African states are one-by-one falling outside the shackles of neocolonialism. They are saying “non” to France’s longtime domination of African financial, political, economic and security affairs.
The ouster of the hopelessly corrupt Ali Bongo represents a particularly sharp rebuke of Obama, who groomed the Gabonese autocrat as one of his closest allies on the continent, writes Max Blumenthal.
Military officers in Gabon on Wednesday overthrew and arrested the country’s president, whose family ruled since 1967. It is the fourth coup in a former French African colony in the past three years as pressure mounts on Paris.
The military government in Niamey has ordered French troops to leave by Sept. 2. With Macron refusing to withdraw and backing possible ECOWAS military intervention, tensions are rising.
Most countries of the Sahel were under French rule for almost a century before they emerged from direct colonialism in 1960, only to slip into neocolonial structures persisting today, writes Vijay Prashad.
Niger faces a “messy” situation rather than a revolutionary situation. Perhaps, certain Bonapartist elements are discernible — for which, of course, there is plenty of blame to go around, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.
Every empire falls and the fantasy of American exceptionalism doesn’t exempt the U.S., writes Wilmer J. Leon, III. Yet the failing hegemon behaves as though it still controls events, but instead creates worldwide danger.
The animosities toward the French abroad among Nigeriens have been widely reported. But history is only part of the story, and not the largest part. Those who led the coup in Niger are facing forward, not backwards.
Rather than send troops in response to the coup, France and the U.S. seem to favor a “Rwanda” type solution applied in Mozambique, writes Vijay Prashad. Only this time ECOWAS would apply force.
The Economic Community of West African States imposes strict, Western-approved economic measures that have spurred a flurry of military insurrections across the region, writes Alan MacLeod.
