Nigeriens, some holding Russian flags, participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani in Niamey, Niger, on July 30.Sam Mednick/The Associated Press
Yet another military coup in a former French colony in Africa has dealt another blow to Western efforts to counter Russia’s influence on the resource-rich continent. And no Western leader is paying the price more than French President Emmanuel Macron.
After recent military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, the overthrow of democratically elected President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum deprives the West of its only remaining ally in the Sahel region, which has become the epicentre of the fight against resurgent militants linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. And just as it has in neighbouring African countries, Russia has fanned anti-French sentiment in Niger to expand its sphere of influence on the continent.
Despite the billions of dollars in development aid that Western countries have provided to the region, not to mention the military support and work to build up civil-society institutions, the recent coups d’état are a reminder of how easily the tide can turn in the region. Russia’s sinister agenda – the Wagner Group swooped into Mali after its military junta forced out French troops – has made the situation much worse.
Footage of supporters of the military coup in Niger attacking the French embassy in the capital of Niamey, burning the French flag and chanting “Down with France,” demonstrates once again how public opinion has been manipulated by the putschists to divert attention from their own motives for overthrowing the government and from the illegitimacy of their actions.
“What we saw was an organized, non-spontaneous, violent, extremely dangerous protest with Molotov cocktails, Russian flags, anti-French slogans copied and pasted from what we [have seen] elsewhere,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna said. “So, all the usual ingredients of destabilization in the Russian-African style.”
The military junta in Niger, led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, accused France of plotting a military intervention to reinstate Mr. Bazoum. Ms. Colonna denied the charge, but junta leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso warned they would deem any military operation by France in Niger “a declaration of war” against their countries.
How did it come to this?
Unlike other European powers that colonized Africa, France maintained a strong military presence in its former colonies even after they gained their independence in the 1960s. It also played a pivotal role in their economic and monetary affairs. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are among the former French colonies that still use the CFA Franc as their currency.
“Sixty years after independence, development aid is perceived as humiliating, but also as supporting regimes rather than populations, and as secretive because [it is] underpinned by counterparties,” according to a study released in June by the Institut français des relations internationales, known as Ifri. “The presence of French military bases and French military campaigns are also seen as a problematic and outdated neo-colonial tool.”
European militaries evacuate foreign nationals from Niger as regional tensions rise after coup
Former French president François Hollande deployed thousands of French troops to the Sahel region in 2014 as part of Operation Barkhane, with the largest contingent stationed in Mali. The French military presence was controversial from the outset, both in France and in Africa. Mr. Macron pulled French soldiers out of Mali in 2022, following successive coups in that country. French troops left Burkina Faso earlier this year after a coup there.
France has about 1,500 French troops stationed in Niger, now the locus of its operations against Islamic militants. If Gen. Tchiani remains in power, that could change rapidly.
The fall of Mr. Bazoum has left Mr. Macron’s Africa strategy in tatters. The French President came to power in 2017 insisting he could reset relations between Paris and its former African colonies. Instead, relations have deteriorated miserably on his watch.
Some critics blame Mr. Macron’s arrogant style, and his defence of freedom of expression in the case of French caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that fuelled outrage in majority-Muslim African countries, including Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. But anti-French disinformation campaigns directly linked to Russia are a big factor, too. The coup in Niger shows just how powerful they are in shaping opinions.
“This anti-French rhetoric … has been around for a long time,” the Ifri study noted. “However, it is no longer restricted to the intellectual elite, as it once was, but has now expanded to the working classes (particularly in urban areas) to such an extent that it has become an axiom of political discourse … In some countries, helped by Russian entities, real ecosystems have even developed on social networks, producing anti-French campaigns.”
France and its Western allies, including Canada, must not draw the wrong conclusions from the coup in Niger. Abandoning Africa to Russia out of a sense of frustration or futility would only come back to haunt the West in due course.
France’s Africa problem is our problem, too. If we don’t solve it, Russia will.
Konrad Yakabuski