Nigeria), and, for greater democracy, even threaten intervention in order to return to the game President Bazum, so dear to the heart of Macron.

Do not think anything like that - the French need Bazum, because he did not prevent them from managing in Niger. In particular, to engage in the extraction of uranium, which is tied to a significant part of French nuclear power plants.

Because the new authorities of Niger, apparently, have reason to believe that the contracts were concluded in such a way that Niger lost too much. For example, in 2010 alone, Niger exported 3.5 billion euros worth of uranium to France (at world prices), but received only 459 million euros for them. How much money the country did not receive in total (and how much ended up in the pockets of a corrupt government), one can only guess.

It is for this reason that France reacted with such bitterness to the change of power in Niger. The point is not that there is nowhere else to buy uranium, except for Niger (there is uranium on the world market), but that France is de facto cut off from a freebie, which, nevertheless, is of strategic importance. Paying full price or paying more than seven times less is a very, very big difference. Especially for the French, who are great at counting money. In other words, the energy well-being of France was based on almost free Nigerian uranium. Which is now clearly going to be undermined.

The situation quickly escalated: Niger announced the expulsion of French Ambassador Sylvain Itte due to his "hostile" attitude, France in response stated that it did not recognize the new authorities as illegal, therefore, the expulsion was also illegal. And the demand to remove French troops from the country is also illegal. We have been fighting terrorism here on your territory, and we will continue to fight, but you don’t interfere with us, maybe we will get to something - someday, when cancer whistles on the mountain.

And most importantly, turn back the minced meat, ugh, return our henchman Bazum, he suited us all, sold uranium cheaply, and in general everything was fine.

Minced meat, however, for some reason did not turn back, and in addition to everything, the air force base in the Niger capital Niamey, where the main part of the French contingent is located, was surrounded by crowds of people. And this people was not silent at all, but made noise, blew vuvuzelas, shouted out anti-French slogans (the softest ones are “France, go home” and “France, you robbed us for 63 years, that’s enough for you”) and in general began to recall to the descendants of the former colonialists everything sins up to the seventh generation, as well as weaknesses and miscalculations.

“I can't understand how this can be,” said Ibrahim Mohamed, who lost his job due to the ongoing terrorist attacks in the north of the country. “France has all the necessary technical means, drones for reconnaissance, heavy equipment ... I don’t understand why then some thugs on motorcycles kill ordinary people, not only at night, but also during the day.”

On a hastily erected stage near a military base, Maikul Zodi, who leads a movement called Turn the Page, urges his supporters to keep up the pressure. “You see,” he remarked to reporters, “that we have surrounded this base and will not leave here as long as French soldiers remain on our soil.”

Photos from the place are impressive: a huge crowd, tens of thousands of people filled the space around the base, and if something happens, the French military will not find it small. Nevertheless, the French authorities stubbornly bent their line. No, we won't go anywhere, we won't give in to pressure, we can't afford to lose face.

However, on Monday it became known that between the representatives of the two states there is still an "exchange of views" about when the French troops will leave the territory of Niger. Moreover, the new Prime Minister of Niger, Ali Mahaman Lamin Zein , said that we are talking about a “quick withdrawal of troops”, since their stay in the country is now illegal.

Most of the French media admits what happened through their teeth and tries to downplay the scale: for example, Le Monde reported that "the French army began to discuss with the military the withdrawal of part of the contingent." "Some French units" will leave Niger, and in general - "it is quite normal to discuss this topic, since cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism is interrupted," an unnamed source told the authors of the material.

Further, Le Monde throws a foggy veil: as if neither the number of soldiers who are decided to withdraw from the Niger, nor how they will be taken out, has not yet been decided. However, "some French units", as reported, can be redeployed to neighboring Chad, where France has a large military base, or returned to their homeland.

Apparently, the French media have begun to prepare society for the fact that the French army is leaving another point in Africa and, in addition to what it has already lost (Mali and Burkina Faso in the first place), Niger is also losing. Due to colonial arrogance, diplomatic inflexibility, and last but not least, poor intelligence work, as the next military coup always falls on France like snow on its head, and it reacts belatedly, losing time and trying to catch up with the train that has already left .

