Why might Africa want France gone? + ECOWAS Activates Standby Force for Potential Niger Intervention

Let’s continue to follow the post-coup situation in Niger. We had Victoria Nuland travel to Niger, presumably to help organize the overthrow of the government since 1- that’s usually what a visit from Nuland portends and 2 – a “rebel movement” called the Council of Resistance for the Republic under the leadership of someone named Rhissa Ag Boula started just after her visit. If there is going to be a Western war over this coup, it is likely that Nigeria – the giant country in West Africa with 224M people, much bigger than all other countries in the region combined – will be a part of the intervention, as would France and presumably the US. Other countries of the region are lining up on one or the other side, with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Algeria all lining up with the post-coup Niger government, so we are in a scary situation.

Why might Africa want France gone?

Related:

ECOWAS Activates Standby Force for Potential Niger Intervention

Niger’s Crisis: Why is Mohamed Bazoum Calling for Western Intervention?

Niger’s deposed president wrote an article in the Washington Post. It read as if it was prepared to fit the agenda of the US military interventionists. Mohamed Bazoum is either ignorant of history or he is not the one puling the strings. Here is my latest.

Niger’s Crisis: Why is Mohamed Bazoum Calling for Western Intervention? via Ramzy Baroud

Related:

President of Niger: My country is under attack and I’ve been taken hostage

Niger’s Detained President Pleads With U.S. and Others for Help

I don’t think he wrote the opinion article! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Niger Coup Leader Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou Was Trained By The US Military

The Intercept has verified that Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the head of Niger’s Special Operations Forces and a key figure in the unfolding coup in Niger, received training from the U.S. military. Since 2008, military officers trained by the United States have been involved in 11 coups in West Africa.

Niger Coup Leader Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou Was Trained By The US Military

Related:

Army in Niger backs coup as U.S. forces in the country assess situation

Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) is home to the former School of the Americas.

The Homeland or Death: Accomplishments of the Traoré Government in Burkina Faso

Who is Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla?

Burkina Faso cheered and celebrated at the news of Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla’s appointment to office as prime minister on October 21st, 2022. While there are many new faces and figures in Burkinabé politics right now, Kyélem de Tambèla is a familiar face to many Burkinabé who have known him for decades. In other circumstances this label may be given out too freely but, Kyélem de Tambèla has rightfully earned the title of Sankarist as demonstrated by his own background.

The Homeland or Death: Accomplishments of the Traoré Government in Burkina Faso

H/T(YouTube): Traoré & Burkina Faso oust the West for a Pan-African & Multi-Polar Future

French military bases in Africa will now self-identify as schools

Emmanuel Macron wants to rebrand Paris’ presence in its former colonies as cultural and economic projects

French military bases in Africa will now self-identify as schools

Related:

Macron: ‘New era’ in economic, military strategy in Africa

Monday’s speech came at a time when France’s influence on the continent is facing its biggest challenges in decades. Growing anti-French sentiment has led to street protests in several West and North African countries.

In addition, historical economic ties that France had with the region are under pressure from the growing commercial presence of Russia, China and Turkey.

Macron acknowledged that Africa now is a “field of competition” and urged French businesses to “wake up” and get involved in the fight.

In the past year, French troops had to withdraw from Mali, which turned instead to private Russian military contractors of the Wagner group, and most recently from Burkina Faso, which also appears to increasingly look towards Moscow.

Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?

Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?

Last year, US-based electric vehicle company Tesla put in a bid for a contract to mine some of that Lithium, but the Nigerian government denied them. Nigeria, like most African countries, has a history of foreign powers exploiting them for their national resources while offering little value to the people of Nigeria.

Video via Activist News Network

Related:

What Would It Mean for Nigeria to Elect an Igbo President?

Ethiopia blocks social media amid Orthodox church tensions

Ethiopia blocks social media amid Orthodox church tensions:

The religious crisis erupted last month after a group of rebellious ethnic Oromo archbishops formed a breakaway group called the Holy Synod of Oromia in defiance of the church’s highest body or the synod.

The splinter group accuses the church of “maintaining a system of linguistic and cultural hegemony in which congregations in Oromia are not served in their native languages“, an allegation the church denies.

H/T: Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed suspends American big tech

Related:

The Lingering Danger of Google & Facebook

Another schism?! Is the Holy Synod of Oromia supported by the US?! TBD, soon.

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