The Niger Problem and Regional Unity

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

Auguist 19, 2023

Excerpt from soon to be published book, Reflection on Nkrumah.

How much Nkrumah's call for unity back in the 60s is an issue in the present crisis in the Sahel region is a pertinent question.  However, this Niger crisis, in particular, should provide a wake-up call. for unity in the region.

It is first worthwhile to consider how deep an impact the Ghana, Guinea, and Mali union (the UAS) could have had on the menace raging in the Sahel region.

In comparison, it is a matter of common sense to consider the response by ECOWAS to the Niger crisis so far as pitiful.

ECOWAS  has to reexamine its outmoded mission in the West Africa region and start thinking of a unified front to fight the menace in the region. 

 Rather than examining the real issues at hand in the Niger conflict, it is demanding a return of ex-President Mohammed Bazoum to power for the sake of “democracy”.

ECOWAS has threatened war against Niger, which demand has prompted Mali, and Burkina Faso to side with Niger. A war between ECOWAS and these states is a potential that must not be allowed. 

ECOWAS may not want coups, but this coup is different.  The rebels are not necessarily against civilian governance, they are against debilitating circumstances of colonialism that civilian governments have allowed to persist. 

 By calling for “democracy” or war as a response to the military regime in Niger, ECOWAS has adopted an ideological stance that favors the West. 

It seems ECOWAS never learns. This crisis could only benefit the French.

 For years, ECOWAS sought the ECO, as a common currency for the West African region.  The effort ended in a debacle in 2020 because of what the French did. 

But the ECO debacle still left the French in charge of a new ECO and in a more advantageous position to control and exploit huge portions of the West African economy.

The ECOWAS version of the ECO proposed didn’t survive because of French motivation and deceit.  And similarly, so did the UAS of Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, and Modibo Keita of the early post-colonial days.

Just as the French used the Ivory Coast to sabotage ECOWAS on the ECO deal, it used the puppet regimes of  Félix Houphouet-Boigny (the Ivory Coast), and Maurice Yameogo (the Upper Volta now Burkina Faso) to collapse the UAS idea.

 And now, the French are using ECOWAS to kill any hope for a true nationalistic move for Niger to free itself from the tentacles of neo-colonialism. 

France, a weak nation by any military definition, has had an uncanny hold on African countries for decades because of corrupt local regimes.  Except for Conakry Guinea, France controls the economy of all its former colonies,

It demands that most of the bank reserves of its former colonies be deposited in the French treasury, that their armies be trained by France, and that in the event of a war, their allegiance is first with the French. 

These are France imposed demands that run contrary to liberty.  A nationalist government must automatically oppose this by any or all means.  And this is what the Niger soldiers are doing.

They are responding to a state of foreign directed corruption that the civilian government has not.

 A sensible ECOWAS would at least examine the dismal legacy of colonialism in the region.  It would also revisit past treaties signed under the assumption of free trade with foreign countries. 

In the assessment, two truths will emerge, that the West has used the concept of Western “democracy” to defraud politics and to entrench corruption in many countries in the region. 

And that the capitalism (free trade) the West preaches only leads to neo-colonialism.  It is these twin conditions that allow AREVA (Niger’s uranium company) and VALCO (the bauxite smelter in Ghana) to operate with impunity in these two countries.

AREVA, the French uranium mining company, in an underhand manner, never allowed Niger a fair share of royalties from the uranium mines.

 AREVA sucks up the uranium mining profit in the same way that VALCO did to the VRA in Ghana for 30 years after Nkrumah was overthrown. 

ECOWAS has never bothered to confront the French on bothersome economic issues but is ready to wage war against its brothers in Niger on behalf of the French and in the name of “democracy". 

This lack of focus on political awareness - of such economic inequities in the region illustrates the outmoded mission of the ECOWAS venture.

The West loves organizations like ECOWAS and the AU because they are ineffective institutions.  It tolerates them because it has turned them into concessions required to keep neo-colonialism alive on the continent.  Africa is still weak because of these institutions.

It is the neo-colonial exploitation that the soldiers of Niger are fighting, not the concept of real “democracy” which must translate to good governance.  The pattern of Western interference to weaken Africa is there for any African leader, uncorrupted by Western interests, to see.

The French would use a convoluted “democracy” as an excuse to return Mohamed Bazoum to power.  But this “democracy” is an old trick that the West constantly uses.  It is a pattern of colonialism. 

Nkrumah’s Union of African States (UAS) must be recalled.  It now must include Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

ECOWAS, formed in 1975; has not been able to move the needle to advance unity for the region. This menace will keep growing if not stopped.

A simple referendum must be held in all the states mentioned above for the people to decide.  If victorious the UAS must be established. 

 This would mean states in the union would have one executive functioning president and all else must be governors.

This collective, now known as UAS, would be wealthy enough to provide its own security from both internal and external threats and aggressions.  UAS would have one credible military force with divisions spread among the states.  Under such a condition, internal threats of random coups would be minimized.

And the French and the American armies camped in the region, waiting for cinders to flare up into flames, can be kicked out.

Nkrumah didn’t ask for AU or ECOWAS to be a club for the executive presidents and administrators who are hungry for the positions and therefore can be manipulated by the West. 

 He offered the AU and UAS as entities to fight off ills and inequities such as those unfolding in the West African region today.

The problem facing the Sahel region is illustrative of Nkrumah’s foresight.  One country alone would not be to tackle the problem. It would be like arm-wrestling an octopus with a single arm. 

One would need all hands in the region on board to gain, keep the victory, and establish real liberty for the region.  This is a need that must be acted on now.