The military junta in Niger is playing at a high level. After overcoming the prevailing tension over the last week, I have confirmed this ECOWAS will not comply After not hearing (for the time being) his threat to intervene militarily in the country, they take a deep breath and plan their strategy to seize power. They draw the Nigerian people to themselves and oppose anyone who does not share their intentions. Speeches follow. This is how populism is gradually establishing itself in NigerHand in hand with a militarism confused with cheap pan-Africanism that has already contaminated neighboring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso.
The military’s position in Niger is strengthened every day as it remains in power. Although ECOWAS has already confirmed that it will not choose the military route, at least for the time being, and the duration of the dialogue has been extended, The Nigerian junta announces new unsubstantiated events every few hours, fueling fears of an imminent invasion. Alarmism was spreading thanks to social media and intermittent speeches by General Tchiani, who has yet to meet any of the delegations that have come to Niamey over the past week.
In addition to rumors circulating in networks that hundreds of Nigerian soldiers had moved to the Niger border, Tchiani testified that two African nations were finalizing preparations for an attack. The Nigerian army has also stepped up its border controls and transported elite troops to Niamey, ostensibly to protect the presidential palace and airport from a possible lightning attack. The airspace has been closed since last Sunday.
corruption and manipulation
The discourse chosen by the military is simple but effective in a population crushed by misery and exhausted after years of war against jihadism: the coup plotters from Niger, like the coup plotters from Mali and Burkina Faso, They proclaim themselves the new leaders of Pan-Africanism and outspoken critics of the West for African development. For example, if France cuts off development aid to Burkina Faso (as announced on Monday), Captain Ibrahim Traoré will reply: “We have been receiving French aid for 63 years, but our country has not yet developed, so a cut will not be fatal.” , but it will motivate us to work and to trust ourselves.” And the Burkinabés, Malians and Nigerians, thirsting for a nation, forget for a moment the economy that is stifling them and cheer the leader for bringing him into their Taking blindness to be the spirit of Thomas Sankara.
It doesn’t matter that a 2020 audit conducted by several NGOs in Niger found this to be the case 115 million euros flowed into the pockets of the Nigerian military between 2017 and 2019. The speech is the only thing that matters. Face the west. And precisely this need to confront the West would explain why the delegations sent by the United Nations to Niger this Tuesday were denied entry into the country. ECOWAS and the African Union. The CNSP justified its decision with a statement in which it recalled the closure of its airspace and considered it unfeasible to authorize a “special flight” that would allow said delegations to access Niamey by air. In addition, it said that “the current context and the public unrest following the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS do not allow us to ensure the security of the delegation.”
Deception is essential in the early stages of autocratic rule. While the military junta has issued successive communiqués telling its people that the invasion is imminent, although ECOWAS has already confirmed this The military option is set aside At the moment, the putschists themselves are shying away from any possible negotiation opportunity. It is obvious that this new government must create an enemy: ECOWAS, an extension of the West. He must constantly pressure his people and remind them of a threat until the reasonably frightened Nigerian people depend sufficiently on the military to stay in power. Convince them that a military regime equals freedom.
In their favor is the opinion of a growing number of Africans who are considering it Democracy as a form of government imposed by Europe. Numerous people interviewed by this journalist in West Africa pointed out that the traditional African political system is hampered by democratic processes that bring to power corrupt politicians or collaborators with neo-colonialism. One Ivorian journalist even went so far as to opine that “coups are still a replica of what happens in a city or kingdom when people are unhappy with their boss.” It is taken from him and transferred to someone else who is on top of it waits for the new boss to rule until he dies and a relative takes his place.”
There are quite a few citizens in the neediest countries who believe that the best way out of misery is “a temporary dictatorship” or “a revolution,” and these kinds of ideas give wings to the military governments that are spreading across the region . . If democracy is nothing more than an extension of Europe’s cancer, its ending might even be cause for celebration for those who see all things European as an enemy to be defeated.
The putschists take power and form a new government. So it became known on Monday that the economist Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine becomes prime minister by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, where another soldier will hold the position of Vice President. The usurpers are entrenched by deception, rumors, and new appointments. Every step they advance is part of a manual that dozens of coup plotters have already followed.
The Council of Resistance for the Republic
The speed of the procedure is also crucial for compliance. This is largely due to the support enjoyed by President Bazoum, who remains a prisoner of the coup plotters after refusing to sign his resignation. A statement was released on Tuesday afternoon, where Former minister and former rebel leader Rhissa Ag Boula pledged his support for Bazoum by establishing a Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR).while agreeing that “all sincere democrats must be mobilized to put an end to this catastrophic project to establish a model of government in Africa and currently in Niger without any form of democracy and freedom.” Ag Boula, who in the past years in the Tuareg uprisings, assured that the CRR would use “all the means at its disposal” to achieve this goal.
The possibility of a civil war in Niger pitting Democrats against coup plotters is thus looming, raising fears of a situation similar to that in Sudan since last April’s coup. The putschists are closing borders, creating panic, mobilizing troops, silencing their critics and refusing dialogue in the name of a freedom that is difficult to describe. They are in power. Meanwhile, ECOWAS announced the imposition of new sanctions on Tuesday and will meet on Thursday to draft new measures to stop Niger’s exodus.