Coups

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

Coup in Niger: Not Again 

 

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 28 July 2023

The Wednesday coup in Niger finally succeeded at midnight with soldiers announcing on national TV the dissolution of the Constitution, Parliament and Government. Sigh…. This makes it the sixth country in the West Africa region to experience a coup since August 2020. Adding Chad makes it the seventh. Early on Wednesday morning, it had been reported that President Mohammed Bazoum had been held in the presidential palace by his own presidential guard. It appeared the guard then had to negotiate with the regular army while shooting in the air to keep anti coup protesters at bay. President Bola Tinubu sent a strong message to the putschists warning them that West Africa was no longer willing to tolerate coups. He also consulted with President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic who is acting as mediator with the military. The US, France, UN, ECOWAS and African Union also condemned the coup calling for a return to status quo.

The coup might be much more about the new battle for geopolitical control of world politics than about Niger and democracy per se. The tradition of French (and Western) political control of Francophone Africa has been under bombardment in the last three years. The French army has been thrown out of Mali and Burkina Faso and have moved into Niger and of course Chad as the last stronghold of France’s neo-colonial military presence in the zone. Meanwhile, public opinion has turned very strongly against France in the Sahel. The people of Niger have been demonstrating, demanding for the expulsion of the French forces but both former President Mahamadou Issoufou and the current Bazoum have remained resolutely with France, against the trend of popular opinion. The military in Niger would be aware about the possible temporary legitimacy they could get by sending France out of Niger. In that sense, the coup was always on the cards. There is no surprise therefore to hear from the coup plotters that a plane load of French paratroopers arrived in Niamey yesterday morning in spite of the announced border closure but have been contained in the airport.

 

The problem with France’s ruthless neo-colonial control of its African colonies is the lack of any redeeming features. It’s a long litany of narratives about removing and often killing successive presidents who have sought to liberate their countries from the neo-colonial stranglehold and replacing them with puppets. France would not even allow their neo-colonies pretend to be independent by running their national currencies and public treasuries. Key ministries would often be run directly by French technocrats.

Then Russia came in from the cold and realised that with minimal propaganda efforts and a use of a few social media influencers, they could turn the tide of public opinion against France and dangle Wagner aa a viable mercenary force that could do exactly what a new anti-French leadership wants. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. The geo-politics of the Russia-Ukraine war and the battle between the old regressive hegemonists – the United States and its allies and the emerging hegemonists – Russia, China and their allies is being fought out in West Africa and therein lies the challenge; Africa must learn to play its own strategic game rather than play second fiddle to the game of thrones of the others.  

Yesterday, a number of citizens of ECOWAS, drawn from civil society organizations, the private sector, political parties, unions, religious and lay movements, women and youth associations met in Abuja to review the overall state of affairs in the ECOWAS Region and the prospects of realization of the collective vision of democracy and integration for “an ECOWAS of peoples”. The forum noted that after the wave of democratization of the 1990s that raised a lot of hope, the West African region is undergoing democratic regression with an erosion of individual and collective freedoms in a context of growing instability in relation to recurrent socio-political crises and violent extremism. The forum called upon ECOWAS to carry out reforms, including the reform of its Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance to save the democratic gains made in the 1990s and put a stop to growing instability.

If the geopolitics of others is taking over our region, it’s partly because we have been allowing our democracy to rot from within. Indeed, in West Africa, the desire for tenure elongation is increasingly marked among incumbent presidents and democratic alternation of power is an increasingly distant prospect in many countries, thus erasing the democratic norms and standards as prescribed by the Supplementary Protocol and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. 

Although 80% of the peoples of the region are opposed to the confiscation of political power by third termers; in Togo the President is currently exercising his 4^th term in power and preparing for a fifth term next year – 25 years in power by the end of his fifth term. In Côte d'Ivoire,  81-year-old President Alasane Ouattara is exercising his 3^rd term and will achieve 15 years at the head of the state. In Guinea, it required a coup d'état to disrupt the regime of the 85-year-old Alpha Conde during his 3^rd term. In Senegal, the President has just given up his third term bid after massive mobilisation against him. Let us not forget that the rigging of elections precipitated the Malian coup while third term was the reason for the coup in Guinea. When the political class debases democracy, the open doors for coup plotters.

