POPULAR TAKEOVERS IN FORMER FRENCH AFRICAN COLONIES

Western governments’ response is hypocritical, condescending and threatening

In Chad, Mali, Guinea,  Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon, people are rejoicing that French- and Western-backed leaders have been deposed, accused of corruption and irresponsible government.  

The Western media use the term ‘coup d’etat’ to disparage the overturn of corrupt leaders of former French colonies.

A coup d’etat (you don’t pronounce the ‘p’ and the second ‘t’) is ‘a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government. ’

What the media won’t admit is that seizing power from  governments with the backing of the masses, is a legitimate act. It’s how revolutions, peaceful or violent, change the course of events.

The will of the people is what gives legitimacy to an institution, or leader.

Crowds cheer military in Gabon following coup | News | Independent TV

Niger's military government supporters take part in a demonstration in front of a French army base in Niamey, Niger, August 11, 2023 [Mahamadou Hamidou/Reuters]

Western governments blame the recent ouster of leaders in Africa on Islamist extremism and Russian influence including the Wagner Group. The media complains that France is ‘losing its diplomatic grip on African ex-colonies.’ [i]  The fear is that China and Russia will be able to extend its influence in France’s absence.

‘We are supporting the efforts of Ecowas in Africa to restore constitutional order in Niger,’ US Secretary of State Blinken said in an interview with Radio France Internationale.[ii]

Those ‘efforts’ included the threat of an illegal invasion by the US-supported regional organisation Ecowas. Luckily, this plan to use force to ‘protect democracy’ met with stiff opposition across Africa.

Gabon

Mali’s new prime minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga has vowed to end  France’s  ‘neocolonialist, condescending, paternalist and vengeful policies.’

He is referring to a development called Françafrique (the lingering informal system of French influence in Africa.)

Take the case of oil- and mineral-rich Gabon, where military officers seized power last month from the pro-French president Ali Bongo Ondimba.  

This beautiful country came under French rule in 1910. After gaining independence in 1960, French corporations stayed around to plunder Gabon’s timber, oil and minerals.

China is one of Gabon’s principal trading partners with only a minority share in its production and extraction industries.

French businesses dominate the landscape. The French company TotalEnergies runs seven oil extraction sites in Gabon. In August, Maurel & Prom purchased the Gabonese oil company Assala Energy for $730 million. French business interests in Gabon are represented by 81 companies, with sales close to $3 billion in 2022.

Gabon’s share of profits from external corporations have gone to the Bongo family, in power for 55  years and to the country’s elites to ensure their loyalty.

During his Presidency, Bongo Ondimba cut private deals with international corporations. He amassed huge personal wealth amid claims of fraudulent elections and cronyism.

Through shadowy clientelism Gabon became one of the richest countries per capita in Africa.

Yet a third of Gabon’s citizens live below the poverty line.[iii]

The greed and avarice of Bongo’s networks are despicable. Not surprisingly, this has made him an honoured contributor at the World Economic Forum, where he and Bill Gates extol digitalized currencies and the 4^th Industrial Revolution.

Manganese Ore

The French company Eramet extracts and exports Gabon’s manganese.

Gabon has become the world’s number-two (after South Africa) supplier of manganese, a mineral essential to the production of carbon steel and electric-vehicle batteries.

Source: //www.dailysabah.com/business/energy/french-miner-eramet-halts-operations-in-gabon-shares-plummet

Last year, Eramet realized a $200 billion profit, which declined in the first half of 2023, due to civil unrest and lower world prices.

Uranium in Gabon

For 40 years, France mined uranium in Gabon, used for nuclear-fuelled electricity production in France and much of Europe.

The French company AREVA mined at the Mounana site in Gabon from 1958 until 1999 through its subsidiary COMUF. Workers were overexposed to radiation and from the materials used to construct hospitals, maternity hospitals, and schools, etc.

Water resources used for extraction pollute surrounding areas. Miners and their families are suffering from health problems.

By the end of 2016, 367 former workers had died from pulmonary respiratory infections.

Surviving miners, many of them old and sick, have unsuccessfully demanded compensation from AREVA for 12 years.[i]

This is an old story, wherever uranium is or was mined. Navajo uranium miners in America’s SouthWest are experiencing the same neglect by government.[ii]

Self-Determination

Former French colonies in Africa won nominal independence during the 1960s and 70s.

Françafrique lives on – DW – 08/03/2020

Africa: Seven Coups In Three Years – Channels Television (channelstv.com)

But the advanced capitalist countries never stopped exploiting their former colonies.

Hypocritically, Western countries condemn the latest round of government takeovers but not the ones they themselves engineered behind the scenes to preserve their power in the postcolonial world.

In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the United States, France and the United Kingdom intervened, both covertly and overtly, to install foreign governments favourable to Western corporations. A particularly disgraceful episode during the 1960s was the CIA coup against the former President Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CIA meddling led to his assassination at age 35. 

Today, Western illegal military interventions are called ‘regime changes.’

Lumumba, Congo’s national hero

The road to self-determination

The newly installed governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso stopped military arrangements with France.

Neo-imperial nations don’t go without a fight. The French refused to withdraw its military from Niger. As of this writing, thousands of protestors have encircled the NATO military base in Niamey, where French troops are stationed. 

Protest against France troops at NATO base in Niamey, Niger, September 2023

The test of whether a country is independent is whether it has control over production and distribution of its resources. Profits should be ploughed into the health, education and welfare of its population, rather than into the pockets of elites.

It can be done. Nasser of Egypt and Al Qasim of  Iraq were military officers who seized power from British imperial masters in the 50s and 60s. They used the profits from nationalized resources to increase prosperity for all.

But structural reforms take time, and old ways tend to prevail.

Russia, China, and the US are major superpower players desirous of African resources. They want to gain influence in the region.

In Gabon, the French company Eramet continues to mine manganese with the consent of newly installed President General Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema, Bongo’s own cousin.

Libreville, the capital and largest city of Gabon. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade centre for a timber region. It was founded by freed slaves in 1848.

Source: Gabon - Blog - I Am Citizen

Kamran Abbasov calls Gabon in his blog ‘the last Eden on Earth … one of the distinguished countries in Africa for its heavenly sandy beaches, pristine jungles, and amazing landscapes.’

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[i] Health of uranium miners at AREVA sites in Gabon and Niger - Sherpa (asso-sherpa.org)

For Gabon's sickly uranium miners, a long quest for compensation - France 24

[ii] From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Weapons Part One - YouTube

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[ii] U.S. Backs Diplomacy to Resolve Niger Crisis | Time

[iii] Global Business Reports - Gabon: Is oil still the way forward? (gbreports.com)