WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL - UCL press release: For peace and against imperialism, Françafrique must end (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 A wave of coups, which began in August 2020 in Mali, hit West Africa. It

affected Guinea in September 2021, Burkina Faso in January 2022, Niger
on July 30, 2023 and finally Gabon on August 30. These putsches are
supported by a part of the population, in particular the youth,
exasperated by the interference of the French State, the CFA franc,
insecurity, corruption and unbridled profiteering, inter-community
violence and illegitimate representative democracy. Mali and Burkina
Faso both experienced a "blow in the dark" where transitional
governments were dismissed because of their close ties, real or
supposed, with the French authorities. In Senegal also, faced with a
power under orders, young people are demanding their right to
self-determination.

The French state is responsible for the chronic instability in its
former African colonies, through its mechanisms of wealth capture and
political foreclosure. He is hostile to any truly democratic alternation
and to the desire for emancipation. Françafrique has created deep
resentment against the ex-colonizer, which the French media describe as
an "anti-French feeling" in order to disempower the Élysée and pit one
people against another by relying on increasing racism. unbridled in
French public opinion.

The coup d'état in Niger is a political shock which sees the majority of
G5 Sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania, Chad) sever
their diplomatic ties with the country. It is also a military shock
because Niger had become the center of the French military system in the
Sahel, assisted by the military force of the other G5 Sahel states. It
is finally a shock for the multinationals operating there, in particular
those which plunder natural resources (oil and manganese in Gabon,
uranium in Niger) to ensure the maintenance of productivism in France to
the detriment of local populations, like Orano (new name of Areva) which
irradiated the Nigeriens of Akouta in the north of the country. An
entire political and financial system is faltering.

To avoid contamination, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African
States) and France are threatening intervention while Mali and Burkina
Faso have for their part declared that they would support the putschists
in the event of intervention. This is legitimized in the media by the
presence of Russian flags and by the cooperation between the coup
governments and the Wagner group militias. Regardless, it remains a
neocolonial intervention which would only result in restoring the
previous situation for the sole benefit of the French neocolonial power,
or even further destabilizing the region due to the geographically
central position of Niger. Such a war must absolutely be avoided.

However, these new military governments remain from the same elites as
the corrupt representative democracies and their seizure of power is
often accompanied by political violence, very conservative policies and,
in the current case of Niger, strong economic sanctions.

Those who bear the brunt of these events are the populations. They are
caught in the crossfire of the "war on terrorism" (Operation Barkhane
for a decade, Wagner mercenaries more recently) without at any time
being asked the question of their needs and why, in 10 years, the number
"jihadists", a catch-all term bringing together far-right Islamists and
mercenaries, has doubled in the region. They continue to violently and
ransom the inhabitants with great brutality. As with Afghanistan, at no
time is the war that these populations are undergoing called into
question, which only increases the breeding ground for jihadism. The war
on terrorism is, however, the form of war on the people most shared by
all the imperialist powers despite their rivalries.

The French ambassador to Niger refuses to leave the territory, a symbol
of a Françafrique that does not want to die. On the contrary, the
Libertarian Communist Union calls for the withdrawal of French troops
and military bases wherever they are in Africa. France must complete its
decolonization.

Libertarian Communist Union, September 3, 2023.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Pour-la-paix-et-contre-l-imperialisme-la-Francafrique-doit-cesser
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca