The threat of the mighty United States of America, USA, on Tuesday, August 7, 2023 to invade little Niger Republic is not for its love of democracy, Nigeriens or Africans. It is basically in the nature of hawks to circle the sky looking for prey, especially chicks.
There were American and French troops in Niger before the coup because it is in the nature of black vultures, not only to target and kill small live animals, but also to have the patience to wait and devour carcases.
So, the July 26 military coup in Niger Republic is a pretext. The USA Acting Deputy Secretary, Victoria Nuland, in threatening to invade Niger, declared in the usual American arrogant manner: “So we’ll be watching the situation, but we understand our legal responsibilities and I explained those very clearly to the guys (the new Nigerien leaders) who were responsible for this and that it is not our desire to go there, but they may push us to that point, and we asked them to be prudent in that regard and to hear our offer to try to work with them to solve this diplomatically and return to constitutional order.”
When the USA brags it has “legal responsibilities”, I ask: under what law, convention or agreement? Does it intend to engineer another bogus United Nations Resolution under which along with its Western allies, they destroyed Iraq, turning it into a basket case? Does it intend as it did with the birds of prey of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, to invade Niger as it did Libya under Ghadaffi, turning one of the richest and most promising African countries into a another basket case?
The Western actions in Libya were so destructive that it resulted in the free flow of arms and terrorists into West Africa. They so dislocated Libya that, today, a dozen years later, that country remains a failed state with rival governments in Tripoli, Tobruk, Sirte and Benghazi where the Libyan-American ‘Field Marshall’ Khalifa Haftar holds sway.
If the USA were truly opposed to coups, then it won’t be a supporter of the coup plotter in Chad, General Mehmet Deby or his older coup plotter in Egypt, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. No! If the USA were for democracy and against coups, it would not have overthrown democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran in 1953 and imposed a monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, in his place. The Americans would not have overthrown elected Presidents Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 and Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. If the American establishment were for elected leaders, it would not have teamed up with Belgium and the United Kingdom to overthrow newly elected Congo Democratic Republic Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, in January 1961 who they subsequently captured and executed on January 17, 1961.
If in deed the USA were for human rights, freedom or democracy, it would not have been the greatest supporter of apartheid South Africa. It would not have designated African freedom fighters like Walter Sisulu, Oliver Thambo and Joe Slovo as terrorists. It is to the eternal shame of the USA that despite Nelson Mandela spending 27 years in apartheid prison, leading South Africa to freedom and serving as the first democratically elected President of his country, America continued to officially designate him a terrorist!
In fact, it was not until July 2008 President George W. Bush signed a bill into law removing Mandela and other African National Congress, ANC, leaders from the list of persons the USA categorise as people who engage in “terrorist or criminal activities.”
If the USA were opposed to colonialism, it would not continue to colonise Puerto Rico for 125 years now after seizing that country from colonial Spain on October 18, 1898. With America illegally occupying their homeland, Puerto Ricans are not allowed any voting representation in the American Federal Government. As I write, where African Americans, American Indians and migrants can vote in midterm or American presidential elections, Puerto Ricans have no such right.
If the USA were law abiding, it would not, like bandits, have seized by force, Mexican territories, including New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Kansas, Wyoming and Oklahoma. If it were peace loving, it would not have invaded Mexico 10 times and Southern American countries over 70 times! The countries so invaded include Haiti from 1915 to 1934, Guatemala in 1954, Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Dominican Republic in 1965 and Grenada in 1983.
The Americans invaded Nicaragua so many times that I am not sure either side continued counting. This includes the USA occupation of that country from 1912 to 1933 and its 1980 and 1984 invasions. The USA rape of Nicaragua was so routine and criminal that even a private American physician and lawyer called William Walker raised a private army in 1855 to invade Nicaragua. In July 1856, Walker declared himself President of Nicaragua and his illegal regime was recognised by USA under President Franklin Pierce as the legitimate government of Nicaragua! Given the US backing of his terrorist regime, Walker re-introduced slave trade and threatened the re-colonisation of some Central American countries.
