The French president’s comments came as western powers scrambled to preserve a key ally in a region that has been destabilised by jihadist insurgencies, coups, and interventions by the Wagner mercenary group as Russian flags appeared at prominent sites around Niger’s capital, Niamey.
Macron, who was visiting Papua New Guinea, called for the release of the detained president, Mohamed Bazoum, and said: “This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region.”
Am not sure about the best way to cover this extreme chaos that’s going on, so I’ll just summarise some points here ( most articles cover only one bit of the complete picture):
-Macron and the EU have a diplomatic interest ( see main article),
-Russia has a completely different take and stake in Niger, eg. Wagner mercenaries, mineral deposits in Niger etc.
-Some (Niger& Mali,Nigerian) Islamistic extremist are gaining ground;
-The African Union are worried about the stability surrounding the Sahel region, foodprices and distribution networks.
-Finally the USA has some vested interest as per Link Reuters
-WHY IS NIGER IMPORTANT TO THE UNITED STATES? The country[ i.e… Niger], located in the semi-arid Sahel region, plays an outsized role in the United States’ Africa strategy. Most importantly, it is a key partner for Washington’s fight against Islamist insurgents who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more. U.S. military personnel have been training local forces to fight militant groups.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. ( Ed.)
Niger is the key suppliers of Uranium to France, also to lesser extent for US. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orano_Cycle
Canadians companies also have controlling stake in Niger Gold mine.
Niger is also a de-facto colony of France via the CFA Franc regime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFA_franc
France uses CFA franc scheme to extract value in neo colonial fashion from West and Central African states, mainly by requiring central banks deposits to be held in France and no interest on them paid to African states.
So let’s no pretend like French interest is “diplomacy” OR that US is “fighting Islamism” that is really a white washed take IMHO
This, “diplomatic interest” gave me a chuckle. That’s a… diplomatic way of putting it!
It is, isn’t,)
Let’s say it’s become more important for several economic, geopolitical & migratory reasons.
I believe that is true for all involved parties. Though generally the EU tries to respect human rights and environment.
Some min. 150 billion euro is being invested, according to the joint vision .
Interesting, iMHO, how you reduce such a complex reality into de facto only two culprits, and negate all other issues.
Fyi, the very definition of “diplomacy” entails quite alot and is internationally accredited. The same can’t be said of the coup and of terrorist activities and groups
I did not negate anything, I supplemented your original comment with details that you glossed over presumably because of bad optics for France/EU/West/US team.
While don’t harbor any affinity for Russian backed proxies or Russia for that matter, however, in great power play context there is no good guys and surely France aint it, either.
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Who do you think you’re fooling with this shit? How stupid do you think people are here?