Niger

But Russia scumbag mercenaries good. Feck off with this bull, it's their ECOWAS neighbours who are shouting loudest, and seem ready to do something about it, cause they can see where the real problem is.

So you're in favour of the Junta seizing power by force and against the democratically elected government ?

So it will be up to the good blokes if it goes t!ts up and relief is needed or people are trying to escape?

They had a rally the other day in the national stadium and there were plenty of Russian flags on display.

There's no defence for the West's continued exploitation of Africa but you'd be mad to think that Russia are doing it for any altruistic reasons. It also comes as a handy.moment for them to take thr focus off Ukraine.

China are all over the Sahel region. Far more than Russia. All this craic in the Sahel is Chinese backed.

China has been making inroads all over Africa over the last decade, and it's safe to say that there interests aren't humanitarian

Exactly. And they are heavily involved in the Sahel region, that part of the African continent has a plenty of raw materials and minerals, but the major resource the Sahel has is a huge natural ground water aquifer. Aquifers that are non existent underneath China's own land territory.

They're underwriting major infrastructure projects across the continent.

Something the western powers had very little interest in doing, until they realised China were gaining a major strategic foothold in the region which could undermine their geopolitical status as top dogs. Of course China have financial motives, but at least they're giving some respect to a region of the world that has been both deliberately neglected and deliberately plundered by the west.

Keeping Africa poor and dependent on western aid, while pretending you gave a sh!t about development, was a stupid move. It was all based on the assumption that these nations had no other options.

I’m struggling to find support online for ECOWAS from the Nigerien (I think that’s correct) people. Lot of hate for the French.

If a majority of citizens are in favour of this coup, who are we to tell them they’re wrong?

The continuance of Franceafrique is wrong of course but you can't ignore the role that Russia is playing in stoking tensions. This is not a black and white situation.

The mess in Africa goes back to imperial powers drawing arbitrary lines on maps without consideration for inter-ethnic disputes (or perhaps, very much aware of them and using them to quell disruption during colonisation).

The problems in Mali come from the Tuareg in the north wanting separation from the Bambara in the south. Northern Nigeria is Muslim-majority and the South is Christian. The British stitched the two together and threw the Igbo in for good measure. The Biafran war? Boko Haram? Legacies of imperialism, as is the English-Fremch language conflict in Cameroon. Take pretty much any country in Africa and you can find inter-ethnic conflicts that existed before and during colonialism.

These situations need to be resolved internally and foreign powers, whether from the West or Russia and China need to keep out. The problem of globalisation, legacy investments from imperialism and neo-colonialism make it very difficult for that to happen but neither side should be cheered on for intervening.

I see ECOWAS have just approved armed intervention and have deployed troops. That should put pressure on the junta (who've been asking Russian mercenaries for assistance)

That’s true. I’ve just been reading up on Niger. They first become an independent republic in July 1960. July 2023 and this coup has just ended their 7th attempt at being a republic.

I doubt attempt No8 will be their last.

They did decide, they democratically elected Bazoum in 2021.

What i can't understand is how did Burkhino Faso, Chad, Mali and Guinea all have a military coup in the last couple of years and no one said anything ?

What is the difference this time around with Niger ?

I read about them in the news.

The area is called the "coup belt" for a reason. Most people usually aren't bothered to make a thread about them here unless there's some agenda.

Why are Russia there exactly

22 countries of the Arab league backed intervention in Libya. Russia and China enabled it by not vetoing it at the UN. So pretty much the world backed intervention there. Didn't work out great, but then there's the case of Syria, which didn't experience the same intervention and turned into the 7th level of hell. So pick your poison.

When Gbagbo in Ivory Coast didn't leave after he lost power, the French (and some others) intervened militarily, and *holds breath*, somehow that **** worked out.

Prior to an intervention it's impossible to know the outcome, but if it's anything less than good, then it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. And naturally all the campists on the internet will lose their minds if it's any sort of Western intervention, regardless of circumstances, because the West is the cartoon villain in their reductionist narratives.

In this case, international intervention is off the cards and it's been left up the Africans who are organising an intervention force. I would guess they're doing it to call bluff on the junta, we'll see.