War Looms in West Africa as US and French Empires Lose Their Grip

Recently, there was a military coup in Niger, the country directly to the north of Nigeria. Then, an organization with which I was not familiar, the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), announced a meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to decide whether or not to militarily intervene.

When two other West African countries—Mali, and Burkina Faso— announced that any ECOWAS attack on Niger would be considered a declaration of war against them, I decided I had better look into this. What in the world is going on in West Africa? And what is this ECOWAS thing, anyway? Let’s start with a map:

The light green ones are “suspended” members of ECOWAS. Quite a few of them, aren’t there? Why?

ECOWAS came together in the 1970s as a sort of West African EEC(the predecessor to the EU), and was no doubt heavily influenced by US Empire interests seeking access to the oil and mineral wealth in the region. Since then, it has militarily intervened in its member states to “defend democracy” multiple times.

Mauretania was a founding member but broke away back in 2000. Since 2021, military coups in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso were condemned by the rest of the members. The latter two recently expelled all French troops from their soil and kicked out a bunch of Western NGOs because they were all CIA fronts, anyway.

There wasn’t all that much saber-rattling from Paris and Washington, though they clearly weren’t happy(they’re also kinda busy). Now, ECOWAS has already cut off Niger from the regional financial network in a brutal sanction, and is openly discussing military intervention against the new regime in Niamey.

The Niger coup leader, General Tchiani, says he and his country will fight. Guinea condemned the sanctions, while Burkina Faso and Mali say an invasion of Niger will result in a multinational regional war.

Why is Niger so important? I see it’s important enough for the US to have one of its 800 overseas military bases there. It’s not hard to figure out. According to the handy-dandy CIA Factbook, Niger’s natural resources are as follows:

uranium, coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt, petroleum

Uranium and oil, until now exploited no doubt quite profitably by American and French capital, is now at risk of being traded to other nations for better terms, nations like China and Russia. And gold. With the dollar declining globally, that’s got to be attractive.

It’s more than just those things, of course. The destruction of Libya shattered not only that country, but destabilized the entire region. You can’t just destroy the most prosperous country on a continent and expect the damage to stay within its borders. But Obama had to pay off his donors and Hillary got that great “We came, we saw, he died(cacklecackle)” moment out of it, so I’m sure the imperialists think it was worth it.

The West African military coup leaders are talking about something they call “patriotic coups,” necessary to depose corrupt elected politicians who sell their own people out to foreign interests. That sounds familiar, too. It sounds like the old anti-colonialist African rhetoric from the 1960s and 70s.

Maybe it sounds that way because neo-colonialism is still alive in Africa, and because most Africans want Africa for Africans. That is a motive the Western corporate press will not mention, but it’s real, and we should never forget it. Especially if they start beating the war drums for US and European military intervention.

Thank you for reading and have a good day.