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AFRICOM

The Ruthless And Desperate Pursuit Of US Influence And Access Over Africa

On June 25, 2024, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) convened the African Chiefs of Defense (ACHOD) Conference in Botswana. The conference, purportedly to “strategize on counter terrorism, collaborate on crisis response and the importance of civilian and military relations,” has been held annually since 2017. This latest ACHOD was the first to convene in Africa. The earlier conferences were convened primarily in Europe. At this conference, it was revealed that AFRICOM would attempt to use Libya as a new front against Russia. Journalist Habib Lassoued reported that: According to Libyan sources, US officials demanded during the past period that General Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the National Army, limit the alliance ties that bind him to Moscow and expel Russian militants.

Decolonization Movement Is Expanding In Africa’s Sahel Region

The United States announced that it will remove its troops from Niger in September after the government ordered them to leave. Mali and Burkina Faso have done the same. Chad is the most recent country in the Sahel Region of Africa to order the US out. This follows a wave of resistance against French colonization in the region. Clearing the FOG speaks with Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan African News Wire about the growing resistance in the Sahel and the United States. He discusses the unfulfilled promises of the Biden administration and the uncommitted movement in this presidential election.

Imperialist Weaponry And Shifting Alliances In The Sahel

$95 billion in supplemental defense spending aimed at furthering the interests of the United States in various geopolitical regions of the world was recently passed by the legislative branches of the government. These actions speak volumes on the actual priorities of Congress and the administration of President Joe Biden. During the course of the first Biden administration, the Congress failed to pass pieces of legislation which were promised during the 2020 presidential campaign such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, among many others. Inflation remains a serious problem for working and oppressed peoples even though the White House is praising its economic agenda which has left tens of millions locked in poverty and social deprivation.

Chad Moves To Kick Out United States Military

The US is staring at yet another strategic loss in Africa. Chad’s Air Force Chief of Staff has written to Washington’s defense attaché ordering the Pentagon to cease its operations at the Adji Kossei Air Base near the capital, N’Djamena. In another letter addressed to Chad’s armed forces minister, Idriss Amine Ahmed said the presence of US soldiers had not been satisfactorily justified, noting also that the US side had not provided sufficient documents on support for logistics and personnel. Chad has threatened to cancel the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that regulates the operations of roughly 100 US military personnel in the Sahelian country.

Russians Advisors Arrive In Niger; Masses Demand Immediate Withdrawal Of Pentagon Troops

On Saturday April 13, thousands of people gathered in Niamey, the capital of the West African state of Niger, demanding the dismantling of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) operations inside their country. This demonstration represents an ongoing struggle in several former French colonies to end the economic, political, cultural and military ties to the imperialist powers. In addition to the negative influence from Paris, the U.S. has joined their counterparts in France deploying thousands of military personnel under the guise of fighting “Islamic terrorism”. AFRICOM was launched in February 2008 from its base in Stuttgart, Germany.

United States Agrees To Withdraw Troops From Niger

The Biden administration has agreed to a request from Niger’s military-led government to withdraw US troops from the West African nation. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine that the US planned to leave during a meeting on Friday. “We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a [withdrawal] plan,” Campbell said, according to The Washington Post. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out.

Niger: Demonstrators Take The Streets To Protest Foreign Forces

Hundreds of demonstrators took part in a protest against the presence of foreign forces in Niger, including the armed forces of the United States, which has a military base in the north of the country. The demonstrators gathered in the center of the capital city of Niamey, at the call of civil society organizations close to Niger's ruling military junta whose members took part in the demonstration. “We have called for the departure of the Americans and all foreign forces from Niger, and the CNSP (acronym for the organization of the military junta of Niger) has taken our concerns into account, and it is in this context that we have come to support and reaffirm our support for the CNSP

Niger To United States: Pack Up Your Forever War

Dressed in green military fatigues and a blue garrison cap, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to local television last month to criticize the United States and sever the long-standing military partnership between the two countries. “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” he said, insisting that their 12-year-old security pact violated Niger’s constitution.

