2023-09-25 15:06:03
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France has finally understood that its positions on Niger are irresponsible. Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday that Paris will recall its ambassador and repatriate elements of its Niamey military base. This is all that the current authorities of Niger asked for.
Of course, this decision follows the increasingly difficult conditions imposed not only on the French soldiers there, but also on the ambassador Sylvain Itté. The Nigerien putschists established a severe blockade both on the French base and on the French embassy in Niamey. Emmanuel Macron’s position, attempting to establish a Western-style democracy in Africa, constitutes retrograde paternalism. And Africans are fed up with this attitude which, for 63 years, has contributed to the backwardness of our States.
What happened the day after the coup d’état of July 26, 2023 did not serve as a lesson to Paris. Behind the scenes, we know that the Nigerien army was ready to fight to defend Bazoum the day after the coup. Throwing itself into a clumsy rush, Paris had ordered its men to intervene to free the deposed president. Bazoum himself is said to have requested French assistance for this purpose. This is without taking into account the anger of the army which felt betrayed by its leader, at the moment when it was ready to defend him. The army leaders then turned their backs, disgusted by what they perceived as an unforgivable betrayal. The counter-coup will never happen. The presidential guard managed to rally with it the Nigerien army led until then by relatives of the deposed president. Paris had to learn from the failure of its interventionist policy. He preferred to fall back on ECOWAS to impose the most unfair sanctions on Niger, going so far as to threaten military intervention to impose Mohammed Bazoum. Only Benin is today paying the price for this historic error.
Nigeria does not apply ECOWAS sanctions. The 1500 km of border between Niger and Nigeria are sieves that no customs officer, no soldier or no Nigerian police officer controls. In full view of the police, users travel day and night in both directions on secondary roads. And for a simple reason: there is not a single crossing point like in Malanville and even more so, there is not a natural barrier like the Niger River between the two countries. As a result, the Beninese find themselves alone in bearing the consequences of the decisions of ECOWAS, an institution now seen as a vassal of France.
The French base, soon to be dismantled, could it be redeployed to Benin, its closest anchor point? Nothing is less sure. Paris had sought by all means to install them in Benin, following the Malian debacle. Patrice Talon’s obvious refusal forced Paris to fall back on Niamey. It is very likely that the Head of State will maintain his position, so as not to prove right those who say he is a valet of the Elysée. Under these conditions, Chad is the most likely destination, although the country already hosts a French base, as do Senegal and the Ivory Coast.
In any case, we are witnessing the debacle of France in the Sahel, and debacle is a very weak word to designate this series of setbacks.
The new authorities in Niamey can therefore rub their hands. As I have already said here, military regimes are no more effective than civilian regimes without vision and ideology. Will AbdourahmanTchiani be an exception to the rule? I sincerely hope so, so that Niger regains the stability and prosperity it deserves after so many decades of poverty, instability and insecurity.
As for Patrice Talon, we have to wonder how he will be able to get out of the bad situation in which he got stuck all alone. It is difficult to advise him on diplomatic and geostrategic matters, since he has always believed that diplomats and other specialists in international relations are useless. If the Nigerien crisis has not taught him to surround himself with diplomatic advisors worthy of the name as soon as possible, it is because there is nothing more we can do for him.
By Olivier ALOCHEME
#Editorial #humiliation