from thefreeonline by Ahmed Adel, at SouthFront
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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
Violence in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal) has increased in recent years, and several countries in the region have fallen victim to military coups. Now, there is a possibility that US forces may not be welcome in Niger, all at a time when Russophilia is growing in the country.
The military coup in Niger “completed a domino chain” in a group of African countries, stretching from Guinea in the extreme west of the continent to Sudan in the extreme east, which are ruled by coup plotters, reported The New York Times on July 29. The newspaper considers the ousted Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum, a democratically elected US ally, and the coup’s aftermath a threat to the US fight against Islamist groups in Africa.
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“For the United States and its allies, the coup raised urgent questions about the fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel, the vast semiarid region where groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are gaining ground at an alarming pace, moving from the desert toward the sea. Much of the Sahel overlaps with Africa’s newly formed, coast-to-coast coup belt,” the outlet said.
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French Embassy in Niger attacked.. All of this has prompted a fresh response from President Emmanuel Macron, who said his government “will not tolerate any attack on France and its interests” in Niger.
As the NYT noted, footage from the coup in Niamey, Niger’s capital, where protesters waved Russian flags, depicts scenes like those during the coup in neighbouring Burkina Faso. However, the coups in Guinea and Mali had different reasons for occurring.
The article stresses that the presence of the Russian flags does not mean that the Kremlin is behind the rebels’ actions but symbolises “how Russia has positioned itself as the torch bearer of anti-Western, and especially anti-French, sentiment in a swath of Africa in recent years.”
Niger, with at least 1,100 military personnel and two drone bases that cost $110 million, was considered a “cornerstone of the Pentagon’s regional strategy.” The NYT reckons that if the junta comes to power, the Americans could be asked to leave the country, which would “open a door to Russia.”
France and Italy announce evacuation of citizens from Niger Complicating matters, and adding to the geopolitical pressures and tensions, is the fact that Niger has long been a major operating hub for French special forces, with some 1,500 French troops in the country, who regularly conducted joint operations with the prior government.Alarmingly, while both French and American troops are in the region, the Russian mercenary group Wagner is just next door in Mali.
see also.. France loses its uranium meal ticket in Niger
The African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the European Union condemned the coup and urged Bazoum’s return to power. For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned, along with the EU, that the economic support to the country will cease if the coup d’état is not reversed.
Moscow joined the west African ECOWAS block criticising the coup and urged the parties not to use force.
Nonetheless, anti-French slogans and Russian flags on the streets of Niger after the military coup show that the social community in the Sahel region is looking for an alternative to the West.
Continue reading “Fears Of French and US Attacks as Uranium exports stopped in Niger Coup”
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