West Africa must close its doors to the three coups – military takeover, constitutional coups for third term and electoral coup based on massive electoral fraud. The democratic culture of periodic alternation at the head of States promotes accountability and better management of public finances. In 2015 and 2022, ECOWAS had almost succeeded in the reform to make the principle of two-term limit an intangible rule of governance. Each time, the process was stopped by a few Heads of State with anti-democratic agendas - those of Togo and Gambia in 2015 and Togo, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal in 2022. As we head towards its 50th anniversary, it is time for ECOWAS to make the decision that term limits must be enshrined in golden letters in the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol and imposed on all, including gerontocrats who want to rule forever. 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

[Toyin Falola]

Dear Jibrin:

You have been on writing on the Sahel, like a prophet.

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2023 7:43:24 AM
To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Coups

 

--
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 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/CAPWX8rXCOGJUU8W5M0ZHZPcVhYmRoisovprPTrnWA1%2B-BOzX5w%40mail.gmail.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

dear jibrin

i believe this description is 40-50 years out of date: you wrote:

 The problem with France’s ruthless neo-colonial control of its African colonies is the lack of any redeeming features. It’s a long litany of narratives about removing and often killing successive presidents who have sought to liberate their countries from the neo-colonial stranglehold and replacing them with puppets. France would not even allow their neo-colonies pretend to be independent by running their national currencies and public treasuries. Key ministries would often be run directly by French technocrats.

at one time it was true. i don't see it as accurate for today, or for franco-african relations since maybe the 1980s.

further, i believe you ignore the larger sway of the U.S. who had bases in Niger, and the much larger sway of the WOrld Bank and IMF, again with U.S. interests, but also EU interests.

france was once the neocolonial power you describe in the 1960s and 1970s. but that changed, and changed again. At this point all the players mentioned above are collectively less significantly invested in africa than is china.

as for the use of french troops, they were not alone, and were unable to stop the collective fighting in the sahel, some of which concerned jihadists, some of which concerned local power struggles having nothing to do with islam. france and the u.s. were interested in islam, and thus in propping up the various failed regimes.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2023 2:20 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Coups

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/PH0PR06MB9004ED751EC8AABBA90074CCF806A%40PH0PR06MB9004.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.

[RAHEEM Oluwafunminiyi]

Well, France was responsible for Ghadaffi's death. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB8287EADEE2F29AF6DA272740DA06A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Michael Afolayan]

Ken -

I wouldn't say France is totally absolved from the political imbroglios ever-present in Francophone African nations, as Jibrin alluded. But my own position is, so what? If anyone would be blamed on such neocolonial interventions, the blame should go to the leaderships of those African nations. The Yoruba often say, "Without a cracked wall the lizard cannot infiltrate the house." France cannot crash into the walls of African nations today if some folks in the leadership did not open the doors, windows, or even crack the walls of their own nations themselves, inviting the intruders directly or indirectly. We are not that helpless! 

It's my novice viewpoint and I stand corrected.

MOA

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB8287EADEE2F29AF6DA272740DA06A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Ogedi Ohajekwe]

While agreeing that the owners of the house “are not (completely) that helpless”, what if the house was designed, the materials selected and built by the “intruders”, on cracked stones? 

And they have relentlessly been supervising?

—-

Ogedi

On Jul 29, 2023, at 4:07 AM, 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/2010007589.107826.1690603526540%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Three quotes from Ibn Sina known in the West as Avicenna

“ Knowledge of anything, because everything has a cause,is not acquired or complete unless the cause is known.”

