https://ghostarchive.org/archive/9baOO
France will begin evacuating its nationals from Niger on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after a coup there last week toppled the country’s pro-Western leader.
The decision to move citizens out was prompted by attacks on the French embassy in the capital Niamey, and the closure of Niger’s airspace which made regular departures impossible, the ministry said in a statement.
France had earlier on Tuesday said that it was preparing an evacuation “in the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey” but gave no time frame.
The foreign ministry said France was offering to evacuate other European nationals wanting to leave.
Italy also said on Tuesday it would offer a special flight to repatriate its nationals from Niamey.
“The Italian government has decided to offer our fellow nationals present in Niamey the possibility to leave the city with a special flight for Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tweeted.
The ministry said it was “not an evacuation” but “a special flight for those who want to leave the country”.
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, 63, was detained by his own presidential guard in a third coup in as many years in the Sahel, following putsches in neighbouring fellow former French colonies Mali and Burkina Faso.
Former colonial power France and the United States have between them deployed 2,600 soldiers in Niger to battle jihadists.
On Monday Niger’s junta accused France of seeking to “intervene militarily” to reinstate Bazoum, which French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna denied.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday vowed “immediate and uncompromising” action if French citizens or interests were attacked, after thousands rallied outside the French embassy in Niamey.
Some tried to enter the compound but were dispersed by tear gas.
Colonna said the demonstration had been “organised, not spontaneous, violent, extremely dangerous, with Molotov cocktails, Russian flags appeared, anti-French slogans (that were) an exact copy of what you can hear elsewhere”.
Junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali have warned that any military intervention in Niger to restore the deposed president would be considered a declaration of war against their two countries.
Their warning came a day after West African leaders, supported by their Western partners, threatened to use “force” to reinstate the democratically-elected Bazoum and slapped financial sanctions on the putschists.
In a joint statement on Monday, the governments of Burkina Faso and Mali warned that “any military intervention against Niger would be tantamount to a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali”.
They said the “disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger … could destabilise the entire region”.
The two also said they “refuse to apply” the “illegal, illegitimate and inhumane sanctions against the people and authorities of Niger”.
At an emergency summit on Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that Bazoum be reinstated within a week, failing which it would take “all measures” to restore constitutional order.
“Such measures may include the use of force for this effect,” it said in a statement.
The bloc also slapped financial sanctions on the junta leaders and the country, freezing “all commercial and financial transactions” between member states and Niger, one of the world’s poorest nations, which often ranks last on the UN’s Human Development Index
Pressure to push the perpetrators of the July 26 coup to quickly restore constitutional order is building from Western and African partners in Niger, a country considered essential in the fight against jihadist groups that have ravaged parts of the Sahel region for years.
Russia has called for the swift return of “the rule of law” and “restraint from all parties” in Niger.
Macron has spoken to Bazoum several times as well as to regional leaders, the presidential palace in Paris said.
Bazoum – a Western ally whose election just over two years ago marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence from France in 1960 – was toppled by the elite Presidential Guard.
Guards chief General Abdourahamane Tiani declared himself leader, but his claim has been rejected internationally and ECOWAS has given him a week to hand back power.
Bazoum is one of a dwindling group of elected presidents and pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, where since 2020 a jihadist insurgency has also triggered coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Bazoum’s PNDS party on Monday warned that Niger risked becoming a “dictatorial and totalitarian regime” after a series of arrests.
The country’s oil minister and mining minister were arrested that morning, according to the party. The head of the PNDS’s national executive committee was also arrested.
The PNDS said the junta had previously arrested the interior and transport ministers along with a former defence minister.
The European Union condemned the arrest of ministers from the ousted government and demanded they be freed immediately.
Oh Western support for imperialism is still alive and well, Ukraine has shown that. At the outset of the conflict you had people saying that Ukraine shouldn’t have sought closer ties to the West because it would inevitably piss off Russia; or, that the US/West should negotiate a peace treaty. They brought up how during the Cold War, American imperialists agreed that Ukraine should stay in the Russian sphere of influence.
All of that thinking is just imperialism. If you say country X should not seek certain international ties because it will piss off country Y, you’re defending the idea that X is Y’s possession and it must have Y’s approval to exercise any self determination. They aren’t sovereign if they can’t make their own decisions. Similarly, to advocate for the US to negotiate a peace treaty completely ignores Ukraine and doesn’t even ask what Ukraine wants. If the US brokers peace and Ukraine doesn’t want it, it’s imperialism in the form of daddy US knowing better and doing what’s best. This happened with the Cold War, where the American imperialists didn’t even bother to consider what Ukraine wanted when deciding which sphere of influence it should be in.
The hilarious, depressing part is that a lot of the people who argue these points also call themselves anti imperialist. Anti imperialism is fighting back against a global power who says you’re historically part of their empire and have no distinct culture, not suggesting you make peace with them and give them some of your land. Some people have made the logical fallacy that because the US has done bad and pro imperialist things, anything which the US dislikes must be good and anti imperialist. They don’t recognize that if the US dislikes what Russia’s doing, that doesn’t mean Russia is in the right.
I don’t expect you to fully agree with me, but I hope we at least agree that what I’ve described is also imperialism. It’s a general test to see if someone actually dislikes imperialism or if they just dislike the West and give a pass to non Western imperialism. I sincerely hope you’re the former.
We disagree on the definition of imperialism. You are using this word to mean “of empire”. Whereas I use this word to describe an economic system, the highest stage of capitalism.
I agree that these actions are “of empire”, so we don’t really disagree on most of what you’re saying. I just wouldn’t use the word imperialism for it because of the difference in definitions we have.
Fair enough! And like I said, I’m really glad to hear that. I find that while we disagree often, it makes me consider things from a different perspective, which I really appreciate. Your consistency is the main reason why it’s enjoyable.
Consider also: https://www.hexbear.net/post/281425