Turmoil in Niger

[Ravenlocke]

Text:

🚨Les chiffres de la production mondiale d'uranium :

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan : 45%
🇳🇦 Namibie : 11%
🇨🇦 Canada : 9%
🇦🇺 Australie : 8.6%
🇺🇿 Ouzbékistan : 7,2
🇷🇺 Russie : 5,4
🇳🇪 Niger : 4,6
🇨🇳 Chine : 3,9
🇮🇳 Inde : 1.2%
🇺🇦 Ukraine : 0,9
🇿🇦 Afrique du Sud : 0,8
🇮🇷 Iran : 0.1%
🇵🇰 Pakistan : 0,09%
🇧🇷 Brésil : 0,06%
🇺🇸 ÉTATS-UNIS : 0.02%

(Association nucléaire mondiale)

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1687866067438247936

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
Foreign Influence in Africa Sahel. Basic map of Russia, US, Turkey, France and other security positions in the region.

Reasons behind foreign interest?

uranium supply
preventing forced migration
more trade & north-south corridors
global proxy-conflict
defence contracts
good governance & stability

https://twitter.com/mazzenilsson/sta...92340738854912

[shaberon]

Does anyone have some insight to the ECOWAS, or, the regional power, Nigeria?


I grabbed a little info from the ECOWAS website because it really doesn't have much, or, not up front, anyway. The similarly-appearing East African one pretty clearly represents a Swahili nation which is mixed with Indians and Arabs from trade relations that go back a long time; it is a "thing". Their website was pretty reasonable, and, it turns out that the 2000s drive towards a Federation is a re-launch of an aborted process back from the 1960s, i. e. shortly after "independence".

The western ones sound inherently more violent, it was only a year or so ago that the president of one of them, Guinea I think, openly called for a death penalty on homosexuals. These are places that demolished weaker villages and put slaves on the market and Europeans basically just showed up to buy them, from Mali in particular, it is a quite old kingdom. Nigeria is consistently ranked at one of the highest levels of corruption known to man. Obviously, US/FR don't belong, but, this western treaty has already evicted members for coups, and no big standoff was ratcheted about those. I have no idea what to even think about these places since they are not known for making favorable impressions.

The only thing I see right now about the Finance Minister is that the video is not even the right guy. Normally you don't do a 48-hour death squad thing unless it was a field court martial, and a minister is not even in the military.

[Bill Ryan]

This seems to be an important update, as of 12 hours ago.

Text:

The Nigerian Senate rejects the army’s military intervention in Niger under ECOWAS mandate.

https://t.me/CyberspecNews/38018

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by shaberon (here)
Does anyone have some insight to the ECOWAS, or, the regional power, Nigeria?

This update seems interesting and useful.

The text:

In these times, we have to remember that ECOWAS generally does not joke around interventions.

List of interventions by ECOWAS :

1990 -> Liberia
1998 -> Sierra Leone
1999 -> Guinea-Bissau
2003 -> Ivory Coast
2013 -> Mali
2017 -> Gambia

Any intervention against Niger is going to be different though, because out of the 6 listed, only 2 were against the ruling government, the rest being peacekeeping efforts between rebel groups and governments.

Niger is also objectively the strongest country (outside of Ivory Coast) that ECOWAS will have to face. This war, if it happens, may turn bloody really soon.


https://t.me/CIG_telegram/34145

[shaberon]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
List of interventions by ECOWAS :

1990 -> Liberia
1998 -> Sierra Leone
1999 -> Guinea-Bissau
2003 -> Ivory Coast
2013 -> Mali
2017 -> Gambia

Okay. Here is a bit more meat on those bones from Al Jazeera. Now of course, to even begin to understand it, you have to get a lot more information behind these names and the stories from both sides in the conflict. Sometimes A. J. is a Hasbara, but here there is no value-added commentary. Without knowing any further context, one might guess that the relatively small forces involved would not hold a candle to multiple Wagners from different directions. The issue of rebel vs. government cannot explain anything about better or worse, especially to outsiders. The best thing I can say right now is that out of all of them, I have met a single Nigerian who impressed me as a true "gentle lion" of a man, to the extent that no modern Americans that I have known would even begin to compare to.

I would not extrapolate that to mean that all west Africans are outstanding individuals.

Here is the summary:




The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), the military arm of ECOWAS, was formed in 1990 to regularly intervene in conflicts within the region.

Here is a list of those interventions.

1990: Liberia

In 1989, Charles Taylor led a militia against the Liberian government, leading to the outbreak of civil war there. Consequently, the regional bloc made an unprecedented move to intervene in 1990. The initial 3,000-man ECOMOG contingent was formed with personnel drawn from Nigeria, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, and Sierra Leone with additional soldiers contributed by Mali.

The mission was controversial due to a trail of human rights violations committed by its personnel, especially against women, but it secured peace. The troops were present in the country until 1996 when the war ended.

