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It should be understood that Niger’s CNSP Military Junta headed by General A. Tiani is supported by Washington.
General A. Tiani who led the coup d’Etat received his military training in the US at the National Defense University’s (NDU). He has close links to the Pentagon.
The Biden administration has casually refused to describe the ouster of President M. Barmou as a “coup d’Etat” or a “regime change”.
Washington has accepted the three year rule proposed by the military Junta.
Visibly there is a clash between the U.S. and France, barely acknowledged by media reports. What is unfolding is the creation of political divisions within West Africa, which could potentially lead to Armed Conflict.
Similarly, the government of Mali which has been invited by Niamey to sent troops to Niger is also aligned with Washington.
The Republic of Mali led by Colonel Assimi Goita –who is also a “friend of America” as well as an instrument of the Pentagon– had already in 2022 set the stage for “Removing France from Africa”.
Michel Chossudovsky, August 28, 2023
See related article:
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, August 27, 2023
According to the Associated Press:
Niger’s junta authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to its defense and asked the French ambassador to leave the country Friday, raising the stakes in a standoff with other West African nations who are threatening force to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president.
The junta leader, Brig. Gen. Abdrahmane Tchiani, signed two executive orders authorizing the “security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” senior junta official Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi said late Thursday, after hosting a delegation from the two countries in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.
Sidi did not provide further details about the military support from the two countries whose military regimes have said any use of force by the West African bloc ECOWAS against Niger’s junta would be treated as an act of war against their own nations.
The Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs said French Ambassador Sylvain Itte was asked to leave Niger within 48 hours in a letter that accused him of ignoring an invitation for a meeting with the ministry.
The letter dated Friday, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, also cited “actions of the French government contrary to the interests of Niger.”
France has consistently acknowledged only the authority of Niger’s elected President Mohamed Bazoum, still detained by the junta. Paris reiterated Friday night that “only legitimate elected Nigerien authorities” have a say about the fate of its ambassador.
The invitation of troops from Mali and Burkina Faso as well as the expulsion of the French ambassador show “a very strong alignment” between the regimes of the two countries and that of Niger “in terms of having a very strong anti-Western and pro-authoritarian orientation,” said Nate Allen, an associate professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
The junta’s agreement with Mali and Burkina Faso was the latest of several actions taken by Niger’s mutinous soldiers to defy sanctions and consolidate a junta they have said would rule for up to three years, further escalating the crisis after last month’s coup in the country of more than 25 million people.
The ECOWAS Commission president, Omar Alieu Touray, said Friday that the bloc’s threat to use force to reinstate Bazoum was “still on the table,” rejecting the junta’s three-year transition plan.
To read complete AP report click here
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