It is curious to note the comment of one of the readers to the material in Figaro, which largely repeats the message of Le Monde: “What will happen next: France will be pushed out of the remnants of Africa, including Djibouti (it will take 2-3 years), and then they will fall off us overseas territories (within 10-15 years). The Angloamers will take everything into their own hands, and we, in order to explain our impotence, will refer to the hand of Moscow.

Time will tell whether the forecast of an unknown commentator will come true, but for now, you can bet on which African country will host the next coup. Of course, he will again be completely unexpected. And yes, France will again try to attribute all its failures to the influence of Russia - it's a shame when you have only yourself to blame for everything.

https://vz.ru/world/2023/9/6/1229076.html

@Sprinter99800
MALI, BURKINA FASO AND NIGER ENTERED AN ALLIANCE

The leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a charter establishing an alliance of Sahel states to create a collective defense system.

The new document is called the Liptako-Gourma Charter and it establishes the Union of Sahelian States.

The charter was signed "with the aim of establishing a system of collective defense and assistance, for the benefit of our residents," said the leader of Mali, Asimi Goita.

https://twitter.com/Sprinter99800/status/1703809908796223601

The French were not allowed to overthrow Russia's African friend, by Evgeny Krutikov for VZGLYAD. 01.15.2024.

A coup attempt was carried out in an African country friendly to Russia – Burkina Faso. The victim of the assassination attempt was to be the country's leader, army commander Captain Ibrahim Traore. Local sources attribute the successful prevention of the coup attempt to the work of Russian specialists.

Captain Traore and his associates, united in the so-called “Captain's Club,” themselves came to power in October 2022 as a result of a coup. This happened in the wake of dissatisfaction with French influence and the inability of the French to help in the local government's fight against jihadists. Then more general anti-colonial slogans and new socio-economic policies were added to this.

The “Captain's Club” is not the entire army of Burkina Faso. This is a friendly group of young officers from the Cobra special forces, which was specially created in 2019 to fight jihadists. At the same time, Traore and his inner circle, themselves being Muslims and representatives of the Mossi people, who dominate Burkina Faso, fought with the jihadists all their lives.

Traoré and his supporters are prone to left-wing thinking, reviving the cult and ideas of Tom Sankara, the famous anti-colonial leader of Upper Volta (Sankara came up with the new name for the country) in the 1970s and 1980s. Civilian advisers have already appeared around Traoré, who are trying to modernize the Trotskyist and Chegewarist ideas of Tom Sancar.

Traore is actively targeting Russia; he has visited Moscow several times. Attended the Russian-African forum in St. Petersburg. In the last week of 2023, the Russian embassy was opened in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, after a long break, and just the other day the non-state Russian House opened. Apparently, this orientation towards Russia is one of the reasons why this coup attempt was organized.

The conspirators, apparently, belonged to Ibrahim Traore's inner circle. Also, according to indirect data, they did not seek to kill the leader of the country, but to capture him. This is the general trend of African coups in recent years. The direct killing of a political opponent can cause a negative reaction from the outside, and African politicians and military officers understand that their countries are still very dependent on foreign financial, economic, technical and military assistance. Therefore, it is better not to quarrel over trifles.

This is at least the seventh attempt on the life of Ibrahim Traore in just over a year of his being in power.

According to the newspaper VZGLYAD, the current assassination attempt was supposed to take place the day before yesterday, on Saturday evening, January 13, during the African Cup of Nations football match (Côte d'Ivoire - Guinea-Bissau). Captain Traore intended to watch the match at home, and the conspirators, accordingly, planned to blow up his residence in the city center. Cote d'Ivoire, by the way, expectedly won 2:0.

These conspirators were from among the military, like Captain Traore himself. Presumably, they were connected with the entourage of the country's former president, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, whom, in fact, Traoré overthrew. After the capture or murder of Captain Traore, some rebel forces were to invade Burkina Faso from the territory of neighboring Togo, which the French had been preparing there for several months.

During the preparation of the assassination attempt, the conspirators actively used telephones and other means of communication. These negotiations were intercepted by technical means, which local sources associate with Russian intelligence. She allegedly handed over the data to Ibrahim Traore, and the plot was neutralized. As a result, the conspirators were forced to attack the motorcade of the head of the country, who has recently been constantly changing his place of residence.

