Niger’s CNSP Military Junta Asks French Ambassador to Leave. “France Out of Africa” Instrumented by Washington?
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It should be understood that Niger’s CNSP Military Junta headed by General A. Tiani is supported by Washington.
General A. Tiani who led the coup d’Etat received his military training in the US at the National Defense University (NDU). He has close links to the Pentagon.
The Biden administration has casually refused to describe the ouster of President M. Barmou as a “Coup d’Etat” or a “regime change”.
Washington has accepted “the three year rule” proposed by the military Junta.
Visibly there is a clash between the U.S. and France, barely acknowledged by the media. What is unfolding is the creation of political divisions within West Africa, which could potentially lead to Armed Conflict.
Similarly, the governments of Mali and Burkino Faso which were requested by Niamey to send troops to Niger. The military governments in both countries are aligned with Washington.
In this regard, The Republic of Mali led by Colonel Assimi Goita –who is also a “friend of America” as well as an instrument of the Pentagon– had already in 2022 set the stage for “Removing France from Africa”.
Colonel Goita issued in early 2022 a directive to “end diplomatic, military and economic ties with France”. Concurrently, he announced in 2022 that French was to be abolished as Mali’s official language.
In Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power in a military coup, in October 2022, and ordered the withdrawal of French forces.
Is a similar pattern envisaged for Niger?
The CNSP military Junta no doubt in consultation with Washington has requested the French Ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave Niger within 48 hours.
In a bitter irony, the process of “French Decolonization” (i.e “Paris out of Africa”) does not ensure the instatement of democratic forms of government. Quite the opposite, it tends to favor the hegemonic development of U.S. neocolonialism and the militarization of the African continent, which must be forcefully opposed.
A pattern of US militarization (coupled with the imposition of neoliberal “shock treatment” macro-economic policies), has unfolded in several francophone countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Michel Chossudovsky, August 28, 2023
See related detailed article:
By , August 27, 2023
According to the Associated Press (Selected Excerpts):
Niger’s junta authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to its defense and asked the French ambassador to leave the country Friday, raising the stakes in a standoff with other West African nations who are threatening force to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president.
The junta leader, Brig. Gen. Abdrahmane Tchiani, signed two executive orders authorizing the “security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” senior junta official Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi said late Thursday, after hosting a delegation from the two countries in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.
Sidi did not provide further details about the military support from the two countries whose military regimes have said any use of force by the West African bloc ECOWAS against Niger’s junta would be treated as an act of war against their own nations. …
France has consistently acknowledged only the authority of Niger’s elected President Mohamed Bazoum, still detained by the junta. Paris reiterated Friday night that “only legitimate elected Nigerien authorities” have a say about the fate of its ambassador.
The invitation of troops from Mali and Burkina Faso as well as the expulsion of the French ambassador show “a very strong alignment” between the regimes of the two countries and that of Niger “in terms of having a very strong anti-Western and pro-authoritarian orientation,” said Nate Allen, an associate professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
The ECOWAS Commission president, Omar Alieu Touray, said Friday that the bloc’s threat to use force to reinstate Bazoum was “still on the table,” rejecting the junta’s three-year transition plan.
To read complete AP report click here
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