When, on 26th July, soldiers from the presidential guard deposed and detained Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum, it became part of a concerning narrative about the growing frequency of coups in African countries in recent years. Since 2020, there have been coups in Chad, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sudan and now Niger.
When you peel a little under the surface, you begin to unpack a telling pattern. The first is that all of the listed countries, except Sudan, are “former” French colonies. Except that they are quite “former”. The so-called Francophone countries are routinely among the least developed countries on the African continent, with noticeably lower levels of human capital development when compared with the rest of African countries.
In recent years, social media platforms have increased awareness and growing debate among African youth and pan African intellectuals about the so-called “colonial tax”, which was a “deal” reached by France with “former” colonies, under which most of them have continued to use the CFA currency, even after France itself abandoned it for the Euros. This monetary arrangement effectively gives the French Treasury control of the foreign exchange reserves of “former colonies. As Senegalese development economist, Ndogo Sylla, noted, “the persistence of (this) neo-colonial monetary and financial relationships has favoured neither structural transformation nor regional integration, and has done even less for the economic development of the CFA countries, 9 out of 14 of which are among the Least Developed Countries.”
This neo-colonial arrangement meant that France has, for long, propped up de facto civilian dictatorships under the cover of pseudo democracies that have brought the countries nothing other than poverty and under-development. For decades on end, that is. Paul Biya of Cameroon, to mention one example, has now been “president” for 40 years. To maintain its hold on the continent, France has established military outposts in these countries.
The French approach is outdated and unenlightened, of course. It relies heavily on the assumption that the citizens of these countries, and other interested African countries, will remain perpetually ignorant and uninformed. A silly assumption in an age of social media. It also relies ostensibly on sheer force of might to maintain the status quo, against the current of growing public consciousness across the African continent. Opportunistic coupists are trying to latch onto simmering and growing anti imperialist fervour among Africa’s educated youth. They aren’t the only one, though.
Enter in opportunistic Russia, with its bands of ferocious mercenaries masquerading as anti-imperialist freedom fighters. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was waxing lyrical few days ago when he declared his support for the Nigerien coupists in their fight against “colonisation”. In truth, neither Prigozhin nor Putin is motivated by any lofty vision of emancipation and development of African countries. It is all about the desperate scramble for natural resources. No more, no less.
Africa is not the prospective bride courted by many suitors, noble and true. Rather. It is the bejeweled virgin that is struggling to break free from a gang of rapists and has now been offered help by a ruthless band of robbers hunting for jewels. Whither should she turn?
Nigerian president and other West African leader who met in Abuja must be well aware and wide awake. They will be foolish to launch an all out military intervention in Niger Republic, even as they should take a stand against unconstitutional usurpation of power by the milairy junta. There can be no lasting military solution to the Nigerien problem, like other countries that have witnessed similar coups in recent years. African leaders must look deeper to tackle the root causes of instability with a long term strategy, at the heart of which must be true and full independence of African states
and enthronement of genuine democratic order.
