We can say that reason prevailed on the side of Niamey after the exchange of arms between the authorities of the two countries. During his speech at the 77 do General Assembly of the United Nations, the former acting Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga described the President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum as a foreigner who claims to be from Niger, followed by invectives of rare verbal violence. That time has since passed. President Bazoum knows better than anyone that his opinion is on the alert with the massive presence of Western military contingents led by France. Despite this presence, the Nigerien army is struggling to contain the terrorist attacks which continue to mourn both the civilian populations and the government forces. It is for this reason that he had no choice but to speak with the leaders of Mali, who can claim to have brought to their knees several terrorist groups that had made the country a sanctuary of destabilization. Knowing well that it is never too late to do the right thing, President Bazoum dispatched to Bamako his Chief of Staff, Major General Salifou Mody, bearing a message of friendship and collaboration to track down the last terrorists who, it must be remembered, roam the area of the three borders commonly called the Liptako Gourma. General Salifou Mody is not cursed to the point of not ignoring the reality on the ground, he knows very well that the eradication of terrorism can only be done if Mali, which has the largest air fleet in the region of Sahel agrees to support the Nigerien armed forces. The “soldier” Bazoum knows that his opinion is beginning to question the effectiveness of the Nigerien special forces of the “Almahaou” operation. Ten soldiers from this rapid reaction force lost their lives on February 10, 2023 in the immense and unstable region of Tillabéry in the so-called three-border area with Mali on the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. The ambush was set in the department of Banibangou. Worse, there are “16 missing and 13 wounded soldiers. This bad news also comes at a bad time. Indeed, a Nigerien parliamentarian by the name of Hamidou Omar Tchiana revealed that out of the 1,000 billion CFA francs that the government of Niger released, 76 billion CFA francs disappeared into nature, which explains the extent of corruption in the country. . Anything that has contributed to undermining President Bazoum’s popularity rating. The combination of military setbacks, the presence without result of several European contingents and the corruption scandals in connection with the purchase of military equipment have finished discrediting the power in place which needs a virginity to reassure the bruised people of Niger . It is for all the reasons that Bazoum wants to align itself with Bamako which, despite the departure of Operation Barkhane and the European force Takuba, manages not only to contain the attacks of the jihadists and even to force them to beat a retreat, leaving behind corpses and military equipment. This renewed confidence had an international impact. For the average Nigerien, increased military cooperation with Mali is more reassuring. It is this message that the Chief of Staff of the Nigerien armies came to transmit to the authorities of the Malian transition. During the interview he gave to our colleagues from public television ORTM, General Mody said that he was the bearer of a message from President Mohamed Bazoum to the President of the Transition Head of State of Mali Colonel Assimi Goita whose goal is to pool efforts to fight together against terrorism which severely affects stability in the region. In response to the request from the Nigerien authorities, the Malian authorities have made it known that Mali has never turned its back when it comes to leading a common fight against the asymmetric war imposed by the armed terrorist groups (GAT). If at one point Bamako was annoyed by Niger’s attitude, it was the fault of the power of Niamey who wanted to please the metropolis by trying to isolate Mali by all means. The purpose of this isolation has won the good graces of the international community which, let us recall, is drawn by the Western chancelleries, among them France, which keeps in mind the conditions imposed by Mali in relation to the choice of its strategic partners in respect of its sovereignty. This courageous decision was not to the liking of Paris, which fears that after the Central African Republic, Mali will drain the French-speaking countries of West Africa, which will greatly affect the interests of France. In Bamako some doubt the sincerity of Niger vis-à-vis Mali. For these nationalists after the trip to Bamako, General Salifou Mody met the Chief of General Staff of the French armies. What leaked out of these discussions no one knows yet. Beyond Mali, some pan-Africanists have drawn the attention of the Malian authorities to possible military cooperation with Niger without prior guarantees. They were reinforced in this logic by the recent visit of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United States of America to Niger Antony Blinken. It is safe to say that Niger has become the West’s new “Afghanistan” in Africa. The reason several Western forces are stationed there, the German contingent of the Bundeswehr, the American special forces whose presence was revealed following the attack on Tongo Tongo which cost the lives of four GIs (American soldiers) not to mention the forces Italian. We know that Westerners do nothing for nothing. For them, the urgency is to contain the hordes of migrants trying to reach Europe in the midst of a crisis via the Mediterranean coast and then prevent the risk of attacks on European soil. Indeed on November 13, 2015 in the evening France will be hit by a series of attacks that will mark the spirits. A first attack took place in Saint-Denis, near the Stade de France, where a friendly France-Germany football match was played, attended by the President of the French Republic François Hollande. The vigilance of the police made it possible to avoid the worst. Other attacks will be perpetrated in several streets of the 10 e and 11 arrondissements of Paris. The carnage will end in the theater of the Bataclan in total there are 130 dead and 413 injured. It was the deadliest attack on European soil after the attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people. Faced with the gravity of the situation, the government decreed a state of emergency, which had not happened since the failed putsch of 1958 in Algiers. This action by Daesh was condemned by the Western world and reprisals followed with French air strikes against Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq. Nigeriens have understood that this presence is associated with interests in the fight against migrants, uranium exploited by ORANO ex AREVA, oil. It can be said that Niger is facing a traffic jam of Western forces with the recent arrival of the Saber contingent driven out by Burkina Faso. Yet Colonel Gaddafi had warned my blood will flow to Europe.
Badou S. There are no translations available