Skip to content

Coups

Niger Is The Latest West African Nation To Rise Up Against Neocolonialism

At the end of July, the Presidential Guard of Niger, backed by the military, unseated the current president, Mohamed Bazoum, in a coup supported by the people. In response, the United States and France, with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), began planning a military intervention to return Bazoum to power. West African nations, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, quickly declared solidarity with the new government, a move that could turn a military intervention into a greater regional conflict. To understand what is happening in Niger and how it fits into the bigger picture of the rejection of neo-colonialism and US hegemony, Clearing the FOG speaks with Abayomi Azikiwe, the editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

Who Will Control Africa — And To Whose Benefit?

On this episode of Journalists for Sale, we tackle West Africa and the recent coverage it has been drawing due to the military junta taking power in the country of Niger. Niger joins the so called “Coup belt” in Africa, where countries like Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali have all experienced military coup takeovers in the last few years. We are joined by David Hundeyin, a Nigerian journalist and filmmaker whose name has been in the news lately for his reporting on the corrupt Nigerian politician and now president of the country Bola Ahmed Tinubu. David helps us understand the anti-imperialist sentiment spreading around the region as well as the roles of countries like Russia and China in trying to present an alternative economic and security alliance as opposed to ECOWAS and the West.

70 Years After Iranian Coup, The British Still Won’t Confess To Crimes

On Aug. 19, 1953, 70 years ago this week, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh—who had seized Iran’s vast oil fields from the British and put them under Iranian control—was removed from power in a coup organized and financed by the British and US governments. He was replaced by the dictatorial Shah, who immediately signed over 40% of Iran’s oil fields to US companies. The coup ushered in a long nightmare of repression, buttressed by Iran’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, trained and equipped by the CIA. The Shah not only crushed the democratic aspirations of Iranians, but enriched US oil companies and purchased billions of dollars of weapons from US weapons manufacturers.

Peruvian De Facto Minister Of Defense Travels To Washington, DC

As the political crisis in Perú deepens eight months after the parliamentary coup that ousted Pedro Castillo and threw the South American country into the bloodiest period it has seen in decades, the US militarization of the country intensifies. From August 7-12th, de facto Peruvian Defense Minister Jorge Chávez traveled to Washington DC to “update bilateral military agreements” between the two nations. He met with various officials in the Defense Department, including the US Undersecretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Daniel P. Erikson, the head of the National Guard, General Dan Hokanson; and the Director of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, Paul J. Angelo, and the Inter-American Defense College .

African Union Will Not Back ECOWAS Intervention In Niger

The African Union (AU) said on Wednesday, August 16, that it will not support the military intervention that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning, with the backing of France and the US, to restore ousted Mohamed Bazoum to Niger’s presidency. Bazoum was deposed in a popularly-welcomed coup on July 26. 10 days after the expiry of the deadline given by ECOWAS to Niger’s military government to restore Bazoum, the sub-regional bloc is beset by internal disagreements and domestic opposition in its member states. After the ECOWAS heads of states ordered on August 10 “the deployment of the ECOWAS Standby Force” and directed “the Chiefs of Defense Staffs to immediately activate” it, the chiefs were scheduled to meet on August 12 to set the wheels in motion.

Niger And The ‘New World Order’

How shall we understand the July 26th coup in Niger, in which military officers ousted Mohamed Bazoum, the nation’s Western-tilted president? It is the sixth putsch of this kind in or next to the Sahel in the past four years. Shall we write off this band across sub–Saharan Africa as coup country and trouble no more about it? The thought is implicit in a lot of the media coverage, but how often do our media dedicate themselves to enhancing our understanding of global events and how often to cultivating our ignorance of them? Do not take this latest development in Africa as an isolated event, if I may offer a suggestion. Its significance lies in the larger context in which it has occurred—its global surround, so to say.

Niger Junta To Prosecute President Bazoum For High Treason

On Sunday, the perpetrators of the coup in Niger against President Mohamed Bazoum announced their intention to prosecute the ousted leader for high treason and undermining the country's security, in a statement read on national television. "So far, the government of Niger has gathered... evidence to prosecute the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices before the competent national and international bodies for high treason and undermining Niger's internal and external security," said Major Colonel Amadou Abdramane. Hours earlier, the head of a religious delegation of mediators indicated that the leader of the military junta is ready to consider a diplomatic solution to the country's standoff with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc.