1997: Sierra Leone

ECOMOG’s next stop was the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, in 1997 following the overthrow of the elected civilian government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah by Major Johnny Paul Koroma in a military coup.

The force, under the command of Nigerian troops, moved part of its personnel from Monrovia, the Liberian capital, to recapture Freetown from the rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF). In February 1998, ECOMOG launched an attack that led to the fall of the military regime and Kabbah was reinstalled as leader of the country.

1999: Guinea Bissau

The next stop for ECOMOG was a ceasefire mission in Guinea Bissau after hostilities broke out following an attempted coup in 1998. The fight was between government forces backed by neighbouring Senegal and Guinea against coup leaders who had control of the armed forces.

The hostilities were resolved after a peace agreement was put in place in November 1998 on the conditions of a national unity government and new elections in 1999 but a new outbreak of conflict in May 1999 scuppered the agreement.

In November, a peace accord was signed in Abuja which, in part, stated the withdrawal of Senegalese and Guinean troops and the deployment of ECOMOG forces to ensure peace.

2003: Côte d’Ivoire

After Ivorian armed forces and rebel groups came to a ceasefire agreement in 2003, ECOWAS deployed troops as ECOWAS forces in Côte d’Ivoire (ECOMICI) to complement the United Nations and French troops.

2003: Liberia

The second Liberian civil war also necessitated a return of regional troops. While the first civil war brought Charles Taylor to power, the second civil war between 1999 and 2003 led to his exit.

This time, ECOWAS deployed troops under ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL) with some 3,500 soldiers, with the most coming from Nigeria. They served as an interposition force, keeping the warring parties apart and facilitating the arrival of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

2013: Mali

A 2012 coup in Mali led to a breakdown of order and armed groups immediately took advantage of the coup that followed to overrun the north of the country.

ECOWAS led the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) to support the Malian government in the fight against rebels in 2013.

The mission was authorised by a UN Security Council resolution and its initial mandate was one year. Nigeria contributed most of the troops, but a host of other West African countries, including Gabon, Ivory Coast, Niger and Burkina Faso, also backed the mission.

AFISMA eventually gave way to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation in Mali (MINUSMA).

2017: The Gambia

Codenamed “Operation Restore Democracy”, an ECOWAS operation led by Senegal sent troops into Banjul to force Yahya Jammel who had refused to concede an election loss to Adama Barrow in the 2016 election.

Barrow was sworn in as president at the Gambian embassy in Dakar and requested an ECOWAS military intervention. The troops ensured the transition within three days.

The name of the mission was later changed to ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) and lasted until December 2021.

[arwen]

Niger closes airspace due to perceived threat of intervention

(Caveat - this article is informative but is biased against the current claimants on leadership referring to them as a "junta" and clearly favoring the French/US/ECOWAS position - arwen)

by
Agence France-Presse
07-08-2023 14:44



Extract:

As the junta defied a deadline from the ECOWAS to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, Niger closed its airspace...

Niger closed its airspace due to the “threat of intervention” as the junta defied a deadline from the West African bloc ECOWAS to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum or face possible military action.

ECOWAS issued its ultimatum a week ago, demanding the generals relinquish power by midnight Sunday 6 August 2023 (2300 GMT). Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.

FOR LONG WILL THE NIGER AIRSPACE REMAIN CLOSED?
“Faced with the threat of intervention, which is becoming clearer through the preparation of neighbouring countries, Niger’s airspace is closed from this day on Sunday… for all aircraft until further notice,” the junta said in a statement released shortly before the deadline passed.

Any attempt to violate the country’s airspace would meet with an “energetic and immediate response”, the statement added. Early Monday, there were no aircraft operating in Niger’s skies, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.

In a separate statement, the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) said there had been a “pre-deployment in preparation for intervention” made by two Central African countries, without naming them.

“Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent,” it warned. Thousands of coup supporters had gathered Sunday in the capital Niamey to cheer on the CNSP.

Full article here

[shaberon]

Posted by arwen (here)
...this article is informative but is biased against the current claimants on leadership referring to them as a "junta" and clearly favoring the French/US/ECOWAS position

Perhaps so but actually, it is a junta, Spanish for "group that seized power".

Along with terms such as regime, autocrat, or tyrant, these are all morally-neutral descriptions.

"Democratically elected" may be redundant, unless contrasting the American President, installed by Electors, who are not compelled to obey a majority of constituents. Without knowing how it works, one should say President Bazoum was "elected".

The U. S. Confederation was almost a "junta" since the military President brought in by force was elected by, I think, eleven senators.

A "tyrant" can be installed, without, himself, necessarily being the military commander. Off the top of my head, I am not sure that in English we have a more specific word than "junta" that would mean "the state is now controlled by a General". They are not "claiming" leadership, they are "taking" it, or "have taken it". Even Oliver Cromwell was put in as Lord Protector by a type of governmental act, similar to G. Washington. Modern English lacks any context for an unqualified military coup, which is probably the basis for using the Spanish word.