“Colonised nations usually become lazy because their souls are always supported by the colonialists and they are unable to defend themselves because the feeling of defeat breaks their spirit”

“ Whoever lights the fire of slander, then he himself will become the fuel” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvkNrS6Nk6E

No big grammar specialist, political scientist, geologist, archaeologist, or philologist, etc am I, but if it's true that there’s no smoke without fire and it’s true that it's easy to find the motivation to be where the honey is then obviously the one specific word that's missing in Professor Jibrin’s analysis is a word that he must have wittingly ( in order to obfuscate?)  or, perhaps, unwittingly, must have avoided at all costs, namely the centre of gravity and the wild west’s raison d'etre/ insatiable, compelling interest in being anywhere near it : the URANIUM that’s buried in Niger …some say, also plentifully buried in Darfur and perhaps, not only buried in Niger & Darfur but also in many other areas that comprise “ the Sahel”, maybe even in Northern Nigeria 

Isn’t there in fact a so-called conspiracy theory, up to no good,busy promoting the idea that France is the power fuelling Boko Haram to help clear up / depopulate that Lake Chad area where a lot of the nuclear fuel known as uranium is buried?

Here’s poetry trying to trump politics: Allen Ginsberg: Plutonian Ode. 

I suppose this addresses the issue of  divide and rule that has culminated in area politics // regional interests, “ the Sahel” , “the Lake Chad Basin”, “the Horn of Africa” “Africa South of the Sahara” etc : The Division Of Africa Makes Europe Rich 

I forwarded Professor Jibrin Ibrahim’s piece to our radical Pan-African Brother from Ghana - who, incidentally, has French as a second language. Perhaps, I should Invite him to join this series? So far, I haven’t done so because I fear that from his very first appearance here he would most probably find a natural ally in Professor Gloria Emeagwali and team up with her to be on a direct collision course with  Professor Harrow  - a two-pronged direct attack and of course on a direct collisions course with some of the less radical/ more reactionary/conservative powers-that-be in the USA-Africa Dialogue Series.  Anyway, here is his curt reply to Professor Jibrin Ibrahim’s piece. 

“A good attempt to examine a long-standing problem. A good attempt but limited in scope and depth. The truth is "democracy, human rights, and the rule of law" AS DEFINED AND HANDED DOWN TO AFRICA are empty slogans that will not work and have never practised anywhere. Not even in the very countries that originally propagated them: i.e. The USA, NATO and the EU countries.

Akuffo-Addo, Ouattara, Tinubu, and all the others are nothing but empty-headed dregs!

Good morning

Thanks for sharing, and have a good day!”

Earlier in the week he had sent me the following: 

Britain must face justice for crimes in Africa 

What exactly has increased or what has been done for the people of South Africa since the ANC came in parliament 25 years ago?

 Foreign Intervention in Africa 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

How was France responsible for Ghadaffi's death?

In the larger scheme i see Gadaffi as a tragic character who did not understand that he had been overtaken by history.

In the proximate sense was he not killed by his own people whom he was fighting?

Yes, a Western plane disabled the vehicle he was moving in but did not kill him.

The people who dragged him out and did him in were his own people.

What were Western powers doing in the conflict?

They were acting to protect Libyan rebels besieged by Ghadaffi.

What ignited the conflict?

Ghadaffi's violent response to public demand for democratic change in the wake of the Arab Spring following from Muhammad Boazizi's self immolation in Tunisia.

I am interested in different ways of seeing this history though.

Thanks

Toyin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CANUvStxqatw%2BkS1t%2BHi_EGrPoBTXh2z0_eadBirUWYgCgshkVQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

cornelius, your friend raises an issue that i would like us to return to, one dear to the heart of moses ochonu.

moses argued it is incorrect to reduce the poly sci debate to autocracy versus democracy.

i know his ideal is to have a political system spring out of the indigenous life blood and history of the people. well, few would argue with that.

also, seeing how elections are often phony exercises in many (not all) african states, the "democratic" exercise is not really democratic.

still, i would prefer to live in a democracy, and however flawed our system here in the states, i'd prefer it to the situation in cambodia say, or you name it.

so let's not say democracy, but democratically marked states, i.e., states where ALL the people get to vote, and where each person's vote counts equally. you can devise a representative system based on that, no matter what the form.

i do not believe in enlightened leadership; in enlightened kings as plato imagined; i believe generally single party rulership results in a ruling clique that seeks to take over the economic forces, corrupting the regimes, and that happens almost every time. egypt a good example. zimbabwe too.

if we don't want to call this autocracy versus democracy, fine. but what do we call it?

