Ahead of the "Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel" in Niamey, Peoples Dispatch brings forth stories of resilience and resistance of the people of Niger whose success in forcing their former colonizer France on the retreat has inspired Pan-African movements across the continent.
Delegates from the popular movements, labor unions, peasant organizations, and left parties in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US have arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger, to attend the "Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel" from November 19 to 21.
The Pan Africanism Today Secretariat (PAT) and the West Africa People's Organization (WAPO) have organized this conference "For Anti-Imperialist Unity, Peace, and Friendship between Peoples", at the time of a critical breakthrough against Francafrique in Sahelian West Africa.
Amid a wave of mass protests against the continued stranglehold of France over its former colonies, popularly supported military coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022, and in Niger in 2023 swept away the regimes domestically perceived as subservient to France.
The military governments that replaced the French-backed regimes responded to the main demand of this protest movement and forced the French troops out of their countries.
Already marched out of Mali and Burkina Faso, France, which had relocated a large contingent of these troops in Niger, was initially determined not to let go of its hold on this country. It demanded the restoration of Mohamed Bazoum as the democratically elected president of Niger.
Democratically elected?
"His election in 2021 was a joke," retorted 56-year-old Abdullahi Salifou, a former civil servant. "The President of the Election Commission had no shame when he came on TV to announce" that the Timia district in the city of Agadez had seen a voter turnout of 103%, with 99% of the votes for Bazoum, he told Peoples Dispatch.
Bazoum, he insists, was essentially appointed by his predecessor, Mohamed Yusufu, under whose rule mass protests against his regime's subservience to France had already begun. Dozens were killed in the crackdown he had instituted against the protests. Opposition leaders were jailed.
A fearful political atmosphere continued under Bazoum. "We were afraid to speak out against him even in our homes. We feared our walls had ears," added Aisha Maiga, who used to head a self-help group for women.
However, the movement against France's neo-colonialism continued with renewed vigor after the military government in neighboring Mali ordered the French troops out in early 2022.
Read: Withdrawal of French troops from Mali is a historic, anti-imperialist victory
Provoking this movement, Bazoum invited the French troops on the way out from Mali into Niger. Amid the mass protests that followed, the head of his presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani removed him from power in a military coup on July 26, 2023.
"When we heard the news that morning, we didn't even know who had taken over. We didn't care. We were happy that Bazoum's regime was ousted and went to the streets early at 7 in the morning in pouring rain to celebrate," Salifou recollected.
The following day, the anti-France protesters organized themselves into the Convergence for the Nations of Sahel (COSNAS) with the support of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) - a popular military government helmed by coup leader Tchiani.
When France announced that its troops would not retreat from Niger, "We marched on the city streets to the French embassy. Tear gas and shots were fired from inside, injuring some protesters," said Salifou, who was chosen as the deputy secretary of the COSNAS.
This further angered the crowd, which attempted to break into the French embassy and torched its door. Tensions were running high. "CNSP leaders, including the defense minister of the new government, rushed to calm us down," with the assurance that the CNSP will see through the removal of French troops from Niger, he said.
Mama Resistance
France, however, persisted in its insistence that its troops would not retreat. A mass demonstration erupted outside the French base in Niamey. "When I went there with my family, I saw that the youth were staying put day and night with little food," said Maiga.
The 60-odd-year-old earned the name "Mama Resistance" for going there daily to feed the youth with hundreds of sandwiches and other food she used to prepare for them for the next two months while the protest continued until France agreed to withdraw its troops. This announcement came late in September that year, but only after France had tried and failed all other options, including a military invasion.
It mobilized other states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to not only impose sanctions debilitating the economy of the landlocked country but also threaten it with war. Mali and Burkina Faso, which had also suffered such sanctions, came to Niger's defense with a military pact and formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with mass support from the peoples of the three countries.
On the other hand, attempts by the governments of the ECOWAS to mobilize for war were disrupted by the popular movements, several of whose leaders are attending the three-day conference.
Popular movements thwarted a war
In its southern neighbor Benin, one of the regional countries on which France was leaning to invade Niger, the Communist Party led the charge to prevent the war. "We brought together a spectrum of progressive forces - including the Pan-African Emergencies, the Student Union of Benin, labor unions and peasants organizations - to form the Patriotic Front (PF)," Philippe Noudjenoume, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Benin (PCB) told Peoples Dispatch.
Public meetings were also organized. Nigeriens staying in the country were invited to these meetings to help raise awareness among the Beninese people about their struggle against French neocolonialism and build solidarity.
In its near neighbor Ghana, "we led a campaign to raise awareness among the people about how neo-colonialism impedes our development," added Kwesi Pratt, General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana. The Revolutionary Communist Party of Ivory Coast (PCRCI) also undertook similar efforts. Although the party is small, its General Secretary Achy Ekissi said that it has been able to make the question of whether one stands in support of neo-colonialism or against it an electoral issue in the presidential election upcoming in 2025.
"It is significant that the parliament of Nigeria", whose President Bola Tinubu sits on the rotating chair of the ECOWAS, "voted against the war," added Pratt. "The Nigerian parliament is by no means left-wing. But its vote against the war," he argues, is a testimony to how we can mobilize across the political spectrum against such misadventures.
Although this correlation of forces in West Africa thwarted a war France was conspiring, the AES countries are not yet out of danger. "Ukraine, for example, has admitted that it is facilitating aggression by Islamist insurgencies in the region. There is evidence that NATO is preparing to stifle the anti-colonial developments in these countries," added Kwesi.
"It has requested three West African countries - Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast - to establish drone bases. The strengthening of NATO forces in West Africa will be targeted against these three countries. We also see other signs of mobilization by the US in the region."
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Niger and Burkina Faso allege that France has set up clandestine military bases on the Beninese side of their borders. This, they allege, is in order to support the very terrorist forces that it had ostensibly stationed its troops in these countries to fight, after spawning them across the region by destroying Libya.
Benin's communist leader Noudjenoume confirms that "our comrades in border regions report seeing French drones and aircraft regularly using Beninese airspace to spy on Niger and Burkina Faso."
Between danger and hope
It is in the context of these threats the AES countries continue to face, that the Pan-African movements are organizing this conference in Niamey. But the context is also one of hope.
"The successes of the anti-colonial movement in these three countries serve as an example. Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, is now regarded among the fastest-growing economies in Africa. Mali is today one of the African countries that has become debt-free. That is significant - something worthy of emulation, especially when you consider that most of the countries in the sub-region are burdened with clearly unpayable debts," said Kwesi.
"It is clear that not all the countries in the region will not follow the same path," he adds. But what matters, he insists, is the outcome of liberation from neo-colonialism, be it through "so-called democratic elections, mass uprisings, or the military coups" that unfolded in the AES states.
"This experience in the Sahel states is a lesson for other countries in the region. Beninese people are hoping for a similar revolution to bring their country into the AES. We hope to eventually form not only a confederation but a single federation that will erase the colonial borders drawn to separate the people of the same community with a common native languages and history into separate states," said Noudjenoume.
