The junta in Niger has ordered its armed forces to go on highest alert, citing an increased threat of attack, according to an internal document issued by its defence chief on Friday that a security source in the country confirmed was authentic.

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I keep trying to find it, but nothing covers this aspect: what is the junta seeking to accomplish? Like, what was the reason they took the president captive, what are the political goals, what are the details for their transition back to democracy, etc? It’s hard for me to trust ECOWAS when it’s an organization that is pretty clearly a tool for neo-colonialism, even though I understand and empathize with their opposition to the junta.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Some of the major exports from Niger are uranium and gold. The junta has stopped all exports to France, and then ECOWAS threatened to invade. Something to note, almost all of the gold reserves in France come from their former colonies, and at least 33% of all of their nuclear power comes from uranium in Niger. The former president is backed by neo-colonialist and neo-imperialist powers of France and US, and Niger was considered one of the last US allies under the former president. This is the 5 second overview, there’s obviously a ton more on both sides worth discussing. Here’s an interview from someone more knowledgeable than me on the subject

        • arbitrary@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          So your definition of neocolonialism boils down to ‘has trade and diplomatic relations with the US and France’?

          And isn’t that quite offensive against the African states? You imply that they could not have created an intranational community without centering it around Western powers, no?