The Sahel: A Trifecta of US Self-Coups

The Pentagon and US State Department are tying themselves in knots trying to not retreat from Niger.

Published: 2024-05-13

Updated 2024-05-16: an interesting new source from Antiwar may lead to an update section.

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The Geopolitics of a Neo-Colonial Retreat

The rich culture, peoples and lands of Africa have been exploited as a resource of empire, particularly by European imperialists since their age of exploration and colonization. A recent series of military coups in the 3 land locked nations of the Sahel in western and central Africa are a barometer of current, geopolitical changes.

The recent dramatic moves in the Sahel involve the rejection of two imperial powers, the French and US. A brief review of recent history assists in placing these changes in a wider context.

These shifts are emblematic of an evolution away from the "rules based international order" as defined by the US and embraced by formerly colonial, European partner states grouped under NATO and the European Union. The geopolitical counter is represented by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS+ (i.e BRICS and the additional members from the expansion in 2023).

The Sahel

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established in 1975. Wikipedia states the goals of the block to be almost interchangeable with that of the EU: 'to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union', and that its 'fundamental principles rely on equity, inter-dependence, solidarity, co-operation, nonaggression, regional peace, promotion of human rights, and economic and social justice'. An Al Jazeera report on military interventions by ECOWAS over three decades counters at least the ‘regional peace’ section of these lofty claims.

The updated Wikipedia article does acknowledge that:

In 2024, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali announced their withdrawal from the bloc.

The next sentence continues with "the countries had been suspended from ECOWAS due to military takeovers of their respective governments." Thus, it seems all parties are content with the split. This indicates how the three departing nations' western trained military juntas, if not their populations, feel about ECOWAS.

The Sahel, the sub-Saharan region of west and central Africa, and the many small coastal nations to its south, remained a French colony after WWII even as other European colonial powers, like Britain, were forced to contract their empires. The region was known as Françafrique. After the crimes of 9/11, which remain uninvestigated by police and for which the vast majority of the physical evidence was destroyed by recycling, the US declared its Global War on/of Terror (GWooT), where the on or of depended on which side of US weapons a civilian stood.

In 2007 the US formed AFRICOM, one of its 11 military commands for regions spanning the globe. This was activated in 2008, under the Bush administration and its GWooT. AFRICOM was to engage with local "partners" in combating terrorism. The Sahel was beset by various regional groups, for example Boko Haram, terrorizing the population with gruesome acts.

To the north, in 2011, Hillary Clinton's NATO led operation to topple the Libyan government had Col. Gaddafi murdered by sodomy with a sword. His removal denied the existence of the gold backed Dinar currency which he was promoting and may have created a counter economic block to ECOWAS.

In Mauritania, on February 16, 2014 says Wikipedia, the G5 Sahel was created by some unspecified mechanism. This "institutional framework for coordination of regional cooperation in development policies and security matters" had NATO member France's Françafrique, and joining in the terror wars, written all over it. 6 months later France launched the 3000 troop strength, counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane. So unsuccessful was this operation across the Sahel that 3 years later, in June 2017, "France requested that the United Nations Security Council approve the deployment of a counter-terrorism task force consisting of 10,000 soldiers to G5 Sahel". Less than a year later, in April 2018, AP News were reporting the construction of "Base 201", in Agadez, Niger. The air base supported US surveillance, armed drones, and obviously logistics.

During the last decade from the G5 Sahel creation, intrepid and dogged, US journalist Nick Turse has been tailing AFRICOM. He reported that the cost of Base 201 was $110 million [USD], with annual operation costs of $20 to $30 million. Thus, the cost until now is a quarter of a billion USD. This base has likely been the linchpin of operations in the Sahel region due to the crucial capabilities it provides.

A Trifecta in 3 Years

In the last three years, all three of the central 3 states of the G5 Sahel have undergone military coups against European and US backed governments representing a continuation of neo-colonialism. This is quite some achievement by NATO's military machinery. The local military leaders who have ousted both the governments and their supporting foreign military were trained by those same powers. This feather may even be a first; a trifecta of military own-coups against a colonial power in such a short time.

In Niger after the coup, the head of the Presidential Guard Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane formed the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (NCSH). This junta has successfully banished the French military and deregistered a bellicose French diplomat. Frantic high level delegations, including 'Toria Nuland before her exit from the US State Department and Pentagon were denied audiences, essentially forcing them to write their demands on paper and leave them with a secretary rather than being able to utter them in a private meeting.

