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.