Now we are not even sure that Traore was even in this motorcade. There is an assumption that the remnants of the group of conspirators were lured to the “empty” motorcade also by the methods and means of Russian intelligence and counterintelligence.

Interrogations of the detainees are now underway, but, most likely, Ibrahim Traore will treat the conspirators humanely. He, as already said, is a supporter of the ideas of Tom Sankara, who advocated “African humanism.” There have been no reports yet of Lieutenant Colonel Damib being arrested or put on the wanted list.

It must be said that the situation in Burkina Faso looks alarming for Russia’s great friend, Captain Traore. The danger comes primarily from the same military environment to which the leader of the country belongs. And it receives fuel from a certain part of the Frenchized urban population and, of course, from Paris itself. But the French are only using a tangle of local contradictions for their own purposes.

The political and socio-economic views of Ibrahim Traore and the entire “Captain's Club” do not appeal to all citizens of Burkina Faso. There is a significant layer of Francophone urban population. And the Sankarist ideas of equality, socialist society, and Pan-Africanism are alien to this layer. This is precisely the layer with which the French actively worked.

On the other hand, for the provincial population the ideas of Sankarism are too complex. As a result, Traore and the Captain's Club mainly support marginalized sections of the population, and the general enthusiasm for the anti-colonial struggle after the 2022 coup began to gradually fade.

The French have extensive experience working in local social structures, the cultural environment and political intrigue. Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, overthrown by Captain Traoré, although he does not publicly participate in anything, enjoys wide support in the army and among pro-French sections of the population.

He himself is absolutely a man of Paris. And Traore, accordingly, in this coordinate system can conditionally be called a man of Moscow.

Traoré has clear difficulties in implementing his political agenda, and these are due in large part to a lack of relevant experience. In Traore’s circle there are practically no people over 40 years old, and especially no officers of the “old” army. "Captain's Club" is too young. Apart from total war in the desert, these revolutionaries have no other life experiences. The former head of the General Staff of Burkina Faso, David Cabré, who actively helped Captain Traore come to power, is now in honorable exile.

Civil officials are either indifferent to Traore's Sankarism, or even sabotage the social initiatives of the head of the country. In the army, except for special forces, mistrust is growing. The same applies to the intelligence services. And it is impossible to rebuild the intelligence services in such a short period of time, even with the involvement of advisers from friendly countries. Intelligence services always need a national idea, but Sankarism has not yet received such status in Burkina Faso.

In other words, the Traore government today needs not only military-political assistance, but also ideological and any other assistance. In this context, the haste with which Moscow restored the embassy is also understandable. One can, of course, hope that Ibrahim Traore will cope on his own. But the frequency of all kinds of assassination attempts and conspiracies cannot but be alarming. As is the activity of the French from neighboring countries. They might get caught at some point.

https://vz.ru/world/2024/1/15/1248633.html

Niger terminates military agreement with US, by Anton Antonov for VZGLYAD. 03.17.2024.

Reuters reported that Niger had canceled permission for US troops to remain in the country.

Niger's military transitional government has terminated an agreement under which US troops could remain on Niger's territory, news agencies report, citing African government spokesman Amadou Abdraman.

According to Reuters , “Niger’s military junta” canceled the agreement; this “decision takes effect immediately,” RIA Novosti reports .

According to Reuters, the decision was made after a visit to Niger by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Fee and the head of the US Africa Command, General Michael Langley, TASS reports .

Abdraman reproached the United States for violating diplomatic protocol - Washington did not inform Niamey about the composition of the delegation, the date of arrival and the agenda. It is reported that the negotiations discussed the change of military power in Niger and military cooperation between the two countries.

In January it was reported that the United States was considering the possibility of transferring its military from Niger to West African countries. Previously, it was reported that US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland flew to Niger to convince the military not to touch the American drone base. According to Reuters, at the end of 2023 there were about 1.1 thousand US military personnel in the country.

https://vz.ru/news/2024/3/17/1258442.html

The impudence of the State Department leads to the expulsion of the United States from Africa, by Evgeny Krutikov for VZGLYAD. 03.18.2024.

The existence of the most important military base for the United States in Africa is under threat. The leadership of Niger made a sensational decision to withdraw American troops from the country. And it’s not just that Niger is now establishing cooperation with Russia and Iran. The behavior of the official delegation of the US State Department led to this development of events. What is it about?

The Niger government has terminated the agreement that allows the American contingent to remain in the country, Reuters reports , citing the representative of the transitional government of Niger Amadou Abdraman. The decision takes effect immediately. It is stated that American troops are on the territory of Niger illegally and their deployment was unilaterally imposed on the country.

According to Reuters, as of last year there were about 1,100 American troops in Niger. “It is necessary for the Americans to propose an exit plan to the government, because it is their forces, they are the ones who know what they have here, Niger does not know this,” says a source in the Niger leadership on this matter.

Nothing predicted such a development of events. The fact is that after seizing power in the country, the Nigerian military did not raise the issue of withdrawing American bases. Only the French were strictly instructed to leave . They left, and Niamey began to build a new relationship with Russia, including a Russian military presence to combat jihadist terrorism and Tuareg separatism to replace the ineffective French presence.

Niger's other foreign policy priorities have also changed. In particular, an agreement was concluded with Iran, which included cooperation in the energy sector. Niamey, however, is much more interested in the agricultural articles of foreign policy treaties; the country needs food.

The most important base for the United States in the region

There are now two American military bases in Niger, designed for drone control. At first there was only one in the capital of the country, Naimya. The Americans felt uncomfortable in the capital, they felt they were being watched, and in 2019 the Pentagon built a new base in the north of the country for more than $110 million (annual maintenance in the region of $10 million) in the isolated mid-Sahel and historically famous city of Agadez. Here is the world's largest spontaneous camel market, which is why Agadez attracts Tuaregs and tourists.

Recently, one of the world’s largest military bases, specially created for the use of heavy MQ-9 Reaper aircraft-type drones, is located here. The American military in Agadez practically does not go beyond the perimeter of the base; it is essentially a separate city with a cinema and a supermarket, like Ramstein in Germany or Bondsteel in Kosovo, which explains the high funding.

It was initially assumed that American UAVs would be used in Niger to combat terrorism. It was implied that if the situation developed favorably, Niger could even become the United States' largest ally in this area. In practice, the Reapers took almost no part in the fight against jihadists and separatists. In addition, their flights were completely stopped after the coup in Niger last summer.

Therefore, immediately after young military men came to power in Niger, the Americans began to look for an opportunity to come to an agreement with them - or to move the base to a neighboring country. Talk has begun about moving the base from Agadez to Ghana or Cote d'Ivoire. But this, firstly, is further from the European and Middle Eastern theater of operations (TVD), and secondly, it will mean loss of investment and new expenses.

Failure of American Diplomacy

At the beginning of August last year, Victoria Nuland (then US Deputy Secretary of State) flew to Niamey. She was greeted coldly. The first person in Niger's military power, Abdurahman Tchiani, refused to talk to her; the Chief of the General Staff, General Moussa Salau Barmu, met with her. Nuland spent two hours trying to convince him that it was impossible to cooperate with Russia, and that if Niger followed the path of Mali and invited Russian troops, then American sanctions awaited it. Nuland demanded that the ousted President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, be reinstated and made it clear that the fate of the American military base would depend on this decision.

The fact is that ex-President Bazoum “played by the rules” (from the US point of view). He did not fly to Tehran, did not meet with the Russian leadership and did not say anything about “neo-colonialism.” The fight against terrorism was left to the French and therefore did not require rearmament of the Niger army. And the new military government suddenly and unexpectedly began talking about buying its drones from Iran. And this is no longer acceptable. Where there are already American UAVs, there cannot be Iranian ones.

The Nuland mission could be considered to some extent successful, since the Niger military authorities did not publicly make claims about the American military bases. The negotiating position remained open.

From Niamey's point of view, the country's new foreign policy doctrine and the emergence of Niger's new allies do not affect the American base in Agadez. Let them fly, they also pay money for it. This is logical in its own way.

However, the American system of diplomacy is designed to tie together unrelated subjects and circumstances into one ball. For example, economic negotiations with the USSR have always been in conjunction with so-called human rights. So now, the American side has linked the issue of bases immediately with the absorption of the former French business, after whose departure a vacuum was formed, and with the rupture of military-political agreements with Russia.

