Nigerian uranium

[Harrow, Kenneth]

Not a major source and two of the three mines shut down or shutting down ....

The opposite of claims that is all about uranium

From le monde today: Quantité d'uranium naturel importé en France

Kazakhstan (23 822 tonnes)

Niger (17 615 tonnes)

Ouzbékistan (16 792 tonnes)

Australie (12 349 tonnes)

Namibie (12 303 tonnes)

Canada (4 043 tonnes)

Brésil (628 tonnes)

Kirghizistan (506 tonnes)

République tchèque (120 tonnes)

Hongrie (22 tonnes)

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

[Harrow, Kenneth]

By another measurement, niger produces 4% of world supply of uranium, and that’s going down as the mines runout. The french hold a majority share in the niger mines.

Anyone’s seen themovie Arlit knows it’s a dirty story.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: Harrow, Kenneth
Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2023 3:32:11 PM
To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Nigerian uranium

 

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

I know so little about all this but believe that common sense and a sense of fair play should prevail here.

The figures are official, for all we know, a conservative estimate, and we may take their word for it, but for example, no one really knows how much oil leaving the shores of Nigeria, unofficially, and the extent of the unofficial exports was brought home to us recently with news of an oil tanker being seized at sea, laden with stolen oil 

So, some mines are closing down, the price of the commodity is being determined by its availability on the world market, and the reality is that since the uranium is not going to last forever, what are the options for the poverty-stricken people of Niger and their already cash strapped economy?

The glimpses of poor infrastructure and the pictures of endless laterite roads leave one wondering what has France done for Niger since Niger became independent in 1960, and that's all of 63 years ago? This leaves the new era Africa wondering what would China not do in e,g Niger when it comes to building necessary infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals, developing agriculture etc in exchange for uranium and other mineral assets and cooperation that Niger is willing to offer?

Whatever negotiations ECOWAS may conclude with the Junta, it's unlikely that it would be in the cards that the coup makers should retain their military rank and status if the deposed president/puppet were to be reinstated. So the probable compromise has to be that fresh elections should be held within the next three to five years, and in the meantime, the mining agreements etc will be revised, not necessarily revoked, but it's the people's finger and not the people of Nigeria and other neighbouring states that should have the final say so about the future of Niger’s domestic politics and Niger’srealtions with Burkina Faso  Mali, Guinea, Chad,  Algeria, Libya, the United States, France etc.

Today there have been massive people’s demonstrations in Niger in support of the coup.

Ostensibly, the people’s aims and the military's aims are the same:  better life conditions for everybody which so far they say that the democratically elected government has woefully failed to deliver after two years of the country standing still/ some say deteriorating under their management. The sanctions that they want to pass on Niger will only increase the suffering that the people of Niger will unnecessarily have to endure, the kind of suffering/punishment that those who pass such sanctions hope will make the people turn against the military and bring both the people and the military to submission - although the people and the military would really much prefer to only submit to the one and only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala !

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Correction ( sorry)Should read :

...but it's the people's Niger and not the people of Nigeria and other neighbouring states that should have the final say so about the future of Niger’s domestic politics and Niger’s relations with Burkina Faso  Mali, Guinea, Chad,  Algeria, Libya, the United States, France etc.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/usaafricadialogue/ecxxGuGoaYM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/cd3b28ac-600b-4939-8cde-fc03fab71cadn%40googlegroups.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

I wonder who needs the uranium? France is the only eu country with serious commitment to nuclear energy, and now i believe a large percentage of their nuclear plants are closed. I believe they are, like germany, committed to going green, not going nuclear. 

Maybe the market is n korea for its missiles.

As for the question cornelius posed, what has france done for niger in all these years, it would be interesting to hear the answer—which i do not know. But one answer i would want to include would be one where the govts of niger are not treated as if they were totally passive victims, with no agency. I might have thought that 30 years ago,but now i believe that there are better govts in africa and worse, and it is important for us not to strip govts of their accountability. Even as i know exterior actors are also crucial. And when it comes to exterior,who is more important in niger: the imf and world bank, france, u.s., china? Does anyone know? When sissako made his magnificent film, Bamako, the villain in the piece was not france, it was the world bank.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2023 8:09:16 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Nigerian uranium

 

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAFYPD-QjR2PQOR6A1rs1AheO48yre9_b8jJYBQUt5J6idb1tfw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Ken, 

Since George Ayittey passed away it's no longer easy to be provocative with short shots, and cheap sound bites.

