We take a look at the rising disaster in Niger, the place the nation’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown final week by his personal presidential guard. One of many coup’s leaders, Brigadier Basic Moussa Salaou Barmou, was skilled by the U.S., making the Nigerien coup the eleventh in West Africa since 2008 to contain U.S.-trained navy officers. The U.S. has roughly 1,000 troops in Niger, the place it’s additionally spent $100 million constructing a drone base in its ongoing “battle on terror.” The Biden administration has up to now refused to explain final week’s occasion as a coup, as a result of doing so would pressure Washington to chop safety assist to Niger. Whereas the explanations for the coup are nonetheless unclear, it’s a part of a worrying pattern within the area, the place “nations which have outsized involvement of the navy in political life … are way more more likely to have an ongoing sample of navy coups,” in keeping with Stephanie Savell, the co-director of the Prices of Warfare Challenge at Brown College’s Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs.
TRANSCRIPT
It is a rush transcript. Copy is probably not in its last type.
AMY GOODMAN: We start right now’s present trying on the rising disaster in Niger, the place the nation’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown final week by his personal presidential guard. The previous president has been detained since Wednesday. A lot of his high political allies have been arrested.
Over the weekend, ECOWAS, the bloc of 15 West African nations, slapped sanctions on leaders of the coup and threatened to expel them by pressure until they cede energy inside every week. That is ECOWAS President Omar Touray of Gambia.
OMAR TOURAY: Within the occasion the authorities’ calls for usually are not met inside one week, take all measures mandatory to revive constitutional order within the Republic of Niger. Such measures could embody using pressure.
AMY GOODMAN: However three different African nations — Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea — have warned that any navy intervention in Niger could be seen as a declaration of battle in opposition to them, as nicely. The nations additionally warned that navy intervention in Niger may destabilize the complete area, which has confronted a spike in assaults from Islamic militants. A Burkina Faso authorities spokesperson made the announcement Monday.
JEAN EMMANUEL OUÉDRAOGO: [translated] We warn that any navy intervention in opposition to Niger is tantamount to a declaration of battle in opposition to Burkina Faso and Mali. We warn that any navy intervention in opposition to Niger would entail a withdrawal of Burkina Faso and Mali from ECOWAS, in addition to the adoption of self-defense measures in assist of the armed forces and the folks of Niger.
AMY GOODMAN: Niger is a former French colony which gained its independence in 1960. Over the weekend, Niger’s new rulers accused France of plotting to intervene militarily. Niger is a significant provider of uranium to France and the European Union. France is planning to begin evacuating French and European Union residents right now. On Sunday, 1000’s of supporters of the brand new junta tried to storm the French Embassy within the capital Niamey.
Niger has additionally been a detailed ally to the USA. The U.S. has roughly a thousand troops in Niger. Following the coup, the troops have been restricted to a U.S. navy base within the northern metropolis Agadez, the place the U.S. spent over $100 million constructing a drone base. The Biden administration has up to now refused to explain final week’s occasion as a “coup,” as a result of doing so would pressure Washington to chop safety assist to Niger.
The Intercept reported final week that one of many leaders of final week’s coup, Brigadier Basic Moussa Salaou Barmou, who had been skilled by the U.S. navy at Fort Benning in Georgia. In accordance with The Intercept, U.S.-trained navy officers have taken half in 11 coups in West Africa since 2008, together with in Burkina Faso and Mali.
In Moscow the Kremlin has described the state of affairs in Niger as a, quote, “trigger for critical concern.” However the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has reportedly welcomed the coup. Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been quoted saying, “What occurred in Niger is nothing aside from the battle of the folks of Niger with their colonizers,” unquote.
To speak extra concerning the disaster in Niger, we’re joined by Stephanie Savell. She’s co-director of the Prices of Warfare Challenge at Brown College’s Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs. She’s an anthropologist who has researched U.S. militarism in West Africa and past.
