Turmoil in Niger

[Bill Ryan]

No more Turmoil in Niger... we all hope.

Here's an 8 minute good-news update from The Duran:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rHMtFPfQEv0

[shaberon]

This and the fact the non-democratic government has been "recognized". Did we put that? I didn't because it sounded like the end of turmoil.

As far as the region, no, I would not think it is all hunky dory, but, in terms of its potential government vs. ECOWAS or whatever grease was to be thrown on the fire, I am glad it did not escalate.

[grapevine]

Patrice Lumumba, Former Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=PrTh7lTwrpM

(1:03)
George Galloway pays homage to Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated on 17th January 1961.

[Kryztian]

A interesting anecdotal story of what it was like to be a journalist trapped in Niger during the coup from last summer.

What I found interesting that many Americans were trapped in the middle of nowhere in the Sahel in a dangerous yet they just happened to be two miles from a U.S. military base, Niger Air Base 201. While the French, Portuguese and others were evacuating their citizens, the U.S. military base refused to do so, and even interfered when they hired a private plane to take them out of where they were.

We are told the U.S. needs overseas military bases for the security of the citizens of the U.S. One has to wonder how a military base in the middle of the Sahel is actually useful to protect U.S. citizens, and yet, when the people on the base had the opportunity to be useful to actual U.S. citizens right there at their doorstep, they failed miserably.


Source: https://www.rumble.com/video/v479gvc

[Bill Ryan]

An interesting update regarding Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso vs ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States).

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/100957

The text:

Mali says it will not respect ECOWAS treaty's withdrawal notice period

Mali said on Wednesday that it would not wait a year to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as is required by the bloc's treaty.

Mali and its neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso announced last month that they were immediately leaving ECOWAS.

All three formally notified the ECOWAS Commission of their decisions to leave the bloc in written notices dated January 29, which according to the treaty means that they would still be bound by membership until one year from that date.

Mali's foreign ministry said that ECOWAS had violated its own texts by closing its borders to Mali when it imposed sanctions on the military regime.

"Consequently, the Government of the Republic of Mali is no longer bound by the deadline constraints mentioned in Article 91 of the Revised Treaty," the statement said.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/narrative_hole/status/1769184250895409262

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1769291145987989933

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MoonofA/status/1782453986596888818

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/0...rom-niger.html

State Department To Delay Withdrawal Of U.S. Troops From Niger

This Washington Post headline as well as the first paragraphs of the story are not really backed by facts.

U.S. agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger

NAPLES, Italy — The United States informed the government of Niger on Friday that it agreed to its request to withdraw U.S. troops from the West African country, said three U.S. officials, a move the Biden administration had resisted and one that will transform Washington’s counterterrorism posture in the region.
The agreement will spell the end of a U.S. troop presence that totaled more than 1,000 and throw into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base that is only six years old. It is the culmination of a military coup last year that ousted the country’s democratically elected government and installed a junta that declared America’s military presence there “illegal.”

“The prime minister has asked us to withdraw U.S. troops, and we have agreed to do that,” a senior State Department official told The Washington Post in an interview. This official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.

The decision was sealed in a meeting earlier Friday between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.

The U.S. drone base in Niger is used by the Pentagon and CIA to keep control of ISIS in the region.

So are U.S. troops really leaving Niger?

Of course not - at least not yet.

The next paragraph reveals what was really agreed upon. It makes it obvious that the U.S. wants to delay the issue as long as possible:

“We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”
- "We have agreed to begin conservations" - (we didn't really agree to pull out troops, just to talks)
- "about how to develop a plan" - (should we write a plan for something-something in Excel or Word?)
- "in an orderly and responsible way" - (we see absolutely no time pressure or deadline)
- "need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey" - (there will be many delays and the team will change often)
- "that of course will be a Defense Department project" - (We, the State Department, will hardly be involved. When the **** hits the fan the Pentagon will be to blame for it.)

A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately offer comment.
The United States had paused its security cooperation with Niger, limiting U.S. activities — including unarmed drone flights. But U.S. service members have remained in the country, unable to fulfill their responsibilities and feeling left in the dark by leadership at the U.S. Embassy as negotiations continued, according to a recent whistleblower complaint.

There have since been more protests in Niger demanding the exit of U.S. troops:

In the town of Agadez, home to a US air base, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to demand the departure of American forces.
The protests were organised by a coalition of civil society groups that have supported the current military regime since it came to power last year.

It seems to me that the new regime in Niger can and will have to escalate this.