[Kryztian]

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇺🇸🇳🇪Media: Nuland met rebels in Niger, negotiations were frank and difficult

US Deputy Secretary of State Nuland met with rebel leaders of Niger, the talks were "frank and at times quite difficult" - TV

🇺🇸🇳🇪🇷🇺Victoria Nuland: After I warned them, the Putschist Leaders in Niger are well aware of the dangers of allying with Russia

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/s...70256053760000

Text:

Part of Victoria Nuland statements:

▫️I wanted to point out to the Putschist leaders the impact of not restoring democracy on the relationship between United States and Niger

▫️I asked to meet the detained president, Mohamed Bazoum, but I was not given an opportunity to meet him by the Military Junta

▫️I did not have the opportunity to meet with the coup leader, General Abd al-Rahman Tianyi

▫️My meeting with the coup leaders in Niger opened the way for further talks

▫️I stressed to the Putschist Leaders of Niger the dangers of allying with Wagner Group
https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/s...06258952749058

[shaberon]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
Nuland met rebels in Niger, negotiations were frank and difficult...

Status -- true! That means we can smoke the government's own crack pipe here and I can stuff it with value-added commentary. Snipped from maybe a ten-minute teleconference before she got on a plane and they closed the skies.

UNDER SECRETARY NULAND: Thank you, Vedant. Hello, everybody, from Niamey. As some of you may know, this is my third visit to Niger in the two years that I have been under secretary for Political Affairs and now acting deputy, and the Secretary was here in March. That level of attention reflects the value that we place in this bilateral relationship and the huge amount of work we do together to support and strengthen the economy, prosperity, hopes, security, and the work we do together in counterterrorism.

That means the third time they wish she would just stay away, plus, the Secretary himself was probably the tipping point.

And all of this has been rooted in our shared values, including the sense of democracy, which was why it was so difficult, and remains difficult, to see the current challenge to the democratic order which began on July 26. The Secretary, as you have seen, has made repeated calls of support to the elected president of Niger, President Bazoum, to check on his welfare and to talk about the road ahead. He’s also been in regular touch with President Tinubu of Nigeria, who is currently head of ECOWAS, with AU Chairperson Faki, and with a number of European allies with whom we work in Niger, particularly on counterterrorism. And Assistant Secretary Phee has also worked tirelessly along with our chargé and our team here in Niamey.

All you all did was swarm them with "your" democracy. No wonder the General didn't want to talk.

The Secretary asked me to make this trip – as you may know, I was in the neighborhood last week and then in Jeddah – because we wanted to speak frankly to the people responsible to this challenge to the democratic order to see if we could try to resolve these issues diplomatically, if we could get some negotiations going, and also to make absolutely clear what is at stake in our relationship and the economic and other kinds of support that we will legally have to cut off if democracy is not restored. You have probably seen we have already had to pause our assistance.

Jeddah was another failure to tell Russia to surrender in Ukraine. Because you keep going back to "your" democracy. How many times has she said this so far? Nevermind.

So today we had a chance first to sit with a broad cross-section of Nigerien civil society. These are long-time friends of the United States. They are journalists. They are democratic activists. They are human rights activists. A number of them I had met on previous trips, as had the Secretary. And so we had a frank exchange about the situation here.

And then we met with the self-proclaimed chief of defense of this operation, General Barmou, and three of the colonels supporting him. I will say that these conversations were extremely frank and at times quite difficult because, again, we were pushing for a negotiated solution. It was not easy to get traction there. They are quite firm in their view on how they want to proceed, and it does not comport with the constitution of Niger. So again, we were very frank about what’s at stake. We kept open the door to continue talking. But again, it was difficult today, and I will be straight up about that.

Of course not. They just broke the Constitution of Niger. Why would anyone think this is an option?

UNDER SECRETARY NULAND: Look, the overall tone, Shaun, was workmanlike. We rolled up our sleeves. I can’t remember exactly, but I believe we were in the room with General Barmou and his people for more than two hours, and then there was some side conversations. After that, I hope they will keep the door open to diplomacy. We made that proposal. We’ll see. As I said, they have their own ideas about how this goes forward. They do not – their ideas do not comport with the constitution, and that will be difficult in terms of our relationship if that’s the path they take. But we gave them a number of options to keep talking and we hope they take us up on it.

Of course I raised the – Wagner and its threat to those countries where it is present, reminding them that security gets worse, that human rights get worse when Wagner enters. I would not say that we learned much more about their thinking on that front.

You said the same thing again and then over-wrote "CIA" with "Wagner". They're not thinking about it because it is like you said gravity goes up.