Professor Savell, welcome again to Democracy Now! It’s nice to have you ever with us. Are you able to begin off by simply explaining how this coup befell, the involvement of the presidential guard, and so on.?
STEPHANIE SAVELL: Positive, yeah. On July twenty seventh, the members of the presidential guard — so, the President Mohamed Bazoum’s personal guard — detained the president. And the spokesman for what they’re calling the Nationwide Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland — that is the identify of the junta — declared that the Nigerien president was overthrown, on nationwide tv, and that Basic Tchiani, who oversees the presidential guard, declared he was main a transitional authorities.
So, the precise causes for the coup are literally nonetheless unclear. Tchiani, he talked about the necessity to cease the nation’s demise, and he was referring to the same causes for coups in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, as a result of there’s been a lot insecurity, an increase — an enormous rise of Islamist militant terror assaults, as you talked about, and so he was saying that as a result of the nation is type of spiraling into [in]safety, the navy wanted to step in. And so, he was type of the top of this council, and a bunch of senior navy leaders stepped in to assist him.
What’s complicated a little bit bit about his declare is that this area is a type of hub for terror assaults. There have been over 1,800 within the first six months of the 12 months, however solely 77 deaths occurred in Niger, versus out of about 4,600 in whole within the area of Burkina Faso and Mali. So, Niger has actually managed to maintain numerous the assaults and the insecurity and the battle to its border areas. It’s been identified to be a type of bastion of stability and resilience in a area that’s simply been spiraling into chaos. So, it’s a perplexing declare on the a part of Basic Tchiani.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And will you discuss to us about this rising presence of not solely U.S. forces, but in addition different European troops within the nation? Most People usually are not conscious of this rising U.S. navy presence in Africa.
STEPHANIE SAVELL: By no means. I used to be there in January, really, and, you understand, it was simply stunning to me after I was within the airport what number of foreigners I used to be seeing shifting in and in another country, which is, you understand, a primary for me in a few years in West Africa. So, over a thousand U.S. service personnel are in Niger, however a lot of different nations are additionally there: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium — Canada at occasions has supplied help.
And numerous these Western powers actually see — noticed Niger as, you understand, this type of steady democracy and had been pouring safety help — that’s, funding for navy and police efforts, coaching efforts, numerous weapons gross sales, as nicely, from the U.S. and elsewhere. So, they’re pouring all this safety help to type of bolster this so-called democracy.
And, you understand, I went to Agadez to see the U.S. set up, the air base there. So, it was $100 million the U.S. spent on constructing this air base. It prices about $30 million a 12 months to take care of. And it’s a huge, refined set up within the Sahara Desert. And the drones there, the U.S. drones, are getting used within the U.S. counterterror operations, what we name the post-9/11 wars, within the surrounding desert space. So, right here, it’s strategically situated in the midst of Algeria, Libya, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Chad, that entire belt the place we’ve seen this type of rising unrest. The U.S. is true there conducting these, you understand, actual operations. The U.S. can be situated at a few different bases in Niger in numerous elements of the nation with particular operations forces, trainers that go out and in. So there’s way more folks, really, than these official 1,000 troops. There’s a lot of folks going out and in who’re on quick stays, and people don’t even depend in the direction of the totals.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And also you talked about the coups, current coups in Burkina Faso and Mali, however these had been performed, from what we perceive, by folks skilled initially by the USA, officers skilled by the USA. What do we all know concerning the coup leaders in what is going on right here?
STEPHANIE SAVELL: So, we do know that no less than one of many coup leaders, Basic Barmou, has — perhaps not a normal, however a colonel, he’s — don’t quote me on that. So, he was positively skilled by the U.S. navy. I imply, I feel we will take a look at this at a person stage. There are definitely arguments to be made that, you understand, U.S. coaching type of empowers sure navy leaders. However I feel we additionally want to have a look at this as a structural difficulty.