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇳🇪🇺🇸 NIGER: AMERICA GET OUT RUSSIA IS MOVING IN

The U.S. is set to withdraw its troops from Niger as the Sahel region shifts its alliances toward Russia.

About 1,000 U.S. troops will leave following the strategic pivot of the West African nation, which has leaned increasingly towards Moscow following a military coup in July 2023.

This move comes after Niger suspended a military agreement with the U.S. and is part of a broader realignment in the region, where countries like Mali and Burkina Faso have also expelled European forces and sought Russian support.

The withdrawal underscores the changing geopolitical landscape in West Africa and the growing influence of Russia in the area.

Source: Reuters

https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1782189354825232659

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https://x.com/BRICSinfo/status/1781741282483737048

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https://x.com/thehill/status/1782442016376238576

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4...ithdraw-niger/

US plans to withdraw forces from Niger

The United States has begun talks with Niger to withdraw the roughly 1,000 American troops in the country, a State Department official confirmed Monday.

The development comes after Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine on Friday, with the two on Monday committing “to initiate conversations in Niamey to begin planning an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Niger,” the official told The Hill.

The New York Times first reported on the coming withdrawal.

And CNN reported the Defense Department would send a small delegation from the Pentagon and U.S. Africa Command to participate in the discussions.

The presence of U.S. forces in Niger seemed to be coming to a close since last month, when the military junta that rules the country revoked a military cooperation agreement with Washington. That accord gave American forces a major foothold to fight against extremist groups — predominately an Islamist insurgency — in the region.

The development is a major setback for U.S. efforts in the Sahel, where just six years ago, Washington spent $110 million to open a base in northern Niger used to fly surveillance drones.

Niger’s demands to leave also followed a high level U.S. delegation trip to the country to “raise a number of concerns” about Niamey growing closer to Russia and Iran, the Pentagon said at the time.

An American military presence in Niger has also been in question since a military junta in late July put the country’s president on house arrest and took control of the government.

The State Department officially declared the takeover as a coup in October, cutting back on U.S. aid and pausing security operations in the country.

Niger’s decision follows a recent trend by countries in the Sahel: turning to Russia as a partner over Western nations.

Last week, Russia delivered military equipment and 100 instructors to equip Niger with the “latest generation of anti-aircraft defense systems,” Nigerien state broadcaster RTN said Thursday.

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https://x.com/desert____lion/status/1782480093966713160

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/Obs_Dave/status/1782144628398891160

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/y...ps-from-niger/

The US military will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United States will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger, U.S. officials said Saturday, in what experts say is a blow to Washington and its allies in the region in terms of staging security operations in the Sahel. The planned departure comes as U.S. officials said they were trying to find a new military agreement.

The prime minister of Niger, appointed by the ruling military junta, Ali Lamine Zeine, and U.S. deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, agreed on Friday that the two nations would begin to plan the withdrawal of American troops, the U.S. State Department told The Associated Press in an email Saturday.

A U.S. official said there was no timeline for withdrawal besides talks set to start in the coming days about next steps. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the private diplomatic discussions. An American delegation to coordinate the details of the withdrawal process will be dispatched soon.

Niger plays a central role in the U.S. military’s operations in Africa’s Sahel region, an area on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Washington is concerned about the spread of jihadi violence, where local groups have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups. Niger is home to a major U.S. air base, in the city of Agadez, about 920 kilometers (550 miles) from the capital, Niamey, using it for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations. The U.S. has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military since it began operations there in 2013.

But relations have frayed between Niger and Western countries since mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president in July. Niger’s junta has since told French forces to leave and turned instead to Russia for security. Earlier this month, Russian military trainers arrived to reinforce the country’s air defenses and with Russian equipment to train Nigeriens to use.

There was an attempt on the behalf of the U.S. to revise the military agreement with Niger that would allow them to stay, U.S. officials told the AP. But the agreement between Zeine and Campbell shows that the effort has failed.

A separate senior U.S. State Department official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to speak about sensitive diplomatic talks, told the AP on Saturday that Niger’s junta made a decision that they don’t want any foreign forces in the country, including the U.S. and that the security partnership was ending for the time being. The junta told the U.S. that Russia’s presence was to train Nigeriens on how to operate the equipment. The official said that the U.S. had valid concerns about some of the choices the junta was making, specifically about the potential for Russian and American troops to be colocated.

The loss of access to air bases in Niger is a major setback for the U.S. and its allies in the region because of its strategic location for security operations in the Sahel, said Peter Pham, former U.S. special envoy for the Sahel region.