To be fair to the people of Niger and the current Niger Military, the coup is not primarily about uranium, it’s about the mismanagement of the country’s resources and the country’s potential. Whenever and wherever coups occur in Africa,  it's usually about bad government/ governance that’ usually entrenched, immobile and otherwise unmovable 

What choice do the people usually have when it’s two or three bad apples contesting a presidential election and vying to be the next commander-in-thief? So, the people are generally, often reduced to having to choose between the lesser of two or three evils.

There's depth ( not debt)  in singling out the IMF and the World as the devils dictating, structural adjustment programs demanding devaluation of the country’s currency and taking away various subsidies, be it subsidies to education  - the bitter medicine that Jerry Rawlings once had to swallow,  or taking away subsidies to agriculture….

The IMF, the World Bank, where you have people like Johnson Sirleaf once oiling that machinery.

And what is e. g.  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, visibly supposed to be the beautiful face of the WTO, what is she saying and doing about the ongoing looting of Africa’s mineral resources and other precious commodities going for dirt cheap, apart from merely presiding over it and occasionally lamenting that we are in deep shit? 

BTW, talking about villains, I'm sure that you too loved this lovable villain Samba Traoré

[Harrow, Kenneth]

I read a really good piece on the coup by an african scholar based in canada; forgot his name.

His argument was very convincing. 

First, just to be honest about it: it was not a result of a popular uprising; and no one really knows who the people of niger feel about it.

It was simply a palace coup, a military coup. Not led by a bunch of idealist sankara types either, but by the head of the palace guards, general tiani, who has been supporting bazoum all along.

It is simply a military coup, not a strike against mismanagement or any of that. Further, i agree that the issue is not uranium. It is definitely a factor for france, but not the major reason for them or anyone to be in niger. That was bush's lie over the war in iraq.

Africa has known military coups before; we all know. But these three in a row--burkina, mali, niger--involve a movement against the french presence. France had already decided to draw down barkhane in burkina before the coup. Nothing new there or in mali. But there are 1500 french troops in niger and 1100 american. These do not seem like "massive" anything to me; but they are thebulkhead of american and french mobilization against jihadist movements in the sahel.

I don't want to repeat all the detailed analysis of who is fighting whom in the sahel; it is an oversimplification to read it in islamist terms. In some cases touaregs used islamism to recruit, but nothing i've read says it is at the heart of the disputes. They involve increasingly dire land shortages, pitting dogon against touareg etc etc etc. land and water shortages, and difficulties in surviving. The govts have not been able to provide the needed security; nor could the french. That got turned against the french, which i find bizarre. I believe there was a legitimate gripe against the govts in the region; you all know recollect their conflicts with the touaregs and why.

The analyst i read said this is no shifting revolution; it is military long in place deciding simply they want to be in charge, for whatever reason. 

Since the two coups in the region, islamist violence and especially civilian deaths have gone up, in part due to wagner's brutality. 

More wagner means more neocolonialism in the region, more military brutalities and killings, more dictatorship. How will the populations as a whole make out? Who knows. The ordinary people want peace, simply peace. 

Will real peace come through wagner's guns? I doubt it, but i don't know.

As a personal footnote, mali and burkina faso were two of my favorite places on earth. Now the sahel is only a place for tears.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 9:04:32 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/a3f3cd57-90c6-4570-ab18-3a8b49b769can%40googlegroups.com.

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

"Now the sahel is only a place for tears." harrow

Really? It is a place of joy for some pan-Africanists who see this as true

agency unfolding.  One commented that he is glad to be alive at this point in time. 

The depth of animosity against France is beyond ordinary comprehension.

This coup was in the making the moment France deployed its troops from 

Mali and Burkina Faso to Niger.. The Niger people

began to ask whether they were a refuse dump.  Other things followed.

They wondered about having the biggest drone park  and thousands of troops

of questionable sincerity within their borders, and mounting jihadist incursions.

The soldiers  said that they were  prevented from fighting the jihadists from time to time.

