https://twitter.com/J_LuengoCabrera/status/1740072311368425660
Posted on 07/26/2023 4:51:53 AM PDT by AdmSmith
Access to the residence and offices of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was blocked off Wednesday by members of the elite Presidential Guard, a source close to Bazoum said, although the reason was unclear. Access to the residence and offices of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was blocked off Wednesday by members of the elite Presidential Guard.
The landlocked West African state is one of the most unstable nations in the world, experiencing four coups since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous other attempts on power.
The country is struggling with two jihadist campaigns -- one in the southwest, which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving jihadists based in northeastern Nigeria.
Niger’s ruling military has agreed to terms and conditions of a transition back to civilian rule, and will present the plan to a regional bloc, the chief diplomat from mediator Togo announced Thursday.
Speaking on Niger’s national television, Togo Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said he had reached an agreement “on the content and timing of the transition” with Niger’s junta-appointed prime minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and foreign minister Bakary Yaou Sangare.
Someone has offered someone money.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-20-2023
An investigation by Africa-based French-language outlet Jeune Afrique highlights the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to maintain and expand Russia's influence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Sahel while subsuming Wagner Group operations on the continent.[27] Jeune Afrique noted that since the Wagner Group's aborted June 24 armed rebellion and Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s subsequent death in August, operatives of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) have increasingly accompanied Wagner fighters in Mali as part of the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD)’s efforts to take control of former Wagner elements in Mali and other African states. Jeune Afrique cited an anonymous source reportedly close to French intelligence who claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to consolidate control over former Wagner operatives in Mali so as to not “create another Frankenstein's monster” by overly empowering Wagner's independent operations in Africa. The Jeune Afrique investigation also highlighted efforts by the Russian MoD and GRU to assure the leadership of the CAR, where Wagner has historically been particularly active, that the CAR–Russian partnership will continue to operate fruitfully even following Prigozhin’s death. Jeune Afrique additionally emphasized that the Burkinabe junta is trying to expand relations with Russia for “military and security purposes” and that Russia is generally interested in working with the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States, comprised of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. CTP previously assessed that Russia is exploiting shifting power dynamics in Africa by strengthening partnerships with Sahelian juntas.[28] These partnerships allow Russia to evade Western sanctions levied against Russia due to the war in Ukraine and to spoil Western strategic influence on the continent.[29]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-21-2023
% of the population ages 14 and less
1. Niger: 49.5
2. Mali: 46.7
3. Chad: 46.2
4. Angola: 46.1
5. Somalia: 46
6. DR Congo: 45.6
7. Uganda: 45.6
8. Burundi: 45.1
9. Burkina Faso: 44.1
10. Gambia: 43.8
https://twitter.com/SonuMandel1/status/1739213534238794045
Change the name from Mohamed Bazoum to Joe Biden and you got the same right here in the US.
The embassy says it is “no longer able to function normally or fulfil its missions” due to restrictions imposed by Niger's military government. Local embassy staff have also been dismissed, former French ambassador Sylvain Itté said in a letter. This comes as the last French troops have left Niger after being ordered out by the country's military leaders.
France had more than 1,500 troops stationed in Niger to help fight jihadist groups linked to both al-Qaeda and Islamic State. There are concerns that the French withdrawal could worsen the security situation in the region, which is now witnessing increasing attacks by Islamist fighters.
The US, however, retains two military bases in Niger, where more than 600 American troops remain stationed. The US considers its military presence in Niger crucial to countering the growing influence of Russia's Wagner mercenary group in West Africa's Sahel region.
“From now on, we say, whether you're from Mali, Niger or Burkina, we have the same destiny. We're going in together,” said Burkinabe Premier Appolinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela at a joint press conference in Niger's capital Niamey.
In a show of independence from France and ECOWAS, the three countries have sought to forge closer security, political and economic ties through a new union called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The countries have shared few specifics about the new alliance or their plans, but Niger's Premier Ali Lamine Zeine said all future cooperation would be done trilaterally. “We have now decided to hold unified joint commissions for all three countries,” Zeine said at the press conference that was interrupted by loud chants of support.
https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/military-led-sahel-states-rally-thousands-to-support-alliance/
It won't work, how will they decide how taxes should be handled, and how and where investments should be made?
More temperate climate, especially the Northern continent. Not full of nasty muslims, nasty wild natives pagan animist tribes, nasty beasts, snakes malaria and other nasty diseases. North America was comparatively easy to settle!
https://report.az/en/other-countries/niger-pm-to-visit-iran-turkiye-russia-and-serbia/
It takes time to realize that you have made a mistake and before that, more mistakes have to be made.
