General Abdourahmane Tchiani, the head of Niger’s elite presidential guard has declared himself the leader of the country. There has been massive protest in Niger showing anger against the long years of French domination and pillage but some have illusions in Russia as Russian flags were waved amidst anti-French slogans outside the French embassy in Niamey.
Niger is the largest landlocked country in West Africa and is bordered by Libya , Chad , Nigeria , Burkina Faso and Benin Republic and Chad , Algeria and Mali and this means it depends on neighbouring land borders for importations. ECOWAS sanction has led to a sharp increase in food and commodity prices with dire consequences for the country’s working class and poor.
The economic crisis in Niger is huge despite being rich in uranium, coal and gold. A population of 25 million people and ranked by the United Nations as the second least developed country out of 188 countries. Three million people face acute poverty and hunger, and an illiteracy rate of 37%. French imperialism and some other European countries rely on Niger for uranium being the 7th largest producer in the world and France needs it for its nuclear energy power.
“What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers … effectively gaining their independence. The rest will without doubt depend on the citizens of Niger and how effective governance will be, but the main thing is this: they have got rid of the colonisers,” Wagner forces are already in Mali.
The Niger military may want to enter into a deal with ECOWAS to pledge to return to civilian rule sometime in future just like the promises made by Mali and Burkina Faso coupists, which they never kept and try to buy time to consolidate power and manoeuvre or dare it and go into confrontation hoping for support from Mali and Burkina Faso to resist ECOWAS force.
Unfortunately, the trade union movement is not only weak but divided over the crises in Niger. The working population organized in the trade unions are 60,000, just 5% of the total working population.