A Nigerien wrote to Bazoum: “Mr. President, (…) you are wrong, you have neither the determination of an Ibrahim Traoré, nor the stubbornness of an Assimi Goïta”

2023-05-05 15:30:49

Mr. President, for the security of Niger, please hear the truth: You are wrong, because you have neither the determination of an Ibrahim Traoré, nor the stubbornness of an Assimi Goita. We do not solve a problem with the one who created it.

I won’t hide it from you, my heart is full of bitterness when I realize that between what you say and what you do or let it be, there is a whole gap, what am I saying, a total void.

Since November 2021, you have informed the people of Niger that you have ordered from Turkey drones, combat planes, armored vehicles, helicopters to reinforce the means of war of the Niger army. In March 2022, precisely from March 9 to 13, you personally went to Turkey where you devoted most of your schedule to visiting arms firms. In particular, you visited Tusas, a manufacturer of combat planes and helicopters, Nurol, a manufacturer of armored vehicles, and Roketsan, a producer of laser and infrared guided missiles.

Even recently, during the presentation of the wishes for January 2023, you again declared that 2023 will be the year of the decisive turning point in the war against terrorism with the acquisition of this equipment ordered in Turkey. However, it has been 14 months of interminable waiting. I admit that I am perplexed by those who question me about this curiously prolonged delay in a vital emergency situation for Niger where every hour counts. I am all the more perplexed that I discovered, bewildered, that Turkey has just delivered, precisely on April 26, a batch of drones, in particular Beyraktar TB2s to the Burkinabe armed forces.

I must point out to you that the military equipment of Turkish origin acquired by Burkina Faso is valued at 252 billion CFA francs and it was only on April 14 that the Burkinabè parliament adopted the law authorizing the ratification of the guarantee sovereign for the benefit of International Business Bank of Burkina Faso in return for its bank guarantee within the framework of the contract for the acquisition of defense and security equipment between the Burkinabè government and the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret AS You realize, Barely 12 days were enough for Burkina Faso to complete the purchasing formalities and acquire the expected equipment. 12 days ! And you, you have taken more than a year to hold speeches on the question. To believe, as a friend said, that you are leading your compatriots on a boat.

Mister President”

How can you explain to your compatriots this discrepancy between Burkina Faso’s formidable contraction of time and this eternity that characterizes these Nigerien orders in which, I am sorry to say, I am beginning to no longer believe. Your Prime Minister, who recently engaged in a propaganda exercise on Niger’s financial and economic situation in Paris (France) within the framework of the Africa investors’ forum, has indicated that Niger is showing growth of 11.5% . What’s the point, if not to enrich corruption and develop a criminal economy?

What happened in the case of Niger so that the same Turkish military builders delivered Burkina Faso in less than a month and Niger waited this eternity without being delivered? I know you cannot give the true answer; an answer that I fear is the one I dread. Is it true that it was France who ordered you to give up? Supreme Head of the Armed Forces, I don’t think you can thus comply with a summons from France or any country whatsoever by putting Niger in a situation of military weakness? I dare not believe it because if this is the case, Niger is a mess. I dare not believe it even if we have in our ranks a general like Mohamed Abdou Tarka whom France must decorate for services rendered to the French nation. His speech on April 24, 2023, commemorative day of the feast of harmony in Niger, is a clean rag to set fire to the powder. General Thierry Burkhard, Chief of Staff of the French armies could not have a better speech to denigrate Burkina Faso and Mali.

Mister President”

In a country governed with justice and patriotism, General Abu Tarka deserves delisting in the best of circumstances. In many cases, where the rulers are attached to social tranquility, peace and all that is likely to guarantee the security of their compatriots, Abu Tarka is good for prison. He would be sent to meditate for very long periods behind bars so that his example would serve as a lesson to other mindless people of the genre. I know it, Abou Tarka is not a scatterbrain. He may be an officer who acquired his stripes with great ease where other more valiant officers are downright blocked in their careers, he knows perfectly well what he is playing. If Nigeriens saw in his statement of April 24 a threat to peace between Niger and its two neighbors, he is well aware of it. He acted on purpose for a cause that Nigeriens easily suspect.

How can you condone that an army general speaks in the name of Niger in this way? If you do not punish him as severely as required by the fault committed, you implicitly claim to be the sponsor and/or beneficiary of this irresponsible, provocative and potentially dangerous speech for Niger. Remember, for less than that, your regime did not hesitate to strike General Mahamadou Mounkaïla dit Limbo from the ranks of the Nigerien army in April 2019. Why this “double standard”?

Mister President”

You certainly cannot win the battle against corruption, much less the battle against insecurity and the war on terrorism. You have neither the determination of an Ibrahim Traoré, nor the stubbornness of an Assimi Goïta. You are miles away from the right solution for Niger and you have to admit that you are wrong. We do not solve a problem with the one who created it.

Mallami Boucar

Source : nigerdiaspora.net