Why Niger Declared US Military Presence In Its Territory Illegal

Niger declared the US military deployment in its territory “illegal” on Saturday, March 16, after a US delegation allegedly threatened “retaliation” against the largest country in West Africa for its ties with Russia and Iran. Confronted with the prospect of losing three strategically crucial military bases, including one of the world’s largest drone bases in the central Nigerien city of Agadez on which it has spent a quarter billion dollars, the US is yet to give a statement in response. A press conference that was scheduled on Sunday at the US embassy in Niger’s capital Niamey — outside which protesters had gathered on Saturday to denounce American interference — was canceled.

U.S. AFRICOM Airstrikes Feared To Have Killed Two Cuban Doctors

The National Network on Cuba, The Black Alliance for Peace, and Lowcountry Action Committee strongly condemn the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) airstrikes in Somalia reported to have killed 2 Cuban doctors. We demand the U.S. release all information about the bombing to Cuba and the victims’ families. Cuba has deployed more than 600,000 health workers to 165 nations over the last six decades on medical missions. Two Cubans serving in Kenya, Dr. Assel Herrera Correa, a specialist in general medicine, and Dr. Landy Rodriguez Hernandez, a surgeon, were kidnapped there in 2019 and held in Jilib, southern Somalia.

France Reports US Backstabbed It During Nuland’s Trip To Niger

French newspaper Le Figaro cited an unnamed diplomatic source over the weekend who alleged that the US backstabbed France during Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s trip to Niger. The piece is paywalled but was summarized here. France reportedly fears that the US might tacitly recognize Niger’s interim military-led government in exchange for being allowed to retain its bases. Should that happen, then the US would proactively replace France’s security role in the Sahel before Russia/Wagner has a chance to. This concern is predicated on rational calculations.

White House Concerned Over Niger Coup

A new leader has emerged in the uranium-rich West African state of Niger just two days after the elected head-of-state, President Mohamed Bazoum, was toppled by his special forces. On July 26, the presidential guard took over the residence of Bazoum and other key government buildings including the national media. Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane spoke for the newly established National Council for the Safeguard of our Homeland (CNSP), saying that the president had been detained. Abdramane later claimed that the government had been seized by the presidential guard due to declining security and the economic and social conditions prevailing in the former French colony of 25 million people.

Africa Sets The Course For Latin America And Multipolarity

Since the end of the 19th century, European development has been based much more on the plundering of African lands and the buying and selling of its people. In addition, many African men enlisted to fight in the wars of their colonizers: thousands of soldiers from that continent participated in both “world” wars. After this confrontation in the Global North the effect was imminent. An anti-colonial wave swept across Africa, to which France, Britain, Belgium and Portugal, as well as other imperial powers, responded according to their political and economic circumstances.

Tribute To Comrade Chris Che Matlhako

Thank you all for joining us as we pay tribute to Chris Che Matlhako, a comrade and friend. I first met him in 2018 at the First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases, which was held in Dublin, Ireland. I chaired a panel on the US Africa Command, AFRICOM, and Chris was a participant along with Paul Pumphrey and Ann Atambo. It was my first encounter and only in-person encounter with him, but it was very meaningful to me. It played an important role as I learned more and more about internationalism, especially as it pertains to Africa. This is a small portion of Chris’ remarks for that panel, “There are US bases, compounds, port facilities and fuel burners in 34 African countries, including in regional hegemons Kenya, Ethiopia, and Algeria.

Sudan Conflict Provides Rationale For Further Imperialist Militarization

Since April 15 hundreds of thousands of people have been dislocated in the Republic of Sudan, a strategically important state and a member of the African Union (AU). The two military structures which have dominated the body politic for many years have now turned against each other leaving the country in an unprecedented social crisis. Reports from inside Sudan indicate that over 500 people have been killed in the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Thousands of others have been wounded, seriously injured and traumatized as their homes have been damaged along with the loss of jobs, the diminishing healthcare services and the disruption of communities within Khartoum, Omdurman and other areas throughout the vast country.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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