UNDER SECRETARY NULAND: Sorry, Vedant. With regard to the – to us, interestingly, General Barmou, former Colonel Barmou, is somebody who has worked very closely with U.S. Special Forces over many, many years. So we were able to go through in considerable detail the risks to aspects of our cooperation that he has historically cared about a lot. So we are hopeful that that will sink in.

Yeah. These guys already have your American training on coups and espionage and all that good stuff. Did they really need it? No, probably not, they were just probably checking out how things go on the "inside". He *used* to care, which probably means he was fronting it. I can't speak for him, but you can't even speak to him.

Not that you were democratically elected, you were appointed by the Executive Branch, who is not democratically elected either. That's how our Constitution works!

They're no longer rebels, either, they are in charge.


Since independence, Niger already had Two Coups and Seven Constitutions. It was under a military council from 1974-1989, which has been its longest form of government. This third coup has overthrown:


President Mamadou Tandja was ousted on 18 February 2010 by a military coup d'état. The junta, called "Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy" and led by Salou Djibo, organised the transition. On 31 October 2010, a new constitution was adopted by referendum with 90.19% in favor and a 52.02% turnout (official results of 25 November).

Meaning it effectively had 47% popular support. This transition:

Niger's military coup is condemned by France and Africa


They stepped in because the sixth government:

...was declared illegal by the Constitutional Court but Tandja dissolved the Court and assumed emergency powers.

The Constitution that has just been deleted is fully readable on a 47 page pdf.


It includes referendum, state health care, environmental protection, obligatory military service, moral background check for the presidency...it looks like their own thing, rather than a copy. Chances are that it might not exactly be the Constitution that is opposed, but, either the persons in office, or, the body of legislation that derives from its authority. We don't know. The American did not say anything about asking them what they want, or what they disagree with that is in this document.

French is just the "educated" language and looking at the multiplicity spoken in this country, they are hardly related. This is too complex for an outsider to just step in and say let me tell you what to do. If you don't wear out your shoulder trying to break the Sahara with a shovel, why would they care what you have to say?

[Tintin]

On a lighter note, and I really hope that this is true. Even if it proves not to be it's still very funny:

Source: https://twitter.com/jacksonhinklle/s...18553174745088

Text:

🇳🇪🇺🇸 BREAKING: The revolutionary government of Niger has responded to the suspension of US aid by telling the US: “We don’t want your money, use it to fund a weight loss program for Victoria Nuland.”

[Kryztian]

Posted by Tintin (here)
On a lighter note, and I really hope that this is true. Even if it proves not to be it's still very funny:

Source: https://twitter.com/jacksonhinklle/s...18553174745088

Text:

🇳🇪🇺🇸 BREAKING: The revolutionary government of Niger has responded to the suspension of US aid by telling the US: “We don’t want your money, use it to fund a weight loss program for Victoria Nuland.”

Hilarious, but I doubt that they would say that in Niger, where fat is seen to be an attribute of beauty, and women who can afford it take steroids to become larger.

Maradi Journal; On the Scale of Beauty, Weight Weighs Heavily
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/12/w...s-heavily.html

Perhaps we should credit the now ruling powers of Niger for realizing that beneath this beautiful American woman and the generous padding of cellulite that surrounds her, there lurks a fundamentally dishonest and treacherous person.

[shaberon]

No, actually I don't think we have gotten real quotes or the right pictures so far.

The "French embassy" picture is a Nigerien government building.

In a few cases those can be simple mistakes, whereas something like the guy crying has to be an intentionally-fabricated story based on a two-year-old picture of someone else in another place which was described as "tears of joy".

I can understand, perhaps, a reporter mis-identifying a facility in the heat of a crisis, but I am pretty sick of this syndrome of real pictures from other situations being given a new false story.

The stuff posted by the State Dept., Congress, etc., is all pretty much true, it is just truth of a nature that you may disagree with.

[Bill Ryan]

Another update from The Duran, just 14 minutes. Alexander Mercouris is emphatic that Russia wants to keep its neutral distance from all this. He also states, I think correctly, that if ECOWAS were to intervene militarily (presumably backed by US and France), that'd be a very risky and destabilizing move for all kinds of obvious reasons. (The last thing the world needs is a major regional war in West Africa. )

My own comments:

• It seems it'd be a very smart move for the Niger coup leaders to hold an election (or even a referendum) soonest, asking international observers to attend. That might help legitimize the new regime as being strongly democratically supported. (Current polls suggest there's a 70+% approval rating for the coup.)