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2023 10:12 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Coups

 

--

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 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/fa2efe18-3cce-47d5-a21d-bb3fc35f8c5dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

nicely put, both of you.

i find the issue of france complicated, and want to resist simplistic overstatements.

i first came to live in cameroon in 1977, for 2 years. i saw french troops in the street; boulangeries and french shops everywhere. i learned in depth how much businesses were owned by french, especially the large businesses. i learned about how ahidjo came to power due to the french. i taught at the university dominated by french influences. i read mongo beti's devastating account of french domination in Main Basse etc etc.

i also learned how much the people i saw feared ahidjo; feared to open their mouths, feared his monstrous prisons. and how americans were mostly outside of it, but still, under carter, shipped in arms to a country that had no conflicts outside of repressing its own people; and how the first american bank, chase, wanted to get it a branch in douala.

my wife worked at the last architecture firm owned by a non-cameroonian, a frenchie, and i saw how cameroonization was beginning to work; just as i learned those years how brits were being replaced by nigerians in the universities.

i learned after that about the workings of neocolonialism, in depth. no need to explain how or why, but i was convinced of its realities. subsequently France and other europeans became members of the EU and the worldbank and imf became dominant lenders. i learned how the cfa franc system exposed african economies to french control over rates, but protected their currencies from inflation—a major positive reason for joining the cfa system.

then a few years ago i spoke to a friend's daughter who worked for a major company that did business in the sahel, and i learned how much french business interests still had major roles in the region. to my surprise.

i do not believe that i am competent to offer an expert opinion on this question. i've seen the benefits of many many frenchies who lived and worked in africa—the french cultural centers did amazing work, especially in dakar; but i could recount less than perfect actions as well.

i am not pro-french; not anti-french. like you michael i have an opinion based on long long experience, but i lack the expert understanding of someone who really knows the fields of econ and poly sci. i am very skeptical of french and american statements concerning the benefits they claim to bring; but the russian sponsored internet claims are clear propaganda garbage.

in short, the french did some bad things, some good things. their human presence and role was mixed; but a thousand times better than the american roles.  those who see only the bad are one-sided in their view. but frankly i don't know anyone who ever expressed a view that it was, or is, all good. the higher up you go in the politics and business, the worse it was. the closer to the ground, to the ordinary people, the better it was.

lastly, besides overstatements re french involvement and power, i would argue that the reality is that china has replaced all other actors combined; and i still firmly believe that russian involvements are antithetical to african interests, despite their older anticolonial positions. they are now the ugliest actors in africa, not counting the thieves who run the mineral trade in east africa.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2023 8:43 AM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/9CC8B6D0-3FA0-4E27-82D7-B7E5E0065476%40gmail.com.

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

  

“France was once the neocolonial power you describe in the 1960s and 1970s. but that changed, and changed again. At this point all the players mentioned above are collectively less significantly invested in africa than is china. 

as for the use of french troops, they were not alone, and were unable to stop the collective fighting in the sahel, some of which concerned jihadists, some of which concerned local power struggles having nothing to do with islam. france and the u.s. were interested in islam, and thus in propping up the various failed regimes.”

So are we to equate military and political 

manipulation with  economic

 investment ? Is the situation in the

Sahel totally identical  with that of other 

regions of Africa? The last statement 

sounds like a lame concession - a piece

of carrot pulled from a magician’s 

hat - after a failed Francophile cover -

up attempt.

Vietnam was part of the French Indo-

China empire until the ignominous

French defeat at the Battle of 

Điện Biên Phủ in 1954 .Uncle Sam 

decided to join the fray - before 

suffering its own tragic losses. 

The battles were sequential in 

the case of Vietnam.

In the Sahel, the battle is against

a hydra-headed creature joined at 

the neck but whose main anatomy

 below the neck is France.

That would  change of course, and

a reconfiguration  is in the 

making.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2023 8:43 AM

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

 

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/9CC8B6D0-3FA0-4E27-82D7-B7E5E0065476%40gmail.com.

