NULAND ‘NO AID’ THREAT FAILS TO COW NIAMEY

The US is trying to salvage its interests in the Sahel region in the wake of Niger’s coup. Acting deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met a firewall of resistance when she met with Niger’s new leaders and warned them of consequences if they did not choose a return to constitutional order.

According to the State Department’s spokesman, she was left with the impression that they won’t back down - even if it means losing out on millions of dollars of US aid to the country. Washington has already frozen a hundred-million in aid for Niger since the coup.

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Continued - NULAND ‘NO AID’ THREAT FAILS TO COW NIAMEY

The spokesman also insinuated that outside actors had a role in events in Niger - branding the waving of Russian flags by coup supporters an ‘unlikely scenario.’

It suggests that the West doesn’t take very seriously the new direction Africa is carving out for itself, as it chooses new partners and alliances. A new, young generation of Africans is rising - our continent’s median age is 19 - and old tricks like the ‘carrot and stick’ of ‘aid and sanctions’ simply don’t wash. As the proverb goes, ‘the dogs bark but the caravan moves on.’

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DO WE WANT A REPEAT OF THIS?

The Western-backed ECOWAS alliance of African states is threatening to intervene militarily in Niger. It wants the country’s ousted president Mohammed Bazoum - who’s been complicit in the Western exploitation of his country - back at the helm. So it might be worth remembering what interventions to ‘restore democracy’ on the continent can end up looking like. In 2011, the NATO intervention in Libya saw the overthrow and murder of the country's leader, Muammar Gaddafi. The bombing-campaign initiated a chain of events that plunged the country into chaos and ruin, turning it from the most developed in Africa, into a war-torn nation with rival governments and open-air slave markets. Is this the kind of 'freedom and democracy' that the warmongers want to bring to the people of Niger?

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ERDOGAN: NIGER FIGHTING BACK

Turkiye's president has launched a scathing attack on French oppression in Africa.

And says the coup in its former colony Niger is a reaction to years of exploitation. Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t hold back in his criticism.

Have a listen to this press conference where he reels off a list of countries that have suffered under French colonialism.

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How do you save a poor country that wants to break free from neocolonialism?

According to the West's twisted playbook, you destroy it to save it from itself.

EU special envoy Emanuela Del Re touts the success of crippling sanctions on Niger as measured by a shortage of life-saving medicine, food and electricity.

The hypocrisy of expressing concern for Niger's current state of affairs while simultaneously inflicting hardships on the populace is bare for all to see.

Niger is ranked 189th out of 191 in the United Nations Human Development Index and is one of the world's poorest countries, with a GDP per capita of US$540.

Saying the impoverishment is 'worse than before' is an admission that the West's sanctions are imposed not to benefit the local population. Quite the opposite, Europe has no problem making life even harder for Nigeriens if it weakens the new military leaders.

So far, the EU's suspended security and financial support for Niger and is set to impose more sanctions at the end of the month.

NIGER: FRANCE VIOLATED AIRSPACE

Niger’s military leaders have accused France of violating its closed airspace as part of a plan to destabilise the country.

They say French planes entered Niger’s skies in stealth mode after taking off from Chad on Wednesday. Paris has not commented, although has denied similar accusations in the past.

It was also claimed France released terrorist prisoners to attack the militaries of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali earlier this summer.

Paris again rejects this, but the junta says terrorists subsequently captured have confessed to receiving French aid.

The allegations were made during a televised statement as tensions continue to rise. West African bloc ECOWAS will hold talks on the crisis this Thursday after threatening to forcefully re-instate ousted President Bazoum.

Listen to the claims of the military leaders, who call themselves the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland [CNSP].

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DEMOCRATIC? ZOOMING IN ON BAZOUM

France, the US and ECOWAS are performing outrage over the undemocratic removal of Niger’s president in a coup.

But Mohamed Bazoum came to office in a disputed election. He supposedly won as much as 99% of the vote in one region - which is not as impressive as the 103% turnout recorded there!

Here’s a closer look at how ‘legitimate’ this new darling of Western democracies really was as Niger’s president.

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KENYA POLICE: 'WE'VE BEEN FRAMED'

Kenya’s police claim fake evidence is being used to show officers killed people during recent nationwide protests. The force’s Inspector General says photos were taken of dead bodies from morgues and then presented as proof of brutality. He didn’t produce evidence to back up his claims, which follow a wave of accusations against extreme, unconstitutional and heavy-handed policing.

More than 20 people died and 200 injured during recent demonstrations against tax hikes and cuts to state subsidies. In the western city of Kisumu, a mother’s two sons were reportedly fatally beaten during a night-raid by police on their home. In Nairobi, a man says officers rammed a screwdriver in his ear while being detained for demonstrating. There are also claims cops lobbed teargas into a school, knocking out dozens of children.

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Continued - KENYA POLICE: 'WE'VE BEEN FRAMED'

Unfortunately, police brutality is not new in the country. In an ongoing high-profile case, officers are accused of murdering a man for breaching a curfew during covid. Back in 2017, during protests over election results, a baby was shot dead on her balcony. The list goes on.

In this clip, Kenya’s police chief hits back at brutality claims during the latest Finance Bill protests. Whether people believe him or not is a different matter.

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WORLD BANK BLOCKS UGANDA LOANS OVER ANTI-LGBTQ LAW

If anyone is going to challenge Uganda's new LGBTQ laws effectively, it will be African grassroots and not Western nations and institutions through weaponising aid and sanctions. Apparently, not everyone got the memo, though - and certainly not the World Bank, which now says it will no longer give loans to the country.

Watch the reaction of the Ugandan MP who first tabled the LGBTQ-punishing legislation in parliament. He asks - ‘Does Uganda have to ask permission from the West every time it comes up with a law?’

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni also expressed irritation at the World Bank’s decision, saying that his country was anyway trying to reduce its borrowing - but that it was wrong to force the hand of Africans using money.

What are your thoughts?

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SAHEL RISING: UNITY IS POWER

Events in Niger are spurring hopes of a Pan-African axis of resistance forming across the Sahel. Neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali have already joined forces militarily and economically as a new federation - and say the doors are open. Mali’s Western neighbour Guinea also looks game. In our latest edition of Africa in 90 Seconds, host Ahmed Ghoneim gets excited about what a united Sahel might look like. Are you also excited at the prospect? Let us know.

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