• Russia has very good relations with many African states (including Nigeria and Senegal, which are both pro-intervention), and also the African Union itself. I could easily see a time, sooner rather than later, when they might host a peace conference, maybe with the Chinese in a prominent role as well. No-one I'm aware of has mentioned either of these two points.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-X0lGBkM7QE

[ExomatrixTV]

Breaking: The Military Government Of Niger Has Sign A Contract With Russian Wagner Group In Africa For Security, To Protect Niger Because Coup In Niger Has Enter A Point Of No Return, The Military In Niger Say Niger Will No Longer Be European Colony:

[shaberon]

Bizarre use of the French language:






Translated by K. Kouafkou:

The visit to Niger this week by US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland — the architect of the 2014 Euromaidan coup in Ukraine — has failed to intimidate the country's new rulers into restoring Bazoum to the presidency or lifting their embargo on uranium supplies to France.

"If you take a serious assessment of Western legacy, especially France and the UK and Europeans and now the United States... if you take a look at the assessment of their legacy of colonialism, 'the relationship,' it's just not been positive at all," Kouakou said.

The academic said the series of military takeovers in France's former colonies in West Africa was not unsurprising — or unpopular.

"There's a combination between a rising movement of discontented civil servants, civilians and population saying: 'we have just had enough, we really don't want you here anymore, we can deal with our own issues,'" Kouakou noted. "And the military is probably one of the rallying points of force, of power, that the populace are now saying: 'We're going to use you to really help us get rid of most of these colonialists.'"

"When we hear about the United States in Niger or in the Sahel, it's about building military bases. When was the last time you heard that the US is building a serious infrastructure, railroad, manufacturing to build different plants and helping people do serious commerce?"

"One of the practicalities is it seems those who are raising the flags, at least across the Sahel, are now saying to themselves: 'my goodness, we need somebody else to help us, we are so weak, we're not strong enough and we can't go back to the whole Stockholm Syndrome, were we are continuously praising those who are oppressing us,'" Koakou explained.

This looks healthier than anything I have seen around here in my life:






The outgoing government was birthed by:

The junta, called "Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy"...


Note the eight-month gap before transiting back to a Constitution.

The new one is called:

The National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland

The coup, the seventh in a string of military takeovers across West and Central Africa within the past three years, has raised a web of interconnected issues that extend far beyond Niger's borders...



Its [Niger's] vulnerability, Gulf News remarks, is exacerbated by the fact that 70% of the energy it consumes comes from Nigeria. Observers agree that the main reasons for the coup were "grievances over governance and the government's response to security threats posed by extremist groups."


Meanwhile, the French military has rejected the Nigerien rebels’ demand to leave the African country, Antinekar Al-Hassan, the political adviser of ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, told Sputnik.

There are no rebels, you might call it the military, but he is still speaking anachronistically. That "sanctions" are being riled up, rather than force to obliterate this military, will just continue to erode confidence in Petrodollarism. The only way you can get your face out of the gutter is to learn how to do real diplomacy. Americans have no ability at this; the British do, aside from the fact that it is made of lies, at least they know how to have a deceit-based discussion.

"Safeguard" is a different issue than "Democracy"--safe from what?? "National" is also a very different intent than "Supreme".

Right now I am not going to pursue the "attack on the national guard", which peripherally sounds like France released terrorists from the jail of a neighboring country and sent them to the borders. Whether or not they flew over with some airplane would be easily trackable by one of the independent radar websites. Not that important.

France is, to an extent, commendable, for helping itself to a large amount of nuclear power, which, as far as I know, has never caused meltdowns. To be stagnant, the plant near me which came online around 1978 provides about 1.3 MW, which is nearly useless, like a machine in its "working prototype" level of development. The lack of France returning any kind of electrical infrastructure, so that Nigerian power is imported to such a degree, explains what is going on. Almost exactly the same as Iran being milked for its oil a hundred years ago.

The poll that says only 6% of Nigeriens think of China as a benefactor, reflects the fact that the Chinese have never really worked there. Why would they? It's in French hands, right?

Pivot to Russia likely reflects that Wagner is a relatively recent arrival, which makes sense in the light of seven recent coups, which are reflective of the long-term western influence there. They either foment the stuff such as Maidan, or install vampire regimes that probably deserve to be kicked out. It's much faster than voting.

[shaberon]

Here are two different essays that tell me something about why the East African organization looks up-front and understandable, and why ECOWAS is so murky and is not worth looking into, since it is disposable as a piece of historic rubbish.

Zuesse's articles look weird because he archives stuff in multiple countries. Not copying all those links, but what he says today is:


A potential United States of Africa is now in early stages of formation after a mutiny by Niger’s Presidential Guards immediately expanded into a coup by Niger’s Army on July 26th and overthrew that country’s ‘democratically’ elected U.S.-and-French stooge — and very corrupt — President Mohamed Bazoum. The Nigeran public immediately responded to this coup with massive cheering demonstrations throughout the country, supporting as their liberators the team that was freeing their land from the exploitative grip of the imperialists: France backed by America. Niger, like the other African countries that use the French franc as their currency, has been funding France’s Government and Niger’s own aristocracy, by means of a complex mechanism called “the CFA franc” in which, as the CNN U.S. propaganda network buried in one of their news-reports,

Françafrique has often been criticized for perpetuating neo-colonial practices. For example, few things have sparked more controversy than the Central African franc or CFA, a currency which is used by 14 nations in West and Central Africa including Niger.

Countries using CFA francs are required to store 50% of their currency reserves with the Banque de France, and the currency is pegged to the euro. While Paris asserts that the system promotes economic stability, others say it allows France to exert control over the economy of the countries using it.

So, basically, whatever is shipped abroad by any of those countries, the proceeds, in effect, go 50% to France, and only the other 50% goes to Niger or the other source-country.

As the U.S. regime’s own Brookings Institution had earlier obliquely put it:

Some African economists consider the broader dependency on European monetary policies as a restriction to growth due to a hyper-fixation on inflation. However, African elite and wealthy individuals, the primary beneficiaries of the CFA franc zone configuration, support its continuation.

The only beneficiaries are the individuals who control the international corporations — especially the ones that are headquartered in France and in America, and that have subsidiaries in the given African colony. As a scholar at the British aristocracy’s London School of Economics surprisingly admitted:

The CFA franc also encourages massive capital outflows. In brief, membership of the franc zone is synonymous with poverty and under-employment, as evidenced by the fact that 11 of its 15 adherents are classed as Least Developed Countries (LDCs), while the remainder (Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon) have all experienced real-term economic decline.

Finally, they maintain that membership of the franc zone is inimical to the advance of democracy. To uphold the CFA franc, it is argued, France has never hesitated to jettison heads of state tempted to withdraw from the system. Most were removed from office or killed in favour of more compliant leaders who cling to power come hell or high water, as shown by the CAEMC nations and Togo. Economic development is impossible in such circumstances, as is the creation of a political system that meets the preoccupations of the majority of citizens.

In the subsequent days, after the coup, Niger entered into discussions with Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, which already previously had had coups for freedom from their imperialist masters that the U.S. Government leads. Meanwhile, the U.S. regime’s efforts — which are being led by Victoria Nuland, who had masterminded the U.S. regime’s successful coup that in February 2014 grabbed and absorbed Ukraine into the U.S. empire (and here is the smoking-gun piece of evidence on that) so as to get it into NATO as the nearest bordering country from which to attack The Kremlin and decapitate Russia, which is only 317 miles away from Ukraine — appear thus far to be running into an unwillingness of Governments near to Niger, to shed their peoples’ blood to invade Niger, whose public are determined to achieve freedom from their foreign exploiters and will not give up short of a very bloody war, which would embarrass America and its ‘democracies’ and so strip away that ‘democratic’ mask, which the U.S. regime uses in order to fool publics everywhere.

On August 3rd, CNN headlined “Africa’s latest coup is a headache for the West and an opportunity for Russia”, and pretended that the aggression here, and the opposition to democracy, came from Russia against the United States, instead of from the United States against Russia.

I have previously explained these events in my 6 March 2023 “The Transformative Present Moment in History”.

Whatever the outcome will be from the current events in Niger, it will be a part of that story, and maybe a very important part of it. However, the time is too early to predict what that outcome will turn out to be. In any case, that story began in 1945, when the anti-imperialist U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt became replaced by the pro-imperialist President Harry Truman, who shaped the post-WW-II international order, which has lasted till now, and which appears to be soon reaching its climax.

If Victoria Nuland will not be able to turn the screws against Niger’s new leaders in the way that her bosses, Antony Blinken, and, above him, Joe Biden, are hoping — nor to get ‘the free world’ to invade and conquer Niger as they hope — then a successful model will have become established which might be copied by other slave-nations, by means of which they, too, might likewise break away, and free themselves, from their imperial masters, the U.S.-and-‘allied’ (vassal-nation) empire: the U.S. aristocracy, and its foreign dependency ones. If so, it would terminate the hegemon’s hegemony. It would end the Truman-initiated global system (which aspires to conquer — absorb into its imperial web — all nations, and especially Russia and China). So: the stakes are huge in Niger now.



Similar to this from Peter Koenig:


THE LIBERATION FROM “INDEPENDENCE”

Abas La France! Vive le Niger!

Down with France, Down with ECOWAS, Down with the European Union!

Thousands of people demonstrate in the streets of Niamey, the capital of Niger. They do not want an ECOWAS intervention. ECOWAS stands for Economic Community of West African States. And ECOWAS stands for western influence.

On 26 July 2023, Niger’s official French-supported President, Mohamed Bazoum, was over-thrown by a military junta, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.

ECOWAS, France, the European Union (EU) and other western governments may be thinking they are domineering over the sovereignty of other nations. They slammed down sanctions on Niger. Among the “sanctioning” countries was also the United States.

Reuters reported that one participant was seen carrying a sign that read

“Long live Niger, Russia, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Down with France, ECOWAS, and the EU.” “We are demonstrating [against] all the countries of ECOWAS and all who are taking inhumane and unpopular measures toward Niger.”

