Tag: Togo

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

Reciprocity: Zelensky Demanded Weapons from Netanyahu for Pro-Israel UN Vote

Ms. Cat

Reciprocity: Zelensky Demanded Weapons from Netanyahu for Pro-Israel UN Vote

In the previous anti-Israel UN vote (and most other UN votes), Ukraine voted against Israel. That did not go over well in Israel. Israel has also been a world leader in supplying Ukraine with humanitarian aid.

According to a report by Barak Ravid, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday evening asking Ukraine to vote against the UN resolution. Zelenskyy demanded reciprocity and a change in Israeli policy, asking Israel to supply defensive weapons to Ukraine, in particular, against Russian ballistic missiles and the Iranian suicide drones that Russia has been using to attack Ukraine.

Related:

PA Celebrating UN Resolution Asking ICC to Investigate Israel’s ‘Occupation’

The Foreign Ministry and Israel’s embassies lobbied some 100 countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, spoke with the leaders of several countries and managed to convince at least five leaders not to vote in favor of the decision – the leaders of Croatia, Togo, Greece, Romania, and Kenya. Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also took part in the efforts, sending letters to more than 60 world leaders ahead of the vote.

Israel, the US, and 24 other members––including the UK and Germany––voted against the resolution, while France was among the 53 nations that abstained. The US entered Israel’s nay vote since the resolution was passed on Shabbat, a move that UN Envoy Gilad Erdan called “shameful.”

On the first results of the US-Africa Leaders Summit

Ms. Cat

The world press is actively discussing the results of the first US-Africa Leaders Summit since 2014, held on December 13-15 in Washington.

At first glance this event may seem successful. The forum was attended by delegations from 49 countries plus the African Union and the permanent secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Only the leaders of those countries that were not invited because of their “non-compliance with democratic standards” (Guinea, Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Eritrea) were not in attendance. It should be noted that the leader of Chad, who also came to power in an unconstitutional way, was at the summit. Apparently, his “authoritarianism” did not interfere with US principles since the country is close in its political positions to the West, primarily to France.

On the first results of the US-Africa Leaders Summit (archived)

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

Ms. Cat

Army launches coup in Burkina Faso amid mass protests against France

The ousted junta leader, [Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba, was widely seen as too closely linked to France. Late Saturday, there were protests outside the French embassy in Ouagadougou and the French Institute in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Video on social media showed residents with lit torches outside the French embassy, and other images showed part of the compound ablaze. The crowds also vandalised the French Institute.

Related:

Burkina Faso: Another Coup Led By U.S-Trained Soldier

[Paul-Henri Sandaogo] Damiba is a highly trained soldier, thanks in no small part to the U.S. military, which has a long record of training soldiers in Africa who go on to stage coups. Damiba, it turns out, participated in at least a half-dozen U.S. training exercises, according to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.

Ousted coup leader leaves Burkina Faso for Togo