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

I do not agree that French neo-colonial control ended in the seventies. Recall the recent agreement between Cote d'Ivoire and France to confiscate the ECO from ECOWAS and keep under French control, the massive numbers of French forces in Chad and Niger after they were chased out of Mali and Burkina. France has been losing its grip over time but they are not yet out.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/BL0PR01MB4514C838364340BD96B61770DE07A%40BL0PR01MB4514.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

hi jibrin

i didn't say neocolonial control ended; i said neocolonialism changed, and that change gradually became important with imf world bank loans in the 80s and then with france becoming incorporated into the EU and so on.

i also gave an example of the continuation of french economic and military presence in the sahel down till now.

i certainly agree with your statement that they were gradually losing their grip; though how much, i can't say with certainty.

i do not agree with any perception that replacing the french with wagner represents any improvement; but the question of the wars in the sahel is complex, and isn't reductible to simple claims re islamism.

maybe we can discuss that later.

what struck me was the Monde piece on russian trolls actively trying to shape public opinion in the region. on top of wagner's colonialist rapacity i found the russian entry into africa really despicable.

that has nothing to do with excusing french attempts to sustain control over food production, etc; or with chinese dealmaking either.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2023 2:21 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rXj%3DWV1sQFgP3S7bGzM3qUonmEeJLrvL5RR%2BB1gFeG9ug%40mail.gmail.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Re - “ i would prefer to live in a democracy, and however flawed our system here in the states, i'd prefer it to the situation in cambodia say, or you name it.” ( Kenneth Harrow) 

Professor Harrow and my Better Half are two of a kind. All I have to do is express some understanding for Russia and she asks me, "Why don’t you go and live there then?" The reason why I don't go and live there - and I’m sure that there are some pretty Russian women there, is because the Swedish passport is currently ranked 3rd place on the Guide Passport Index - although Quran burning in Sweden and/or/ NATO membership could change all that…

Well, I was in Moscow  - and also in Belgrade for a few days in 1991 and didn't like being mistaken for an American.

My friend ( radical Pan-African Ghanaian) hasn’t said anything about Niger, so far. I suspect that the storm is slowly brewing. They say that after a long silence by someone like him, his first words will be revolutionary…

Professor Kenneth Harrow must have watched this al-Jazeera documentary in horror, horror at the terror that was unleashed on Cameroonians, especially since he was in Cameroon during Ahidjo’s reign there : 

Al Jazeera: Blood and Tears: French Decolonisation (Part 1.

Concerning the democratic solution that Professor Harrow says is “dear to the heart of moses ochonu” his ideological comrade-in-arms, Ochonu has probably also watched the documentary, his tender heart also either bleeding or reeling in horror and with pro-Africa humanitarian feelings of ”Never Again”. He must be looking on with some trepidation at the latest developments in the region, with what seems to be an uncle tom ECOWAS supported by France and Uncle Sam being “ very concerned”  - more concerned than usual, since their Niger plantation/ uranium goldmine is Uncle Sam & France’s last big military outpost in the so-called Sahel - albeit of a much lower status than Israel, Uncle Sam’s best friend and main military outpost and ally in the Middle East - and of course more than “ very concerned”, Uncle Sam would be “terribly concerned” , maybe even frightened if Israel’s top military brass were to stage a military coup on Netanyahu (ostensibly “to save democracy ” in “the Zionist entity” 

Niger coup 2023

Al-Jazeera: latest on the coup in Niger 

Niger’s military leaders warn against armed intervention

This evening on Al-Jazeera, a very exasperated Adama Gaye, former director of information at ECOWAS was ostensibly sympathetic to and in support of Niger’s new military leaders and justified the coup on the grounds of a very deteriorated security situations in the country, exacerbated by greatly increased poverty being suffered by the long-suffering people of Niger. He said that the new era of coups - of necessary coups in Africa are on the agenda and should be welcomed. in this case of course apparently vastly supported by the long-suffering Nigeriens.

I notice that Sierra Leone's Julius Maada Bio ( ex-Brigadier-General) - a former coup maker himself, was not one of the signatories of the final Communique from ECOWAS. You would have thought that he would have loved to append his signature just in case the Sierra Leone Military could be toying with the idea of deposing him, and of course, at the moment he is probably wary of some" elements" in the Sierra Leone Military getting a little help from their friends among the powers that be, namely the military men sitting in Guinea Conakry...

