Little attention has been paid to the possibility that perhaps African countries are fed up with the old apparatus, that of Western-supported wealthy and violent dictators - and supposed 'democrats' - who squander their country's wealth to remain in power.
The post What the Media Is Not Telling Us About West Africa appeared first on MintPress News.
Before a military coup removed Gabon’s hopelessly corrupt President, Ali Bongo, from office, he was courted by Obama and feted from Washington to Davos. The US war on Libya which destabilized the region may not have succeeded without him. When a military junta arrested President Ali Bongo Ondimba on August 30, Gabon became the ninth African nation to depose its government through a military coup. As citizens of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali did before them, crowds of Gabonese poured […]
A veteran South African official detailed meeting with an unprepared and “desperate” Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, begging for local help rolling back the popular coup in Niger. The recent BRICS conference might give Nuland even more to fret about. When US Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, traveled to South Africa on July 29, her reputation as a blunt instrument of Washington’s hegemonic interests preceded her. According to a veteran South African official who attended meetings […]
Leslie Amine (Benin), Swamp, 2022 In 1958, the poet and trade union leader Abdoulaye Mamani of Zinder (Niger) won an election in his home region against Hamani Diori, one of the founders of the Nigerien Progressive Party. This election result posed a problem for French colonial authorities, who wanted Diori to lead the new Niger. […]
Since the overthrow of Niger’s US-friendly government, West African nations of the ECOWAS bloc have threatened an invasion of their neighbor. Before leading the charge for intervention, ECOWAS chair Bola Tinubu spent years laundering millions for heroin dealers in Chicago, and has since been ensnared in numerous corruption scandals. Hours after Niger’s Western-backed leader was detained by the country’s presidential guard on July 28, Nigerian President and chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bola Tinubu leapt […]
Fleet-footed agility and sharp thinking rarely characterise the plodding bureaucrat. An argument can be made that different attributes are prized: cherished incompetence, spells of inattentiveness, and dedication to keeping things secret with severity. What matters is not what you did, but what you pretended to do. Even with maintaining secrecy, the plodding desk-job hack can […]
The cycle of empires It is not as if President Macron and his administration needed a new crisis to add to the turmoil of his second term in power. Unlike Mali or Burkina Faso, where French troops were bluntly asked to leave by military juntas, Mayotte is in effect a full-fledged French department. The reminiscence […]
The economic situation in Mali is now undesirable: food prices have roughly doubled in a year – for example, if in 2022 one of the staple foods, “Tuo Zaafi (Tuo)” (African millet), cost 4,000 CFA francs per kilogram (which is also a lot, about the same as 400 RUB), it is now double that price. […]
Western media fixates on coup supporters waving Russian flags in Burkina Faso’s capital while overlooking the long history of US and French control over the country – and its destabilizing consequences. The landlocked country of Burkina Faso has proven itself to be a valuable diplomatic and intelligence asset in the US domination of the African continent. Over the last ten years, the US-run Africa Command (AFRICOM) has built up the nation’s military capacity to assist US regional operations. On September […]
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | October 15, 2022 The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags; others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent. A few years ago, the discussion regarding the […]
