Scholars in Cuba explain

Coups in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali seek sovereignty for Africa

The military junta that took power in Niger on July 26, 2023

The coup d’état in Niger

     The August 8 Cuban news analysis television program Mesa Redonda featured Rodobaldo Isasi, a researcher at the Center for Research on International Politics in Havana, who discussed the July 26, 2023 coup d’état in Niger.  Isasi maintained that tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in support of the military and in support of the coup, which has occurred as a consequence of the rise of terrorism in the region and the generally poor economic situation provoked by drought and pandemics.  The neighboring West African countries of Burkina Faso and Mali have expressed support for the coup. 

     Isasi notes that African states and regional organizations are divided, with some calling for a reinstatement of the deposed president, and others rejecting foreign interference in the internal affairs of Niger.  The interests of France, the ex-colonial power of the region, and the United States are at play in the demands for the reinstatement of the president. 

     Other countries in the region of West Africa are in a situation similar to that of Niger, Isasi observed.  They share the common challenge of social and economic deterioration provoked by an escalating rise in terrorism, epidemics, and drought; and they share a culture of resistance against Western colonialism.  They are aware of Chinese economic presence in the region, which is aiding in the construction of a more diversified economy.  Africa, he observed, has historically had its own agenda for economic development that departs from the pattern imposed by Western interests, and which is supported by China.

The current situation in West Africa

     Isasi invited television viewers to look at an article published on August 7 on the Website of the Center for Research on International Policy, in order to gain a deeper understanding of what is occurring in West Africa.  The article in question, “El síndrome del golpismo en África Subsahariana” [The coup syndrome of Sub-Saharan Africa], was written by Yoslán Silverio González, a researcher at the Center for Research on International Politics.

     Silverio notes that in the period between 1952 and 2014, there were 85 coups d’état in 33 African countries, 69 of them in West Africa.  He writes that the principal characteristic of these coups was their organization from outside the country, primarily with the direct or indirect support of France and the United States, in support of governments inclined to their interests.  The period of 1956 to 1979 was the most intense, followed by a significant decline in the frequency of coups in the period 1980 to 2020.  As we know, this second period was the time of the implementation of neoliberal economic policies, which involved aggressive economic coercion that constrained the freedom of action of all governments, making less necessary the overthrow of an unfriendly government.  During the period, multiparty democratic institutionality was strengthened, in conjunction with the weakening of the actual sovereign power of states.  When coups did occur during the second period, they were driven by internal dynamics involving the exclusion from power of some sectors; and the military governments moved rapidly to rectify the problem of exclusion and to facilitate a return to civilian government. 

     Beginning in 2015, there was in West Africa a big expansion of terrorist groups tied to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, converting tens of thousands of persons into refugees.  West African social critics emerged to declare the ineffectiveness of foreign military presence, headed by France, in controlling terrorist groups in the region.  Thus, the conditions were being established for a new wave of coups d’état, which were driven by internal political forces and were directed against pro-French governments seen as ineffective in combatting Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

     The epicenter of the crisis of security in the region was Mali.  There was popular discontent with the bad management in the front against terrorism, joined with accusations of fraudulent legislative elections.  On August 8, 2020, a military plot against head of state Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta obligated him to resign.  Colonel Assimi Goita was presented as president of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, announcing a period of three years for a transition to the return of civilian rule.  A countercoup on May 24, 2021, was produced by Goita himself, with the announcement of the dismissal of three military leaders accused of sabotaging the transition to civilian rule.  

     Burkina Faso (previously known as Upper Volta) experienced an exponential growth in terrorist activities.  Around 40% of the national territory was under the control of armed groups and the terrorist cells of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.  In the face of the incapacity of the government and its unpopularity, a group of military officers in January 2022 overthrew Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, in an action directed by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who installed a military government with the name of Patriotic Movement for Defense and Restauration.  Dissatisfaction within the military junta with the government’s anti-terrorist program gave rise to a counter coup of younger military officials, headed by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the thirty-five-year-old head of the special forces in the northern part of the country, the zone most affected by terrorism. 

     The most recent of the coups was carried out in Niger, which also has been affected by the current wave of terrorism in its southwest zone, which borders Mali, and in its southwestern region, which shares a border with Nigeria and Chad.  The government had been criticized as ineffective in controlling terrorism, although there were not mass protests prior to the coup, as had occurred prior to the coups in Burkina Faso and Mali.  The July 26 coup was headed by elements of the presidential guard headed by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, which detained President Mohamed Bazoum.  The new government criticized the non-cooperation of the Bazoum government with other countries in the region in confronting the terrorist threat.  There immediately occurred strong popular demonstrations in support of the new government, carried out in front of the French embassy in Niamey, which was an indication of the generalized anti-French sentiment in the zone.  The new government canceled military agreements with France and withdrew its ambassadors from Paris, Washington, Abuja (Nigeria), and Lomé (Togo). 

     Silverio concludes the article by reiterating that the current wave of coups is not produced by external pressure, not from Russia, or France, or the United States, as had been the case in the period 1960 to 1980.  Rather, the coups of 2020 to 2023 have been against French presence in the region, and they are explained by internal factors in French-speaking Africa.  Unlike the second period of 1980 to 2010, the recent military governments have not announced rapid return to civilian rule, which has provoked criticism from international and African organizations.  Up to the moment, coercive measures against the new military governments have not been effective, inasmuch as the Economic Community of the States of West Africa, which to a considerable extent is controlled by Paris, has not been united in applying sanctions. 