Avishai  Cohen: Variations in G Minor

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/TuKYh0qaSRo/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/IA1PR12MB828747DC3FDDD30911DF23FFDA07A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

I think we agree in substance.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB8287216EC6113FC1F0716E3FDA04A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

Also, i wonder why france, ex-colonizer, maintained such strong neocolonial ties in africa, whereas england didn’t. Or if it did, i didn’t really see it or learn much about it.

The germans seemed the least intrusive, of major european powers.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>

Sent: Monday, July 31, 2023 7:51:41 AM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rXV7RzyBvHwXB1YNjcFcWpNQpajNA5gJxAj2nS%2Bp7Ju6g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

De Gaulle was a strong believer in France's imperial mission and did everything in his power to maintain "la grandeur de la France"

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/IA1PR12MB82873B832A98FD9AF5C7F730DA05A%40IA1PR12MB8287.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

yes, true/ but he ended colonialism in the french system. notably with algeria, but with all the other african states too. the continuation of the relationship with france was through the francophone union, which guinea refused to join. all the others did; and that provided the firm base for neocolonialism.

i don't think de gaulle was interested in africa after the war was over; and algeria and then vietnam soured the french on colonialism. but neocolonialism was easy: colonial type relations without having the incur the expenses of running the country.

the most visible side to it, as i saw it, was the french troops with the military agreements that required the french to intervene should the african states be threatened. they propped up the states-often puppet govts—and propped up the currency with the cfas. but the economic reasons were probably determinant.

(which means the current chinese economic interests are generating a new order)

we—the intelligentia of the west and africa—mounted campaigns against neocolonialism, with africans lining up on both sides. senghor on the french side, sembene against the french. in cameroon ahidjo didn't tolerate antifrench sentiments, but he didn't always obey the french.

 i wouldn't be surprised to see residues of that anti french sentiment still somewhat active, especially with young people everywhere in francophone africa.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2023 12:20 PM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rUsvwx_vuALqwsbuqnSmXB84QebGR%3DBL%2BdBnWURMnAb8g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

for neocolonialism, it was his successors, that we saw strongly intervening: giscard d'estaing, mitterand, chirac, sarkozy. no difference between socialist or centrists, all neocolonials with strong interventions. faded with macron.

in the old days in francophone countries the cars were all peugeots and citroens or renaults; the bakeries, the restaurants, etc. large pharmacies owned by greeks or lebanese; there used to be movie theatres. etc.

now everything has changed, and the number of french largely diminished.

k

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2023 12:20 PM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rUsvwx_vuALqwsbuqnSmXB84QebGR%3DBL%2BdBnWURMnAb8g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Amended and corrected 

When it comes to freedom of speech

For those who don’t say their prayers in Latin, it’s easy: 

Colonialism: Veni, vidi, vici

Professor Harrow who served in Cameroon and Senegal for several years (and  must have been viewed as part of the colonial/neocolonial presence there) hopefully, could do the world a favour by adding some more first-person witness testimony flavour to this his passing description of the good old days :

 “in the old days in francophone countries the cars were all peugeots and citroens or renaults; the bakeries, the restaurants, etc. large pharmacies owned by greeks or lebanese; there used to be movie theatres. etc.now everything has changed, and the number of french largely diminished.”