The usual, exceptionalist US hubris was on display. Meetings were insufficiently announced in advance, formal notifications from the NCSH went unanswered and the State Department and Pentagon generally dragged their feet as Niger canceled their military cooperation agreement. The challenge is not only that the US does not want to leave, but now has to undergo whatever other frantic negotiations to find a least worst case scenario of relocating out of Niger to some other local nation(s). Annoyingly for the Pentagon, a senior air officer lit a fire under the problem by writing to a US member of congress complaining about the lack of basic services which they are suffering. This has arisen partially because the junta is well supported by the populace who are protesting outside at least one of the two air bases the US is trying to maintain.

The second base, in the capital Niamey, is aptly named "Base 101".

Flipping the Board

In September, two months after the July 2023, military coup in Niger, the Alliance of Sahel States was formed together with Mali and Burkina Faso. This was a response to the West's attempt to again use ECOWAS militarily, this time to prevent the junta in Niger maintaining power. That effort failed. The new NATO-like alliance proclaiming mutual defence against external aggression survives.

Former, senior, Indian diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar provided some delicate detail on the latest developments. While the US State Department and Pentagon have been scrambling to make time to find other local places for their expeditionary forces while not acknowledging Niger's demand that they leave the two bases in Niger, US troops have been suffering and Niger has invited Russian troops to the base in the capital. Mr. Bhadrakumar noted the "uncharacteristic restraint" displayed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who, when asked about the co-location of the US and Russian forces, responded focusing on safety:

The Russians are in a separate compound and don’t have access to US forces or access to our equipment. I am always focused on the safety and protection of our troops. But right now, I don’t see a significant issue here in terms of our force protection.

Bhadrakumar showed his diplomatic insight with how he characterized the position in which Niger's NCSH junta is positioning itself, and in which the US finds itself. He provided a window into minor differences among the trifecta of US trained, military own-coups:

Washington must also have factored in that Niger’s military, which had in the past worked closely with the US, while seeking cooperation with Russia, is stopping short of the full-fledged embrace of Moscow by military-run neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso.

The local situation is complex for it also involves significant international trade, specifically Uranium ore, for France's nuclear reactors. Bhadrakumar acknowledged that "Russia’s Africa Corps has a job cut out for it — there is a big challenge ahead as Moscow assumes the role of provider of security."

The ongoing state of stability of the governments in these 3 rebellious, Sahel nations will continue to provide a barometer for the major geopolitical developments which are occurring. The genocide by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the defeat of NATO in Ukraine by the Russian Federation will continue to both fuel these changes and rightly carry most of the headlines.

The curious developments in the Sahel are but small moves on a corner of the geopolitical chessboard. They will, nonetheless, shape the future for the lives of the millions who live there and may be a step towards their emancipation from centuries of colonial and neo-colonial rule.

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Sources

Niger PM Says US Threats Led to Withdrawal Order, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-05-15

US, Russia lock horns in Niger, M. K. Bhadhrakumar, Indian Punchline, 2024-05-07

US Orders Troops to Leave Niger, Will Porter, Antiwar, 2024-05-10

Pentagon orders all US combat troops to withdraw from Niger, Lara Seligman, Politico, 2024-05-10

ECOWAS, Wikipedia

G5 Sahel, Wikipedia

Alliance of Sahel States, Wikipedia

Timeline: A history of ECOWAS military interventions in three decades, no author, Al Jazeera, 2023-08-01

A New West African Security Pact Is Bound to Fail, Folahanmi Aina (associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London), Foreign Policy, 2023-10-24

Understanding Africa’s Coups, Alex Vines, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 2024-04-13

Less Than a Mile From Drone Base, Bandits Stole Bags of U.S. Tax Dollars in Broad Daylight, Nick Turse, The Intercept, 2023-02-20

U.S. Troops in Niger Say They’re “Stranded” and Can’t Get Mail, Medicine, Nick Turse, The Intercept, 2024-04-18

Niger to US: Pack Up Your Forever War, Nick Turse, Consortium News, 2024-04-03

Britain's Hidden Helicopter War in Niger, Phil Miller, Consortium News (originally Declassified UK, 2024-03-29

US Claims It Hasn't Received Formal Request to Leave Niger, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-03-21

A newly formed alliance between coup-hit countries in Africa’s Sahel is seen as tool for legitimacy, Chinedu Asadu, AP News, 2023-11-24

Military-led Sahel states rally thousands to support alliance, Boureima Balima and Abdel-Kader Mazou, Reuters, 2023-12-31

US builds drone base in Niger, crossroads of extremism fight, Carley Petesch, AP News, 2018-04-23

AFRICOM, Wikipedia

The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM, U.S. AFRICOM, and AFRICOM)[4] is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany.

WTF is going on in Niger?, YesXorNo, 2023-08-10

Culture

John Denver - Leaving On A Jet Plane (Official Audio), from Denver’s 1966 debut demo recording, uploaded 2013-04-05

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