     These recent coups d’état have not generated a social upheaval among the people.  To the contrary, there is popular support of the military governments, with a marked resurgence of anti-colonial and anti-French rhetoric in support of the expulsion of French troops from Mali and Burkina Faso and the decision to abandon French as an official language in Mali.  These are longstanding sentiments in the region, experiencing a revival in the context of the demonstrated incapacity of the Western imperial powers to provide for the most minimal level of economic and physical security. 

     The situation in Niger is particularly tense, inasmuch as the French troops expelled from Mali had been repositioned to Niger, and French troops already had been withdrawn from Burkina Faso.  Silverio notes that it is unlikely that France would permit the complete withdrawal of its troops from the region, especially at the insistence of an African de facto government without constitutional authority.  Accordingly, Silverio points out, the Economic Community of the States of West Africa has issued an ultimatum that the government of Bazoum be restored. 

     On the evening of August 10, 2023, Russia Today reported that the Secretary General of the Economic Community of the States of West Africa, Omar Tourary, announced that the member countries have ordered the deployment of a “reserve force” against the military junta of Niger.  The announcement was made following an emergency summit in Nigeria.  The announcement did not specify which countries would be involved or the number of troops.  However, the leaders of the countries stressed that they are giving priority to diplomatic negotiations and dialogue. 

     Silverio notes that at stake are the reserves of uranium in Niger, upon which France depends for the functioning of its nuclear plants and the generation of electricity.  The protection of these economic interests has been the principal concern of France for the past decade, so that it has been insisting that the mines not be affected.  However, the new military government in Niger has decreed the suspension of the exportations of uranium and gold to France. 

     Silverio also notes that the United States has direct military interests in the region, where it has had programs of military training and logistical support since 2003.  The most important is precisely in Niger, where there is an airfield for surveillance drones.

     Silverio observes that the region is deeply divided.  The de facto governments of Mali and Burkina Faso have declared their support for the military government of Niger in the face of a possible military intervention by the Economic Community of the States of West Africa, headed by Nigeria.  The governments of Mali and Burkina Faso have declared that, if such a military intervention were to occur, they would withdraw from the Economic Community of the States of West Africa, and they would adopt “measures of self-defense in support of the armed forces and the people of Niger.”  Accordingly, the corporate media speak of an alliance of pro-Russian military juntas, drawing upon the New Cold War ideological manipulations that portray countries seeking a sovereign road as “authoritarian.”

     Silverio suggests that other coups d’état could occur in other neighboring countries, in which the military governments would have the support of their peoples in most cases.  The region is in a situation of real deterioration in economic and physical security, with high levels of delegitimation of governments that are supported by the European Union and France.  Reflecting the emerging spirit of the region, some have compared Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traoré with Thomas Sankara, the young military officer who became the central leader of a popular revolution in Upper Volta and the president of the governing National Council of the Revolution from 1983 to 1987, who was assassinated on October 15, 1987.¹

     Western interests are threatened by this situation.  In contrast, China and Russia are in the best position to enhance their prestige in the region.  Their concrete proposals are better than what the West traditionally has offered.  For Silverio, everything points to a military intervention by the Economic Community of the States of West Africa, but in a context of high polarization. 

Ibrahim Traoré, Head of State of Burkina Faso, speaks at the Second Russia-Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg on July 27-28, 2023

The neocolonial context

     As the exportation of uranium to France and the presence of French and U.S. troops indicate, West Africa has not been able to break from the colonial situation following the attainment of political independence.  As in the rest of Africa, the Western powers intervened in the internal affairs of African states from the period of 1960 to 1980, producing a significant number of coups d’état.  Subsequently, in the period 1980 to 2010, Western interests were attained through the implementation of neoliberal economic policies, such that it was possible for institutions of representative democracy to be strengthened, thus cultivating a deceptive appearance of independence that obscured the reality of Western economic domination.  African allies were successfully enlisted in support of the neocolonial deception.

      With African states being blocked from promoting their own development agenda, and with the problems confronting humanity deepening as a result of the unconstrained exploitation of resources by the Western powers and the transnational corporations, it is logical that the problems of Africa would deepen.  In West Africa, this has taken the form in recent years of the escalation of the new form of terrorism, which as the historical record shows, was created and supported by the Western powers in its persistent effort to destroy sovereign national projects in the Islamic World.  At the same time, as the Western powers increasingly fall into decadence, they are less and less able to offer a viable option for Africa, and they increasingly act like bullies.  Meanwhile, as China and its partners advance in the construction of an alternative world order, they are increasingly able to offer mutually beneficial commerce that advances the development of all.

     In this context, the nations and peoples of West Africa are recovering their voice of resistance, which provokes the imperialist powers and their African allies to conjure up new strategies of military intervention, which if implemented, would likely cause tragic losses for all involved.  However, such a tragic response would not stop the forward march of anti-imperialist resistance in the long term, as is indicated by the continuous advance of anti-imperialist projects in China, Latin America and the Caribbean, Russia, BRICS, East Asia, and the Middle East.  The Western imperial powers ought to accept the limits of their power, and join in the cooperative construction of a more peaceful and just world order.

A free subscription option is available, with capacity to read, send, and share all posts. A paid subscription ($5 per month or $40 per year) enables you to make comments and to support the costs of the column; paid subscribers also receive a free PDF copy of my book on Cuba and the world-system.  Ten percent of income generated through subscriptions to the column is donated to the Cuban Philosophical Society.

1. Prairie, Michel, Ed.  1988, 2007. Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-1987.  New York: Pathfinder Press.

Sankara, Thomas.  2002, 2007.  We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso revolution, 1983-1987.  New York: Pathfinder Press.