Niger Rejects Rules-Based Order

The coup in the West African state of Niger on July 26 and the Russia-Africa Summit the next day in St. Petersburg are playing out in the backdrop of multipolarity in the world order. Seemingly independent events, they capture nonetheless the zeitgeist of our transformative era. First, the big picture — the Africa summit hosted by Russia on July 27-28 poses a big challenge to the West, which instinctively sought to downplay the event after having failed to lobby against sovereign African nations meeting the Russian leadership. Forty-nine African countries sent their delegations to St. Petersburg, with 17 heads of states traveling in person to Russia to discuss political, humanitarian and economic issues.

United States Behind Imran Khan’s Ousting

American writer and political commentator Daniel Patrick Welch says there was never any serious doubt that the United States was behind the toppling of the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Pakistan in April 2022. He added the United States will stop at nothing to maintain its global hegemony, as actions in other theaters show. Welch made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Press TV website on Thursday, August 10, a day after The Intercept published a classified document, revealing Washington pushed for the removal of Khan from office over his neutrality on the Ukraine war.

Causes And Consequences Of Military Takeover In Niger

Following the military takeover of power in Niger from the Bazoum-led administration on July 26, concerns have been raised about the supply of uranium as the EU and especially France depend largely on uranium from the country to fuel their nuclear reactors and for medical purposes. Data from Euratom indicates that Niger was the EU’s second largest supplier of uranium in 2022, when it alone supplied the EU with 2,975 tU (representing 25.4%). The landlocked country was followed by Canada which supplied 2,578 tU (22.0%), and Russia which supplied 1,980 tU (16.9%) that same year.

Mass Rally Backs Niger’s Military Leaders As Intervention Looms

Approximately 30,000 people gathered in Niger’s capital of Niamey on August 6, as the country faced a looming threat of military intervention led by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc. However, as the deadline set by ECOWAS expired on Sunday, the regional bloc held an emergency virtual meeting with the African Union to discuss the situation in Niger. The bloc did not publicly comment on the expiration of its ultimatum, but did on August 7 issue a brief statement, announcing that the chair of ECOWAS, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, had convened a second Extraordinary Summit of the Authority which would take place in Abuja on August 10, to discuss “the political situation and recent developments in Niger.”

Coup In Niger: Old Europe On Trial

Gold, silicon, oil—with reserves estimated at 2 billion barrels—and above all uranium, are essential for both French nuclear power stations and atomic bombs. They are strategic raw materials for imperialism, which needs to consolidate its dominion at the expense of the southern countries. This is the key to understanding the fibrillation provoked in the United States and especially in the European Union, by the coup d’état in Niger. On July 28, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the Presidential Guard, was proclaimed the new leader of Niger and assumed the presidency of the National Council for the Protection of the Homeland (CNSP), after having ousted the Western-backed President Mohamed Bazoum.

US/France Threaten Intervention In Resource-Rich Niger

The US and France have threatened foreign intervention to re-install a pro-Western regime in Niger. Niger is a major producer of gold and uranium, the latter of which is needed for European nuclear energy. The country has significant oil reserves to which foreign corporations have wanted access. It also hosts large US drone bases. These Western threats follow coups led by nationalist, anti-colonial military officers in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, whose governments have warned that intervention would be considered an act of war, and could thus set off a regional conflict. West Africa is rich in natural resources. It is also very strategic for the United States and France.

The West Wants Nigeria To Invade Its Northern Neighbor

Last week’s military coup in Niger could be a game-changer in the New Cold War if the junta cuts off the uranium exports upon which France’s nuclear energy industry depends, kicks out its former colonizer’s troops from their last regional bastion, and/or requests Russia’s “Democratic Security” assistance. Unlike the patriotic military coups in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, which were condemned by the West but not considered a threat to its neocolonial stranglehold over Africa, the one in Niger is ringing alarm bells. France and the US strongly condemned this latest regime change, with the first suspending all aid in parallel with the EU while the latter is preparing to follow suit.

For The Crisis In Perú To End, Castillo Must Be Reinstated

July 28th 2023 marked the 202nd anniversary of the liberation of Perú from Spanish colonial rule by José de San Martin. Typically, the country would be celebrating its Fiestas Patrias in grand style with parades and parties that last several days. This year, the mood is somber because the Peruvian masses believe there is nothing to celebrate. Families of the martyrs of the Dina Boluarte coup regime and their supporters marked the day by gathering outside Congress while the de facto leader gave perhaps the longest speech in recent Peruvian history. On behalf of the state, Boluarte apologized to the families of those killed during protests.
assetto corsa mods

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.

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.

Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.