The creation of ECOWAS in 1975 via the Treaty of Lagos was prompted by Europe and the US, to keep a closer grip on the 15 resources-rich member countries. The official reason was free trade and economic integration. ECOWAS members include, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

A little anecdote. When US President Biden threatened to withhold US aid to Niger due to the military coup, the Niger military leader said,

“they should keep their aid money and give it to their millions of homeless people in the US. Charity begins at home.”

This clear vision can only be congratulated.

ECOWAS continues to be strongly influenced by the west, notably France and the EU. It has lost the trust of many members, all those which defy the western impositions and colonial standards.

ECOWAS has threatened with military intervention in Niger if the military junta under General Abdourahamane Tiani does not re-instate the “legitimately and democratically” elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, who is apparently detained in the Presidential Palace. They gave the junta a deadline until 6 August 2023.

The country will not submit to threats no matter where they come from, the junta’s president General Tiani has said.

General Tiani insists that the military takeover “remains the safeguard of [the] homeland, Niger.”

An ECOWAS military intervention would never work, unless it was fully driven by the west – God forbid, by NATO. All is possible, since dearly sought-after resources of Niger’s are at stake.

Mr. Putin has already said that non-regional powers interfering in Niger will not help the situation would undoubtedly enlarge the conflict far beyond Niger’s frontiers.

So far, nothing has happened. Most likely nothing will happen. ECOWAS is not united and has no common front. The ECOWAS members of Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, have recently had a military coup, for basically the same reason, the military stood up against western-implanted and western-favoring leaders, to finally free themselves from the chains of western new-colonial slavery.

The only reaction so far, as of 7 August, Niger has closed her airspace and Air France, possibly other airlines, have stopped flying to nearby countries.

General Tiani, the former head of Niger’s presidential guard, the coup’s mastermind, has since created a coalition of different civil society groups. He also has the support of the neighboring military juntas of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria. They all had recently similar military coups of liberation.

When the west talks of “democratically” elected West African leaders, they are lying, the same way they are lying when talking about free and democratic elections in Europe or even the United States for that matter.

These ex-French colonies’ heads of states were all groomed by the west, especially by France, and very likely by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Many of them emanate from the WEF’s academy for Young Global Leaders (YGLs), so that they are in line with western thinking and most notably with the western agendas, i.e., The Great Reset, alias UN Agenda 2030 which are basically identical and in pursuit of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The real meaning of the 17 SDGs can be found by the proper interpretation behind the colorful SDG insignias. See this.

No wonder that Africans are waking up. In a first go, it appears West Africa has had enough of French usurpation and decided to exit the bond. Others may follow.

Niger preceded her 63rd anniversary of independence on 3 August 2023 by about a week – with a coup to liberate themselves from “Independence” which they never really had, since like most other “former French colonies”, they were never free, economically free, politically free to ally with whom they chose, and free to trade with whomever they desired.

As of this day, France has more than 1,000 military personnel stationed in Niger. General Tiani has said they must go, and France responded that they will be withdrawn. But why were they there in the first place – 63 years after “independence”? And there were many more in earlier years, the same as in other former French colonies.

USAFRICOM operates the Niger Air Base 201 close to Agadez. “It is owned by the Nigerien military but built and paid for by the United States”. Air Base 201 is allegedly designed to fight Islamic insurgents in coordination the the Niger military.

According to USAFRICOM, the US has some 1,100 U.S. special forces in Niger “to carry out military missions and the training of Niger troops”. See this.

The official version is to protect the countries from Islamic terrorists – “terrorists” which ever so often are conveniently engaged to cause upheavals, when anti-French “instability” could be sensed in Niger or other former French colonies. And, foremost, to protect French and European enterprises interests, while exploiting the riches of these former colonies.

Western Interest in Niger

Niger is the world’s seventh biggest producer of uranium, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA).

The radioactive metal is the most widely used fuel for nuclear energy. It is also used in treating cancer, for naval propulsion, and in nuclear weapons.

Niger, which has Africa’s highest-grade uranium ores, produced 2,020 metric tons of uranium in 2022, about 5% of world mining output according to the WNA.

The world’s three biggest producers are Kazakhstan, Canada and Namibia.

Niger has one major mining operation in the north operated by France’s state-owned Orano, another major mine is under development. For more details, see this.

Niger has also other western-coveted economically valuable raw materials, such as crude oil, natural gas, coal, tin, and columbite (an iron-bearing mineral that accompanies tin). Petroleum, first discovered in 1956, is the most important source of government revenue and foreign exchange.

The CFA Franc Zones

The key to Niger’s true independence – as well as that of the other 13 Central and West African nations — is breaking loose from their dependence on French imperialism, by cutting the chain of their CFA currency to the French Treasury.

