Also note that Bazoum is from Niger's Ouled Slimane, which is an ethnic minority in Niger.
Tchiani is from the Hausa, which is one of the main ethnic groups. If Bazoum's given the death penalty... likely things won't look good.
Cringe but free
All of the Sahel countries are varying degrees of awful to their Amazigh and Fulbe populace. Especially as the latter are seen as closely linked to JNIM and other Islamist militant groups (which the regional governments haven't exactly been doing great against).
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
In relation to the coups in WA, The Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions announced that they kicked out Ali Bongo in Gabon after the 2023 elections. Most people have said that there were irregularities.
Unlike the 2019 coup, the Republican Guard was heavily involved.
Like DJ Khaled says, another one.
Edited by Ominae on Aug 30th 2023 at 9:57:23 AM
There’s a bunch of Russian officers who went to Burkina Faso to meet with military leaders there.
Among the things discussed include pilot training in Russia.
Seems like doing Wagner in just cuts out the middleman.
Article mentions that "punishing" the Rogue Soldiers behind coups are harder to do via sanctions or blockades, since they always hit the civilians. Targeted sanctions on their immediate families is better, but it needs to be more than that otherwise those Rogue Soldiers will blame ECOWAS or foreign forces.
Paywalled sadly, but someone summarized it for me in another forum.
NBC news article (by last month) when American officials didn't see the head of the coup in Niger being against it. They assumed it to be the case since he got military training in the US.
And it also mentions the frustrations of the locals in the Sahel to easily deal with jihadis that most are willing to give military strongmen a try, a turn around compared to the 1990s when these guys were removed from power.
Edited by Ominae on Sep 13th 2023 at 8:51:21 AM
France will end its military presence in Niger by the end of 2023, Macron says
Summary:
1. Macron's reasons for withdrawing French troops is "[Niger] not wanting to fight terrorism anymore".
2. The withdrawal will involve working with the junta government.
Edited by HallowHawk on Sep 24th 2023 at 3:44:15 AM
Not that surprising. I’m not even sure what the purpose of the French presence in the region even was post-2013; there was never a clear end goal.
Not surprising that the pro-Islamist groups are taking advantage of that void.
Wagner’s African Hosts Regret Letting Them In - Libyans, among others, are sick of the Russian mercenaries. Concerns being their tendency to commit war crimes and other skulduggery.
So they're surprised that the mercenaries they hired are acting like mercenaries?
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
Faces, meet face-eating leopards.
Blinken met with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members and supported calls for President Mohamed Bazoum, his family and any anti-junta opponents to be released.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Everyknow now and then maquiavelo is proving right about mercenaries
Not that their homegrown forces of similar function are any better - see Rapid Support Forces, for example.
Video Shows Wagner Transport Plane Explode Upon Landing in Africa
The fate of those onboard is not known, but there has been speculation that they included members of the Wagner Group, which has a presence in Mali. Telegram channel V Ch K-OGPU, which claims to have links to Russia's security services, posted that "according to preliminary data, there could be mercenaries from PMC Wagner on board."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66945023
Burkinabe military/intelligence supposedly foiled a coup. And the junta's trying to get more people to sign up to join the army.
Interesting that the Azawad support Ukrainian right to self-defense.
Considering that Mali has Wagner fighters...
Cringe but free
Bloomberg: Nigeria Unplugs From Dirty Generators in Sudden Solar Gamble. So, the end of the country's fuel subsidy earlier this year turned out so disruptive not only because of its impact on transport, but also because of its reliance on off-grid electricity. Around 70% of the households in Lagos aren't connected to the power grid, instead relying on petrol and diesel generators of various sizes – and many buildings that are connected still fall back on generators in the case of blackouts.
The end of the subsidy has tripled fuel prices and forced people to cut back on travel and power use – somewhat ironically for a major oil-producing country (albeit one that lacks refining capacity). So Nigerian engineers and entrepreneurs are now racing to fill in the gap by building an industry of portable solar power stations, which have struggled to compete with petrol and fuel generators in the past.
Financing is still a big issue: solar power stations capable of powering entire households still aren't cheap, and past influxes of low-quality solar products have left many customers burned on the switch to solar. One model that Nigerian solar businesses are exploring is to lease out solar power stations to users who would buy "power bundles" the way they'd buy data package for mobile phones, rather than offering monthly subscriptions or fixed lease-to-own payments.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
With regards to French troops/diplomatic staff leaving Niger...
https://nitter.net/Mathieu_Droin/status/1687578437232316416
Mathieu Droin, CSIS visiting fellow has a long thread on why France wanted to maintain relations with Niger prior to the coup aside from uranium; he spoke of Niger beign a strategic country to take on African-based jihadis.
https://nitter.net/jh_barnett/status/1686766980542369792
James Barnett of the Hudson Institute has a long thread on why ECOWAS wants to reverse the coup gains in Niger. He does mention at the start that the coups are a security threat for countries in WA that did have coups before.
The BBC made a 3 part documentary on the late Nigerian cult leader TB Joshua
Word of advice to not look at the comments
Edited by Mami on Jan 9th 2024 at 9:15:54 PM
I absolutely cannot help but adore handsome 2D boys
Updating this thread with this: Niger revokes military accord with US, junta spokesperson says
Quoting relevant passages only:
Niger's ruling junta has revoked with immediate effect a military accord that allows military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil, junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said on Saturday.
The decision follows a visit by U.S. officials this week which was led by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and included General Michael Langley, commander of the U.S. Africa Command.
Abdramane, speaking on television in the West African nation, said the U.S. delegation did not follow diplomatic protocol, and that Niger was not informed about the composition of the delegation, the date of its arrival or the agenda.
[...]
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition anonymity, said senior U.S. officials had "frank discussions" in Niamey earlier this week about the trajectory of Niger's ruling military council - known as the CNSP.
"We are in touch with the CNSP and will provide further updates as warranted," the official added.
I've been hearing things that Niger's allowing Iran to get their uranium...
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1770572944349024417
Ghanaians recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine.
Edited by Ominae on Mar 20th 2024 at 8:31:54 AM
He was the commander of the presidential guard, compared to Burkina Faso coup leaders, say, he was fairly prominent.
Edited by Smeagol17 on Aug 15th 2023 at 10:53:47 PM