I expected a coup there many months ago- and read my lips, I expect one

 in Chad, too, against  French interference.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department, Central Connecticut State University
www.africahistory.net

http://web.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html

Chief Editor- "Africa Update"

www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali

Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries

2014 Distinguished Research Excellence Award in African Studies

 University of Texas at Austin

2019   Distinguished Africanist Award                   

New York African Studies Association

Founding Co -Chair. Sengbe Pieh AMISTAD Committee

Founding Coordinator, African Studies, CCSU

 

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 12:12 PM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Nigerian uranium

 

EXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB8287B29568FEAFED11FF8D06DA09A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Dr. Oohay]

Any such analyses of the coup (pro coup or anti coup): probably premature.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB8287B29568FEAFED11FF8D06DA09A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Mensah, Edward K]

Ken,

 

Your scholar friend did not find any reason why the francafrique should all unshackle themselves from the bondage of the conditionalities imposed on them after ‘independence’?  The reasons are clear and visible for all who love Africa to see.

 

Imagine estimating the present value of all the monetary reserves these countries deposited in french treasuries since independence, all the resources extracted from the African countries at below market prices, and the no-bid contracts ‘won’ by French companies since independence; france will be owing the African counties trillions of dollars today

 

These are the conditions that have made a monstrous group like the wagner appealing to the youth of these countries.

 

Sad indeed!!!

These youth who have been dancing in the streets of Burkina, Mali, and Niger are not crazy. They have simply had enough and they will support even the devil if it means the French will be kicked out.

Even deGaule acknowledged that France is only a powerful country because of dependence on resources from the francafrique. .

You see, the trouble with the colonial masters Britain  and France is that, for over 60 years, they had the opportunity to help Africa develop economically. They had us as partners for far too long. But they took us for granted by assuming that we are comfortable with our horrible level of development. The moral of the story is that, if you take your partner’s needs for granted while you keep creating wealth for yourself based on the relationship, pretty soon the partner will file for separation.  The person who acts surprised when the partner files for divorce is one who has taken the partner’s needs for granted for far too long.

 

I love france, I hold a visiting professorship at a university in France; but I am appalled at the financial and political relationships imposed on the francafrique.  France does not deserve what it is confronted with now. But they brought it upon themselves.

As for the ECOWAS countries getting ready to ‘liberate’ Bazoum, I hope someone tells them how stupid the idea is.

It will end very badly. Africa does not need a regional war.

 

Kwaku

 

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

---

From: 'Dr. Oohay' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 4:07:01 PM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1770608963.91350.1691183221616%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

Dear kwaku, you are probably right in what you are writing, but i wonder if not overstating it. For instance, the cfa arrangement benefitted african states by preventing inflation, as whacked other african currencies. So that other states like rwanda? Ghana? Asked to join it?

The dissymetry in the relation is key. But how much did france care about this whole economic relation? How much did britain? How much did they get out of it? Don’t you think we need the economists to give us a balanced assessment?

I wonder how much the french got out of the fishing arrangements in senegal? How much the ministry in senegal got bought off, as i’ve been told. How much the chinese or europeans got from those fishing rights, that wrecked the fishing industry in senegal. Was that france’s fault???? Or whose?

We need answers to those questions, to be able to agree on the broad situation.

The region i feel i have the right to some opinion on is east congo. It is not france that is profiting there, at the expense of the congolese people. It is china, and with it an entire host of predators that run the mines, that pay off the congolese state, and that enable militias to continue. Not least being m-23, thanks to rwanda. It isn’t major european powers running the show there, either. It is asian, and middle eastern, all the outlaw monsters of globalization.

In fact, just like the people who destroyed the fishing industries off the coast of africa.

How easy to jump on france, while distracting the youth from those major players who are wrecking their futures.

That said, francafrique as you said, long since has belonged in the past.

But that aint the whole ball game.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mensah, Edward K <deha...@uic.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 5, 2023 7:29:44 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Nigerian uranium

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/PH0PR13MB5331E2C5BCDAEB8B6D17C6BBC20EA%40PH0PR13MB5331.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks for that analysis, Mensah.

Why does France not deserve what is happening if it enabled it through creating inhuman conditions for Francophone countries?

Toyin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/PH0PR13MB5331E2C5BCDAEB8B6D17C6BBC20EA%40PH0PR13MB5331.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.