“In the short term, they will be hard to replace,” said Pham, adding that remaining European Union military presence would likely pull out of Niger following the news of a U.S. departure.

The rupture of relations between the two nations would impact the development and humanitarian aid funds destined for Niger, a country at the bottom of many indicators of well-being, Pham said.

Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s military rulers with their communications, told the AP that American troops could potentially return after negotiations and that the ruling Niger junta, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, wants to maintain a good working relationship with the U.S.

The U.S should find a new mode of engagement that departs from the failed counterterrorism cooperation model of the past decade, and continues to press other states in the Sahel region on accountability and human rights abuses, said Hannah Rae Armstrong, a senior consultant on Sahel peace and security.

The two officials said that Niger and the U.S would continue to work together on areas of shared interest.

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https://x.com/Antiwarcom/status/1782115255533060290

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇳🇪🇧🇯 Niger's First Oil Reaches Benin

A quite significant event has occurred in the Sahel region - the construction of the pipeline between Niger and Benin has finally been completed. The US and ECOWAS actively threatened the Nigerien junta with sanctions over this project.

However, contrary to the unsubstantiated claims of Western media, the Niger-Benin oil pipeline has not only been built, but has also been successfully put into operation. Oil from the Agadez field has reached Seme-Kraké in Benin, near the capital Cotonou.

Currently, Niger is producing 20,000 barrels per day, with the mediation of the Chinese CNPC, with whom a new export contract was recently signed.

According to plans, by 2026 Niger will be producing 200,000 barrels per day, making it one of the largest oil exporters in Africa.

For Benin, this pipeline is important, as it is planned to create about 2,000 new jobs for its maintenance. In addition, the Nigerien authorities will pay transit fees for access to Benin's ports.

The commissioning of the pipeline and the supply of oil through it indicates the final settlement of the crisis in relations between Niamey and ECOWAS.

And all the past threats against the current Nigerien authorities have remained just threats: there was no invasion of Niger, nor a global economic crisis due to the imposed sanctions.


https://x.com/dana916/status/1783493593031721156

Against the backdrop of deteriorating security situation in Benin, one can expect an intensification of military cooperation, for example, in joint border patrols.

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
This is an amazing story about why Niger ejected US troops.

The reason is because the US threatened Niger by telling its leaders "to refrain from engaging with Iran and Russia in ways objectionable to Washington if Niger wanted to continue its security relationship with the United States".

The result? US troops expelled, Niger decided to end the "security relationship" on its own initiative 😅

The Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine recounts the story himself: “When she finished, I said, ‘Madame, I am going to summarize in two points what you have said. First, you have come here to threaten us in our country. That is unacceptable. And you have come here to tell us with whom we can have relationships, which is also unacceptable. And you have done it all with a condescending tone and a lack of respect.”

That's the thing about the multipolar world we now live in: the US believes it can still behave as a bullying superpower but that's over, countries have choices now. This type of behavior only seems to still work on Europe and maybe a handful of other diehard US vassal states who somehow haven't yet gotten the memo...

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1790416639181328576

https://x.com/IranObserver0/status/1790390114377400351

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
The opening ceremony of the non-governmental organization Ensemble Main dans la Main Niger-Russie (Together hand in hand Niger-Russia) was held in Niamey, Niger, organizers of the event told a Sputnik correspondent.

“In recent years there has been a surge of interest in Russia in Niger. Now it is time to take concrete steps and bring the peoples of Niger and Russia closer together,” said one of the founders of the group.

https://x.com/SputnikInt/status/1790502661298467296

[Bill Ryan]

No turmoil this time, just a celebration.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/113115

Hundreds of motorcycles draped in the Russian flag to honor Russia Day in the capital of Niger

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status...97521204064558

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/...mohamed-bazoum

Niger revokes immunity of ousted president Mohamed Bazoum
Niger's top court revoked the immunity of ousted president Mohamed Bazoum on Friday, opening the door for a possible trial following his removal in a military coup in July 2023.

"The court orders the lifting of Mohamed Bazoum's immunity," said Abdou Dan Galadima, president of the court, created in November by Niger's new military government.

Nigerien authorities accused Bazoum of treason, financing terrorism, and plotting to undermine the state.

He and his wife Hadiza have been held at the presidential residence since July 26.

A team of lawyers representing Bazoum told AFP that the decision "clearly condones serious violations of the rights of the defense and marks the start of legal proceedings against the president, who is held illegally." One of the lawyers, Moussa Coulibaly, described the decision as "the advent of the arbitrary," noting its "extremely serious consequences."

