Tag: Chad

Why the U.S. Government Cares About the Coup in Niger + More

Ms. Cat

Let us travel back in time to April 9, 1999. It was the middle of hot season in the West African country of Niger and 120 degrees in the shade. Jocelyn, one of the authors, was a newly minted Peace Corps volunteer and had recently arrived in a rural community 60 miles south of Niamey, the capital, where she would spend the next two years. That day, President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara and five other people were shot dead at the airport, a mutiny by his presidential guard. But there was no international outcry, no evacuation of Americans and Europeans. Jocelyn was told to stay put in the small community where she was living. Life went on as usual.

Why the U.S. Government Cares About the Coup in Niger | Opinion

Related:

“Divide and Rule”: Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni Is Biden’s “Political Asset”. U.S. Behind Niger Coup d’Etat. America’s Hegemonic Wars Against Europe and Africa

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

Ms. Cat1 Comment

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

Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia

Ms. Cat

ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Sudan’s two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said.

Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia

Related:

Role of US troops in Sudan to shift as Biden administration sees no quick end to fighting

H/T: Emil Cosman

German ambassador expelled from Chad

Ms. Cat

German ambassador expelled from Chad

But a Chadian government official told AFP anonymously that N’Djamena blamed the diplomat for “interfering too much” in the “governance of the country”, as well as “remarks tending to divide the Chadians“.

…

The main opposition leaders have been in exile or in hiding since the bloody repression of a demonstration against the government on 20 October 2022, which officially left 73 people dead, but many more according to NGOs, which also mention “forced disappearances” and “extrajudicial executions”.

Related:

2022 Chadian protests:

Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo called the protests an “armed insurrection”. He also personally ordered the ban on several opposition parties, claiming they had “led a rebellion in the south and killed people”.

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

Ms. Cat

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.