Regime protection and resource plunder advance the Kremlin's strategic goals of supporting pro-Russian dictators and acquiring natural resources that help mitigate Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.[30] Wagner's most significant contributions in Mali have been to symbolic victories in northern Mali that have shored up regime security and positioned its Wagner fighters near northern Mali's artisanal gold mines.[31] The small mercenary force in Burkina Faso focuses on regime security and training of elite units and does not directly engage in counterinsurgency operations.[32]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/salafi-jihadi-movement-weekly-update-january-19-2024
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) controlled Africa Corps published photos on January 24 claiming to show Africa Corps personnel arriving in Burkina Faso.[33] The Africa Corps claimed that 100 Russian personnel will perform executive protection and conduct counterterrorism operations in Burkina Faso and that another 200 personnel will arrive in the country in the near future.[34] ISW previously reported that the Kremlin is likely attempting to expand Russia's influence in Africa through the Russian MoD and the MoD-controlled Africa Corps and assessed that the Kremlin is likely attempting to expand the Africa Corps’ operations in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali.[35] The Kremlin may also eventually set conditions to expand the Africa Corps’ operations in Chad, given January 24 Russian–Chadian government meetings.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-24-2024
The Russian Officers’ Union for International Security (OUIS) Director Alexander Ivanov told Kremlin newswire TASS that several hundred Russian military personnel in the Central African Republic (CAR) would be “sufficient and effective.”[31] Ivanov claimed that such a Russian military contingent would strengthen Russia's position in CAR and the region and would show that cooperation between CAR and Russia is ”of a strategic long-term nature.” Ivanov labeled previous claims by a CAR presidential advisor that the Russian military base in CAR could accommodate 10,000 personnel “a clear exaggeration.”[32] Russian Ambassador to CAR Alexander Bikantov told Russian outlet RIA Novosti that the creation of a Russian military base in CAR will protect CAR’s national sovereignty.[33] Bikantov stated that the Russian and Central African Republic MoDs are discussing the base's location and have yet to determine the timing of the Russian military contingent's arrival and the number of Russian personnel. The US Treasury Department sanctioned OUIS and Ivanov on January 26, 2023 for acting as a Wagner Group front company operating in CAR, and Ivanov’s statements to Russian state media about future Russian MoD forces in CAR suggest that the Russian MoD has been successful in co-opting some former Wagner Group structures in CAR.[34]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-26-2024
15FEB2024 During a meeting held in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou, the foreign ministers of the three nations reaffirmed their joint commitment to swiftly withdraw from ECOWAS and to continue their collaboration under the auspices of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). They emphasized their determination to advance decisively in implementing the AES and establishing the Tri-State Confederation.
Details regarding the operational mechanisms of the proposed confederation have not yet been disclosed, nor have specifics regarding the extent to which the countries plan to align their political, economic, and security interests. This development comes amid ongoing efforts to combat a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants, which has caused significant destabilization in the subregion.
1MAR2024
Nigeria has restored power supply to the Niger Republic for the first time in seven months.
This comes a few days after the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced the lifting of sanctions on Niger in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
The Americas were not densely populated and many parts of the two continents have a temperate climate suitable for Europeans. Even in the United States, the more temperate Midwest and Northeast had larger populations than the South until the advent of air conditioning.
Chad's prosecutor said on Thursday that an opposition leader was killed while leading an attack on the national security agency in the capital. The attack underscored the tenuous situation in the central African country of Chad ahead of a presidential election scheduled for May 6.
The killed leader, Yaya Dillo, was the current president's cousin and a strong contender in the upcoming election. He headed the Socialist Party Without Borders, which was behind Wednesday ‘s attack at the National State Security Agency.
Wakanda forever. I just can’t understand why the rest of Africa can’t build their Wakanda.
Saturday's announcement came in the week that a delegation from Washington had been in Niamey for talks with the country's military leadership. The US used its base in Niger to monitor regional jihadist activity.
“The US presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people... to be consulted on the installation of a foreign army on its territory,” Niger's military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane said in a damning statement on national television.
He also alleged that the US delegation had accused Niger of making a secret deal to supply uranium to Iran. Col Abdramane described the accusation as “cynical” and “reminiscent of the second Iraq war”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68590531
Niger and surrounding countries will change their decisions after Russia loses the war in Ukraine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.