So, what occurs when the U.S. and different Western powers pour a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} into the safety help sector — that is mainly cash for the navy and the gendarmes, the police, that additionally combat the insurgency — is that the navy is de facto boosted on the expense of different authorities establishments. A current UNDP examine confirmed that nations which have outsized involvement of the navy in political life and a really politicized navy and an extended historical past of navy management in authorities, which Niger and numerous these nations do, they’re way more more likely to have an ongoing sample of navy coups. So there’s numerous components at stake that make a coup extra doubtless, however definitely the U.S. pouring all of this cash and this type of outsize reliance on the navy as a instrument for assist to those nations is a contributing issue.
AMY GOODMAN: I wished to simply return to that, who he’s, The Intercept reporting that simply final month coup chief and, as you stated, Brigadier Basic Moussa Salaou Barmou —
STEPHANIE SAVELL: Thanks. Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: — met with the top of U.S. Military Particular Operations Command, Lieutenant Basic Jonathan Braga, on the U.S. drone base in Niger. Additionally, Secretary of State Blinken was there. So, should you may discuss concerning the significance of this? And in addition speak about uranium. After I noticed all of this occurring, I assumed again to Joe Wilson’s piece, the previous State Division ambassador to Gabon, who in 2003, a couple of months after President George W. Bush invaded Iraq, wrote that well-known New York Instances op-ed, asking, “Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons applications to justify an invasion of Iraq?” The piece was headlined “What I Didn’t Discover in Africa,” and he’s speaking about uranium in Niger. So, should you can handle all of these issues?
STEPHANIE SAVELL: That’s proper. Uranium is a giant — so, Niger is the sixth- or seventh-largest uranium producer on the earth. That is definitely a dynamic of the battle. You already know, after I visited, I visited AFRICOM final 12 months. It’s the top of U.S. navy Africa Command. And there’s a lot of discuss of, you understand, not simply the uranium in Niger, however all of this area’s assets, pure assets, as a result of there are lots of different varieties of mining happening on this space. It’s very wealthy when it comes to a few of these, the assets that go into numerous the — you understand, numerous vital — cellphones and other forms of issues like that. So, there’s a chat of the necessity to present stability and steady governance on this space due to all these pure assets. And I feel that’s one of many the reason why we’re seeing such a giant outcry in opposition to this coup in Niger at this explicit second, as a result of there may be discuss of sanctions in opposition to Russian uranium, and so, you understand, this uranium has really change into a very vital world supply. In order that’s one reply to your query.
The opposite, about Basic Barmou, so, he, you understand, as you stated, has a really, very shut relationship with the USA. He has been skilled by the USA over time, works intently with all the particular operations forces which are happening in Niger. And the U.S. is definitely — in 2017, there was a particular operations maneuver in Niger by which the U.S. had 4 servicemembers who had been killed. Some viewers could do not forget that. And on the time, within the U.S., folks had been saying, “Nicely, what are U.S. servicemembers doing in Niger?” They usually had been main a raid on the compound of an Islamist militant chief, and these had been particular operations forces who had been working in shut partnership with Barmou and the Nigerien particular forces. So, this has been an ongoing relationship.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wished to ask you — over the weekend, a bloc of 15 West African nations not solely slapped sanctions on the leaders of the coup, but in addition threatened to intervene militarily. I’m questioning your sense of what the potential is for this inner battle to change into a broader battle in West Africa.
STEPHANIE SAVELL: Truthfully, it’s very worrisome. It’s the primary time that ECOWAS, this bloc, has threatened navy pressure in opposition to a coup within the area. So, when the coups in Burkina Faso and Mali occurred previously few years, ECOWAS enacted sanctions and other forms of closing the borders and that type of factor, however they didn’t threaten navy pressure. And so, now with ECOWAS threatening navy pressure to reinstate President Bazoum, after which Burkina Faso and Mali, which, bear in mind, have these military-led governments, and so, mainly, what they’re saying is, “In solidarity with the brand new military-led authorities in Niger, we’re going to step in and retaliate, if — you understand, if these different ECOWAS nations invade Niger.” So, it’s an actual risk, and it’s fairly worrisome.