Niger and all 14 of the West (8 nations) and Central African (6 countries) sub-Saharan former French colonies remained tied and monetarily enslaved to France through the Franc CFA (CFA = Communauté Financière Africaine or African Financial Community) – which remains guaranteed by the Bank of France without any justification. To get this guarantee they must deposit 50% of their reserves in a special account of the Bank of France. Thereby the CFA-countries are not free of moving CFA currencies as they wish and find advantageous to themselves and their people. They need the Bank of France’s approval to use their own money!

For more flexibility and monetary stability (France’s stability), France created two CFA zones. Each of the 14 countries is affiliated with one of two monetary unions. Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or WAEMU, founded in 1994 to build on the foundation of the West African Monetary Union, founded in 1973. The remaining six countries — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon — comprise the Central African Economic and Monetary Union, or CAEMU.

These two unions maintain the same currency, the CFA franc. West African CFA countries belong to the West African Monetary Unions (WAMU); and Coopération Financière en Afrique Centrale (Financial Cooperation in Central Africa), or the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). WAMU and CAMAC account for 14 percent of Africa’s population and 12 percent of the Continent’s GDP.

While both CFA francs have the same exchange value against the Euro (CFA 655.74 = 1 Euro – [6 August 2023]). Yet, the two CFA francs are not inter-changeable and the two monetary units have two separate Central Banks, the Central Bank for West African States (BCEAO – French acronym – 8 countries) and the Bank for Central African States (BEAC – French acronym – 6 countries).

If all of this sounds confusing, it is because it is confusing.

CFA Franc – History and Future

The CFA franc was created in December 1945 when the French government ratified the Bretton Woods Agreement; it became the currency of the “French Colonies of Africa”. Today, the French Treasury guarantees the currency under a fixed exchange rate but requires a deposit of 50% of CFA franc reserves into the French central bank. Immediately following independence, this figure stood at 100 per cent (and from 1973 to 2005, at 65 per cent).

Imagine, all their reserves were blocked at the French Central Bank until 1973. They could not use any of their reserves, without the approval of the French Treasury or Central Bank. Today it is down to 50% without any justification. Today, there is absolutely no need for a French guarantee of the West and Central African currencies.

The Frech argue, this arrangement is a quid pro quo for the French ‘guarantee’ of convertibility. The accords stipulate that foreign exchange reserves must exceed money in circulation by a margin of 20 per cent. Before the fall in oil prices, the money supply coverage rate (the ratio of foreign exchange reserves to money in circulation) consistently approached 100 per cent, implying that Africans could dispense with the French ‘guarantee’.

So far, the French do whatever they can to avoid “letting go” of their former colony. It warrants their continued grip on the colonies in terms of controlling trade as well as natural resources. And the former French colonies, through this usurping monetary arrangement, contribute significantly, directly and indirectly, to the French economy. Rough unproven estimates range from 15% to 25% of France’s GDP stems from the former French colonies. Maybe more.

In 2015, Chad’s President Idriss Debby said, he considers the CFA as “pulling African economies down,” and that “time has come to cut the cordon that prevents Africa to develop.” He called for a restructuring of the currency in order to “enable African countries which are still using it to develop.”

French President Macron ignored the statement. Nothing has happened to change, or abandon altogether the CFA arrangement between France and their former West- and Central African colonies.

Earlier this year, Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s former deputy prime minister and current minister of foreign affairs, raised the controversy about the role of the CFA franc on Africa’s development with an even more provocative statement, than the one of Chad’s President in 2015:

“France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the [Mediterranean] Sea or arrive on our coasts.”

It is time that the former French colonies take their lives and economic development and prosperity under their own control. Perhaps the recent military coups against French-imposed leaders are the first steps – and may be replicated in other former French colonies. Not that military governments are ideal, they are not. But it is hoped and expected that eventually these military juntas will call for public elections, as democratic as possible, without foreign interference.

Africa, as part of the Global South has a major role to play in the structure of our future world order. To do so, they need economic and political independence.

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1689618253759320064

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇳🇬 🇳🇪Nigerian Religious Leader warns US President Biden against invading Niger

“If the US invades Niger Republic, it will be a satanic and terrorist move. It means Joe Biden is looking for God’s anger, ” the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church in Nigeria, Primate Elijah Ayodele quoted by the local media as saying.

Ayodele warned that an invasion of Niger would be "amount to fighting God", adding that it could "lead to the third world war".

The warning followed comments by US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who urged the military coup leaders to restore ousted President Bazoum to power

sputnik_africa

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1689647315236356097

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Text:
🇪🇺 🌍 EU to follow ECOWAS in imposing sanctions on Niger, EU spokesman says

"We are behind all decisions and actions by ECOWAS, including potential sanctions," lead spokesman for the EU’s external affairs Peter Stano said, adding that any potential curbs will be discussed confidentially by EU member states

sputnik_africa

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1689646574375497728