In 1968, zapping through Sierra Leone, narrow roads ( 60% of the cars made in the UK ( I usually drove a Triumph Herald Convertible)10% made in France & Italy, 20% made in Japan ), zapping through Liberia (80% of the cars imported from the USA - in 1968 my father had a Buick - in 1969 a Peugeot - times and maybe fashion, taste and politics had also changed) and finally arriving in Abidjan by car (Renault), for the very first time, I couldn’t believe that I was in the capital city of another African country. I was surprised at the number of Oyibos everywhere, French and Lebanese bank tellers, French and Lebanese barbers, hairdressers, and French and Lebanese restaurants everywhere, (maybe I shouldn't complain too loudly, after all, on Day One in March 1969, I took my current  Better Half out to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant “ Khadra”, in Freetown, Sierra Leone) but in Abidjan it was frightening and I was beginning to ask myself the question, “ Where are our  African people? And what’s the matter with Houphouët-Boigny?  - Not that he could be demented - if anything he was virile and I should know, because my girlfriend's sister was his mistress - frequent visits to Paris  - by air - just to buy clothes, shoes, some jewellery - Professor Griff or was it Khalid Muhammad that once said that the word  “Jewellery” comes from the word “Jew” and the Anti-Defamation League demanded that he should recant and apologise immediately! I imagine that the ADL would have asked for his head if he had  - God forbid - incinerated a Holy Torah Scroll outside the Swedish Parliament ( BTW, we shouldn't be too hard on the ADL,  they still haven't got very far with Hon.Minister Farrakhan and his many insinuations about " The SynagogueofSatan" ) but let me backtrack to arriving in Abidjan by road  in 1968, and equally up to no good, a large contingent of French hippies in the park ( French hippies easily identifiable by their long hair, and of course the smell of weed hanging in the air) obviously there to  enjoy some sunshine, absorb some free vitamin D and more importantly to spread some more of the decadence and of course the French Language both of which must have contributed immensely to Mbembe’s  understanding and grasp of “The Aesthetics of Vulgarity”  that he  talks about in his “On The Postcolony”

Sierra Leone: 777 

1967 : Desmond Dekker : 007

[Harrow, Kenneth]

Hi cornelius

I taught in cameroon 1977-79, at the university of yaounde. I was there on a fulbright. The french were there as “patrons,” but we were obviously not french. I tried to teach as best i knew how, in the american system i had come up in. It was very far from french models, and i would say the students and i bonded, with some of my closest friends going back to that period.

After i taught at the universite cheikh anta diop in dakar, a number of times. Of course i was regarded again as an american. Not a senegalese, but not french either. Again, many wonderful students whose ties go back to 1983 and 1989 down to 2006 etc. that was really my luck, to have been to know those two universities and all the students, and colleagues.

Lucky me.

Ken

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 2, 2023 9:44:15 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/0ddae4f2-d7c5-483f-9e5a-e60f2de5936cn%40googlegroups.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

This opinion piece in The Washington Post: What the US should do about the coup in Niger.

Any reactions, somebody?

I think that this statement has to be qualified: “The germans seemed the least intrusive, of major european powers.” ( Kenneth Harrow)

There must have been several historical factors at play by which those who know can explain why, although the Berlin Conference of 1884 -85  at which the predatory European powers divided among themselves the cake that for them was” the cake of Africa” took place in Berlin, Germany the Germans only got a smaller share of the cake, what was known as the German colonies in Africa,  namely,  Burundi, Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Togo.  

 

I discussed the matter with Baba Kadiri who is much better informed than I am, and, hopefully, he will post a rejoinder. What does Kenneth mean by “less intrusive” - was his first retort and pointed at the fate of the Herero in Namibia during German colonisation .I suggested that Ken probably meant the Germans did not pursue an aggressive type of French assimilation colonial policy and that’s why the  German colonies don’t have German as their official language, or their language of choice when it comes to producing their national literature ( poetry, fiction, drama,  etc)  although, I'm sure that all of them, of course, have the Holy Bible translated into their Holy Mother Tongues, for easier comprehension of  - according to one wannabe, wanna go to heaven and not to the lake of fire Yoruba pastor, God’s so-called “ Word” . God’s word?

Baba Kadiri said no, that the Germans also had their Language schools and must have certainly produced some elitist big grammar students of their own, experts in the prodigious literature and Philosophy produced in the German Language  -and of course, all that Great German CLASSICAL MUSIC - and all that science and technology and medicine, too 

Curiously enough, up to the end of WW2, in Sweden, German was the second language of the Swedes, French a close second or third…

 Some demystification  of what was referred to earlier in this thread ( in passing) Hon Minister Louis Farrakhan and “The Synagogue of Satan”

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Add Guinea...and other Islamic forces belonging to The Religion of Peace such as Islamic State, Boko Haram their surrogate, and Tinubu could have bitten more than he can chew...

The Washington Post: The Coup in Niger puts the spotlight on uranium, the country's most important export

TASS: The coup in Niger

Most importantly: Algeria cautions against foreign interference in Niger