I imply, I feel one of the crucial vital issues to remember is that that is an extremely impoverished area. 4-point-three million folks in Niger alone are in want of humanitarian help. Local weather change has been an enormous think about impoverishing folks and stopping them from pursuing conventional livelihood pursuits like, you understand, nomadism and herding and farming. The land has change into more and more arid. So there’s numerous dynamics at play within the causes that the battle is going on. And, you understand, it’s simply horrifying to assume that this might devolve right into a broader battle between nations.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking about this broader battle at a worldwide scale, Stephanie Savell, as we stated, in Moscow, the Kremlin says the state of affairs in Niger is a “trigger for critical concern.” Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has been quoted saying, “What occurred in Niger is nothing greater than the battle of the folks of Niger with their colonizers.” This weekend, main protests supporting the coup, folks shouting “Putin! Putin!” placing down France and the USA. What about this as a type of proxy battle?
STEPHANIE SAVELL: Yeah. I hate to — I hate to have us see it that approach. I feel the media, within the U.S. particularly, is fast to border it as, you understand, a type of a brand new Chilly Warfare-type state of affairs. What I can say is that, you understand, the Wagner Group is taking part in on anti-colonial sentiment, that’s for certain. And so, you understand, what I noticed after I went to the area is it is a area type of roiling with the aftermath of colonialism. There’s a ton of anti-colonial sentiment directed on the French. And, you understand, it is a era, a younger era, that’s coming to phrases with that historic legacy and all the injustice. You already know, there’s a lot type of political and ethnic tensions and rivalries which are type of a ripple impact of the colonial period, so numerous the type of private grudges and combating that we see between the political elite are a reverberation of colonial occasions. And so, persons are simply type of grappling with that legacy. Lots of people are simply, truthfully, livid at this. And, you understand, that’s a giant a part of what’s happening. So, there’s an actual sense, a type of widespread sentiment of, you understand, the French should type of go away us alone at any price.
And I feel folks popularly see Russia instead, a type of massive energy various that may present a attainable assist and ally. However I don’t assume that there’s numerous motion behind that sentiment, proper? The Wagner Group has been fairly restricted in this type of Burkina Faso-Mali-Niger area of the Sahel that I’m speaking about. It’s actually been Mali that’s labored most intently with the Wagner Group, which has been implicated in human rights abuses and mass killings in Mali within the identify of counterterrorism. So there may be that. However up to now, in Burkina Faso, it’s simply type of a rumor that they could be working with the Wagner Group. In Niger, you understand, folks had been telling me, completely not, they haven’t labored with the Wagner Group in any respect. And definitely the Wagner Group could possibly present some mercenaries on the bottom, however they’re not going to be offering the type of a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in navy help that the West was offering. So I feel it’s not fairly correct to see it as both/or. And definitely native governments aren’t seeing it as a state of affairs by which they’ll ally with both the U.S. and its allies or Russia and its allies. They’re seeing — you understand, folks have stated to me, like, “We’re going to make use of no matter help is obtainable to us. We’re going to take some weapons from China and a few navy help from the U.S. and a few one thing else. No matter every nation is greatest at providing, you understand, we’ll reap the benefits of that.”
AMY GOODMAN: Nicely, Stephanie Savell, we need to thanks for being with us, co-director of the Prices of Warfare Challenge at Brown College’s Watson Institute for Worldwide and Public Affairs, anthropologist who’s researched U.S. militarism in West Africa and past.
Once we come again, we bear in mind Juan Ramos, the founding father of the Philadelphia chapter of the Younger Lords. And we’ll take a look at the life and legacy of the groundbreaking Irish singer and political activist Sinéad O’Connor. Stick with us.
