US shows its true colours and colonialist attitude in dealing with Niger

LESS than a year had passed since the withdrawal of French troops from Niger when Niamey turned to the US with a similar request.

After an unsuccessful visit of an American delegation to the African country in the middle of March, Niger’s military government demanded American troops leave its territory.

The States neither followed diplomatic protocol nor informed the host country about the composition of the delegation and the date of its arrival.

Moreover, during the visit Americans conducted dialogue in a dismissive tone and even criticised Niger for its relations with other countries.

Though the US didn’t react negatively to the military coup in Niger at the end of July 2023 and didn’t take radical measures against Niamey after the change of government, it couldn’t hide behind the mask of “friendship and holiness” for a long time.

Washington has finally returned to its usual pattern of behaviour: began to criticise Niger’s foreign policy and assertively dictate its own rules.

The US’s diplomatic mistake itself isn’t the reason for the end of the military co-operation between the two countries but it became the last straw.

Te prerequisites for the deterioration of relations appeared in August 2023, when the leader of Niger General Abdourahmane Tchiani refused to meet Victoria Nuland (who at that time was the Deputy Secretary of the US) who arrived in Niger on a diplomatic visit.

According to Amadou Abdramane, the spokesperson for the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, the presence of the Americans in Niger is illegal.

He also asserts that the military agreement concluded between Niger and the US in 2012 violates the constitutional and democratic rights of the country.

Moreover, for more than 11 years the American military contingent has failed to cope in its main tasks – fighting against terrorism and establishing stability in the region.

Instead, Washington was monitoring Niamey’s foreign policy and controlling supplies of Niger’s uranium to the US, which were not included in the initially stated goals of the American troops’ presence in the country.

However, the States didn’t take into account one important fact: over the past time Niger, like other African countries, became an independent state which is no longer forced to obey the colonialists.

Countries of the African continent raise their heads higher and higher, gradually strengthening ties with the world’s major powers and increasing their political and economic potential.

It forces other states to listen to African voices.

And it also reduces to a minimum the need for Africa’s co-operation with countries that couldn’t get rid of their colonial ambitions.

ABDULAI KONDEWA | Freetown, Sierra Leone