Niger Turns Against Washington and Yellow Cake 2.0

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68590531

Niger it seems has grown weary of Washington's presence in West Africa. Having ousted the French in 2023, the situation with both Paris and Washington remains tenuous. Tchiani remains in control and yet he faces hard questions concerning the economy of his country. From Niger's ties to the franc to its close uranium-related trade ties with France, it's hard to imagine that Paris will simply let Niger go. The junta leaders will be looking over the shoulder to say the least.

As 2023 wound down it looked as if France had acquiesced to depart and the Americans had managed to negotiate an agreement with the Niamey junta. Washington has been very keen to keep its military base open and its hard to say no to the United States. And yet they did briefly. But after Victoria Nuland was rebuffed, the regime seemed to come around. The US could stay. Marketed as a drone base, Agadez is clearly much more. It's a projection of US power in the western Sahara region. Marketed as security for Niger, it functions as a Sword of Damocles and the generals know it.

And now it would seem the Tchiani-led junta has grown weary of Washington and has told the Americans to leave. The US has accused the junta of not only fostering closer relations to Russia (which is partly true) but of a deal to supply uranium to Iran - potentially a very dangerous lie. No evidence has been provided and the junta spokesman was absolutely correct to invoke the memory of the 2003 Iraq War. In the 2002 lead up, the Bush administration had asserted that Saddam Hussein was trying to acquire yellow-cake from Niger - a story proven to be a fabrication. It was a scandal that led to an even bigger scandal surrounding Valerie Plame.

No one doubts that both Washington and Paris want to see this junta removed and a new regime installed. The spectre of a uranium deal with Iran would provide a basis for military action in both Niger and Iran - a move that a lot of people in places like Paris, Washington, and Tel Aviv would like to see happen.

The French and Americans have long argued that their presence is needed in West Africa in order to combat Islamic terrorism. The truth is their presence exacerbates extant tensions and the US-NATO overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011 sent the whole region into a chaotic spiral - a series of domino effects that have led to cycles of violence, civil war, coups, and radicalisation. As is so often the case, the US creates the problem and then in order to 'fix' it - seizes strategic assets and military positions and in many cases makes the problem worse.

Though ignored by the mainstream media, the recent series of coups in Africa have mostly been led by military officers trained by the US. And yet clearly not all of these coups represent American interests - which raises some very interesting questions about what the US is doing and how effective its policies are.