The USA did not call its citizen to order; it was a coalition of Latin American countries led by Costa Rica that defeated the Walker mercenaries and forced him to resign as Nicaraguan President on May 1, 1857.
When the Vietnamese defeated the French colonialists in the historic Battle of Dien Bien Phu which raged from March 13 to May 7, 1954, and declared independence, the USA was enraged. It thought it was a bad precedence for a Third World people to roundly defeat a Western power. It was a battle in which the Vietnamese lost over 3,000 men and the French lost over 8,000 men with 10,300 soldiers taken prisoner. The US in March, 1965 invaded Vietnam to reverse the Vietnamese independence and allegedly, to stop the country going socialist.
The USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attack, and was forced into a disgraceful and disorganised withdrawal in August 2021 which the Washington Post of August 10, 2022 headlined, “Two weeks of chaos: A timeline of the US pull out of Afghanistan.”
If the USA claims it is supporting Ukraine because it believes every country should have a right to sovereignty, why does it want to invade Niger; that it has no right to sovereignty?
The USA threat of invading Niger is not in the interest of the African people. An African saying advises that we should first chase away the hawk before reverting to the chick. Let us first protect Niger from vultures before using diplomacy to address the coup question.
Nigeria/Niger Face-Off, Tinubu Walking On Tight Rope, By Sule Lamido
In the last couple of days, two brotherly and sisterly countries were almost on the brink of war neither of which any of them could fathom or justify. The big brother Nigeria has become entangled in a far fetched multilateral moral pretense of regional formation called ECOWAS that it has jettison its fundamental primary responsibility to the constituency (Nigeria) that gave it the legal authority to that membership.
Since the coup deta in Niger some weeks back, President Tinubu has found himself walking on a very tight rope. He has never been exposed to international diplomacy and can fittingly be called a novice in this field. The fact that he is an emperor with total dominance of the most populous and prosperous State of Lagos does not confer on him any wisdom in diplomacy. But he is also the luckiest Nigerian president had he desired to harvest from the wisdom and experience of former Presidents and Heads of State Nigeria is so richly blessed with.
I thought President Tinubu would have from the onset looked into the chemistry of the cocktail called ECOWAS before taking weighty decision on any issue that affects the region and its consequences on his country which he is presidenting! Had he done so, he would have found out what is the history of One of the oldest members the region that is President Alassane Quattara of Ivory Coasta. There was a time when Quattara’s nationality was in dispute, that his ancestoral country was Mali. President Lauren Ghabbo disqualified him from running as president even though he was at one time the prime Minister of Ivory Coast! But today he is the President of Ivory Coast. By a twist of fate there is today a military junta in Mali (his ancestral home) running the country and we have not heard President Quattara asking for a war to be launched on Mali in the name of DEMOCRACY. The saying blood is thicker than readily comes to mind.
Back to Nigeria and the face off with Niger. There is total unanimity in Nigeria that we should not go to war with Niger for the so many many reasons given by all and sundry especially the seven States contiguous to Niger Republic! In any case the Senate mandated by Nigerian Constitution to authorize the President with such power has unambiguously withheld that authority.
The next thing for President Tinibu now is to embark on damage control and repair and this brings him to the time to now harvest from the connection and wisdom of our former Presidents and Heads of State as someone rightly advised over BBC Hausa service. These Leaders are highly respected and trusted not only in our sub region but globally. It true there is no love lost between President Tinubu and some of them, but certainly, on any issue that affects Nigeria no matter how remote, those Leaders will always be there for Nigeria! Time is not on the side of both countries. What we had in last one thousand years has been lost in matter of few weeks. But we have the bond and love for each other to build on. May Allah bless Nigeria and Niger. Ameen.
Lamido is former Nigerian Foreign Minister.