Bazoum, 64, is accused of asking French President Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for support for "an armed intervention" during the coup.

Niger undoes what colonialists established

In the late 1890s, France began colonizing Niger. The Sahel nation won independence in 1960 as part of a broader decolonization movement triggered by political upheavals and Paris' surrender of African territories.

France retained its colonies in Africa roughly until the 1960s, exercising its dominance over North, Western, and Equatorial Africa. Shortly after the formation of the Fifth French Republic in 1958, countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Congo, Chad, and the Central African Republic gained independence.

Despite this fact, Paris failed to completely abandon the region, continuing to intervene in its internal affairs, including by military means.

Since the start of his political career, Bazoum has maintained a moderate stance concerning former colonial powers.

But on June 23, Niger's parliament approved a new national anthem, marking the first steps to free the country of any relics of French colonization.

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇳🇪 Inmates escape Niger prison holding militants

Niger's interior ministry said it had ordered search units to be on alert after inmates escaped on Thursday from the high-security Koutoukale prison whose inmates include Islamist militants.

The ministry statement did not say how many prisoners had escaped Koutoukale, which lies 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the capital Niamey, or how they had done so. In 2016 and 2019, attempted jail breaks at the facility were repelled.

The prison's inmates include detainees from the West African country's conflict with armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State and suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

Local authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the urban commune of Tillaberi, which is in the same region as the prison, but did not give further details.

Niger and its neighbours in the central Sahel region are on the frontlines of the battle to contain a jihadist threat that has steadily grown since 2012, when al Qaeda-linked fighters first seized parts of Mali.

africaintel

https://x.com/dana916/status/1811787957843476847

[shaberon]

Here, the country deals with what it considers its actual security:

Niger's Defense and Security Forces killed at least 34 terrorists during two operations conducted in the past week in the western regions of Dosso and Tillabery, according to an official announcement.

According to the army's weekly bulletin broadcast Saturday on national television, the first clash took place on Wednesday near Doubalma in the Dosso region, when a patrol from Soukoukoutane was attacked by about 50 armed terrorists on motorcycles, Xinhua reported.

The army said its forces, backed by air support, killed at least 22 assailants and wounded many others, while the remaining attackers fled toward the Malian border. Seven soldiers were killed and two others wounded in the ambush, it added.

On Friday, another air-land operation targeted a group of terrorists on motorcycles transporting stolen livestock near Mangaize in the Tillabery region, the army said. The operation killed at least 12 terrorists, destroyed six motorcycles, and enabled the recovery of all stolen livestock.

There's no telling how many such gangs are out there roaming the uncontrollable Sahara borders, and, as far as I know, it is the locals' responsibility how to deal with it, not Washington's.

[Bill Ryan]

Reported on DD Geopolitics:

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/171781
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/171782
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/171785

An armed attack is reportedly taking place in Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, capital city of Niger.
This is an ongoing situation.

Air defense activity was reported at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger.

Scenes from inside Diori Hamani International Airport.
As reported by several sources, the shooting has now stopped. No official statements have been issued by the authorities, but it appears to be linked to earlier warnings about JNIM terrorist cells possibly infiltrating the vicinity of the airport in recent weeks.

[sdv]

Cynical perhaps, but Niger has a long history of military coups and the current president gained power in 2023 via a military coup. I would not call these armed groups terrorists but how politics tends to operate in Niger.

[shaberon]

Posted by sdv (here)
Cynical perhaps, but Niger has a long history of military coups and the current president gained power in 2023 via a military coup. I would not call these armed groups terrorists but how politics tends to operate in Niger.

That could be true to a considerable extent.

The last one was somewhat noteworthy as being an actual political platform that resulted in the ouster of colonialists. This leaves us curious as to what really changed or have they improved their conditions.

The way I, at least, use terrorism, is to refer to a non-state actor with a political demand.

If you just attack people, it's just murder.

I have no idea what is going on here or have knowledge of small inner African groups. There is an element of caution about the Tuareg, in the sense they are effectively stateless and sometimes have rebellious issues, whereas they are traditional practitioners of child trafficking. From combing through CIA reports on how the, eh, western systems like used to be in Niger, how were they working in the host countries, most of them had never improved in the "human rights" category. I don't think that's politicized (except maybe select cases). I think it actually does measure multiple forms of abuse which seem to be entrenched all over the place. Conceivably, voting by gun is more normal than might be anticipated.