In the News, Niger is a Land of Coups
For Electric Guitar Fans, it is the Land of Sahara Blues
The coup in Niger on July 26 led to a flurry of news reports and analysis. For AfricaFocus I have selected five of the most useful in putting that event in context.
Update August 20: https://theintercept.com/2023/08/19/niger-coup-us-military-assistance/ Pentagon says coup is not a coup! So they don´t have to stop military assistance.
Last week, I learned from Semafor Africa that three members of a leading Nigerien electric guitar band were stranded on tour in the United States. As many AfricaFocus readers will know, guitarists from the Sahara have built a worldwide reputation for their innovative guitar playing.
I did not know the band led by Mdou Moctar that was stranded, but I was pleased to find much of the group´s music available online, including performances in the Saharan desert and the Sahel as well as in concert venues as far away as Port Townsend, on the Olympic Peninsula. So I have also added a selection of short musical selections. Those who want more can find both more short clips and full concerts available on YouTube as well as audio on KEXP in Seattle.
For an overview, visit The Best Guitar Music Today Is Coming From The Sahara Desert. For an earlier prominent guitarist from Mali, see Master Guitarist of The Sahara: Ali Farka Touré.
For more music clips, check out this playlist.
Mohamed Kheir Omer | Niger: The resource politics of a post-colonial revolt | African Arguments
August 8, 2023
Niger came into the spotlight on July 26, when Republican Guard soldiers claimed to have overthrown Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, on state television. The junta announced two days later that Abdourahmane Tiani, the head of Niger’s Presidential guard, would be the new head of state. Some of the reasons given for the coup were the deteriorating security situation and poor economic and social governance. However, an investigation into the diversion of $125 million, nearly half the defense budget to private contractors linked to the top brass in the military during the entire tenure of the previous administration, according to Africa Confidential, may well be the reason the generals moved against President Mohamed Bazoum.
This was the fifth successful coup in the country since independence. Coup supporters took to the streets, waving Russian flags and burning French ones, apparently less out of love for Russia and more an expression of historical dissatisfaction with France’s exploitative policies in the country and the region. Some supporters attacked the French Embassy. Significantly, though both the USA and France have military forces in the country, there were no signs of anyone burning the US flag. Given the current dynamics, it is difficult to tell whether the demonstrations were spontaneous or mobilized by coup leaders. [more ...]
Adekeye Adebajo | Anatomy of the Niger coup | The Guardian (Nigeria)
August 16, 2023
The recent military coup d’état in Niger was the fifth the West African country of 26 million people has experienced since its independence from France in 1960. Land-locked Niger is among the poorest countries in the world despite the oil-rich nation being the world’s seventh largest producer of uranium.
Both civilian and military governments have failed to develop the country and been accused of widespread corruption. General Abdourahamane Tchiani’s coup two weeks ago thus repeated a historical pattern. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) suspended Niger’s military regime from their institutions and announced sanctions. [more ...]
Alex de Waal | The Deluge Facing Africa’s Leaders Is Going to Get Worse | New York Times
August 14, 2023
An uninterrupted swath of African countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea is now under military rule. Mali, Guinea, Chad, Sudan, Burkina Faso and, most recently, Niger. Some of the putschists deposed elected leaders, like Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum. Others forestalled elections or even overthrew the leaders they had installed.
This is more than a series of distant and regrettable events. It’s a sign that a large part of the continent — mostly in an area south of the Sahara known as the Sahel — has fallen off the path of building functioning states. It raises an unsettling question that affects the whole world: How can poor and insecure countries forge political order and give their citizens the confidence that democratic governments can deliver what they need? [more ...]
August 16, 2023
The military takeover in Niger has upended years of Western counterterrorism efforts in West Africa and now poses wrenching new challenges for the Biden administration’s fight against Islamist militants on the continent.
American-led efforts to degrade terrorist networks around the world have largely succeeded in longtime jihadist hot spots like Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Not so in Africa, especially in the Sahel, the vast, semiarid region south of the Sahara where groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are gaining ground at an alarming pace. [more ...]
In an interview with Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone in May 2021, Mdou Moctar himself spoke out about the foreign military bases in his country:
“The presence of these bases is at the root of the things that are currently destroying Niger,” Moctar says. “We didn’t really have terrorism in such a developed way, like Boko Haram, before these military presences came into the country. There’s the French base, and now the U.S. military base, and that coincides with the period during which terrorists started getting out of control beyond what Nigerians can manage on their own. These Western countries said they came to prevent terrorism, yet currently there’s terrorist groups killing people, and these militaries — it’s happening right next door and they’re not reacting! Yet they’re fully equipped and trained, but they’re refusing to intervene. I don’t understand why they’re not supporting our own local forces in the desert if they want to help us so much.”
Nick Turse | Niger Junta Appoints U.S.-Trained Military Officers To Key Jobs | The Intercept
August 10, 2023
U.S.-Trained Military Officers have been appointed to head five of eight regions of Niger by a junta that includes at least five U.S.-trained military officers, The Intercept has learned. While the Pentagon claims its instruction doesn’t lead to mutinies, innovative research by a former Pentagon analyst indicates the opposite could be true.
The Pentagon claims “no correlation” between U.S. training and coups, but research suggests the opposite could be true. [more...]
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