Therefore, the other day Molly Phee, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former ambassador to South Sudan, came to Niamey to negotiate with the Nigerian military. She was accompanied by General Michael Langley, the new commander of the US Africa Command.

It is not known verbatim what exactly the Americans said to the Nigerians, but it is absolutely certain that what was said simply infuriated them. Apparently, Fee behaved much more unprofessionally than Nuland, who recently left the State Department. Ambassador Fee is from that generation that is accustomed to behaving in Africa in the spirit of direct and undisguised colonialism. It seems that she basically does not understand how one of the poorest countries in the world can have its own opinion and demand respectful treatment.

The demands of Ambassador Fee and General Langley seemed to be of an ultimatum nature. The American delegation behaved rudely and arrogantly and did not follow diplomatic protocol. In particular, Niger was not informed about the composition of the delegation, the date of its arrival and the agenda; by diplomatic standards this is something out of the ordinary.

In addition, the US delegation accused the Niger military of secret negotiations on uranium supplies to Iran (uranium is Niger’s main asset; previously, Niger uranium supplied the entire nuclear power industry of France. Now all uranium supplies to France are blocked). And this is a violation of the sanctions regime against Iran and also a violation of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Nigerien sources say that the Americans threatened Niamey not only with sanctions, but also with almost an armed invasion if the country’s new government did not confirm the regime for the presence of American military bases. Of course, the question of severing relations with Russia, including military-technical and security cooperation, was also raised.

Apparently, it was this ultimatum that became the last straw for relations between Niger and the United States.

As stated in a statement by representatives of the authorities of the African country, “the government of Niger strongly condemns the lenient attitude, accompanied by the threat of retaliation from the head of the American delegation towards the government and people of Niger.” It seems that American diplomacy missed the moment when a new generation of African politicians and military men began to demand equal treatment even from “missionaries.”

Of course, we can say that the Niger authorities are now much more confident in themselves than, for example, under President Bazoum. They feel real support from Russia, as well as other new allies of Niamey. This gives them strength and healthy impudence.

But still, what happened in Niamey is, first of all, a gross mistake of American diplomacy, which is experiencing a serious crisis in a number of areas and regions.

Let us repeat: the Niamey authorities were not initially inclined to take such radical steps in relation to American military bases. The failure of the negotiations is a pure mistake for both Nuland and Fee, and in general this entire “diplomatic” system of neocolonial pressure and dictatorship. The very style of behavior of the Americans turned out to be unacceptable for the new generation of Africans, in contrast to the Russian course in the Sahel.

All this, of course, does not mean that the American military will leave Niger tomorrow. They won't give up so easily. Some new phase of pressure on Niamey will begin, perhaps again with the involvement of neighboring countries. Niger, in turn, will continue to build a new foreign policy line, which should ultimately lead to the withdrawal of American bases, although this was not initially envisaged.

We have before us the first such global precedent. It could seriously affect the entire American diplomacy. Either it will have to rebuild, which goes against the entire American tradition, or other countries will think about whether it is worth keeping American military personnel on their territory? If the Nigeriens can get away with this, then so can they.

https://vz.ru/world/2024/3/18/1258726.html

American troublemakers arrested in Congo

Kenya is such a Western Puppet; what does this mean for Africa?

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/22/kenya-non-nato-ally-status-visit-00159578#:~:text=The%20Associated%20Press%20first%20reported,have%20already%20gained%20the%20status

GarryB wrote:

We have before us the first such global precedent. It could seriously affect the entire American diplomacy. Either it will have to rebuild, which goes against the entire American tradition, or other countries will think about whether it is worth keeping American military personnel on their territory? If the Nigeriens can get away with this, then so can they.

I wonder when Japanese and German and South Korean nationals are going to wake up to this too... the presence of US troops is not stabilising and does not create peace.



Chad is not traditionally a pro Russia country...

It's not and I think it still has either a French or US base

But it does enjoy quite cordial relations with the revolutionary pan-Africanists who have taken power in Burkina Faso, Mali and now Niger. It hasn't thrown in its lot with them but like I said they do have some good ties. It's not a surprise to see it opening co-operation with Russia.

Russia welcomes creation of Burkina Faso-Niger-Mali alliance — ambassador

https://tass.com/politics/1820595