NIGERIA, Abuja - The Sahel region has been doused with public dissatisfaction, and just like the Arab spring, public discontent has been sublimated into ferocious mass political demonstrations, leading to military takeover across the region. Amongst the 15 ECOWAS nations, about 4 are already being ruled by the military, with Niger being the most recent.

This, of course, poses important questions: Why is there a sudden wave of military takeovers in west Africa- the former French colonies specifically? Why has there been an upsurge of anti-French sentiments in the region? What is the role of ECOWAS and France in this regional political conundrum?

In the raucous, carnivalesque streets of Ouagadougou, Niamey, Bamako, Conakry, a single phrase has been consistently and passionately chanted in symphony by a mammoth crowd of protesters: “A bas La France”; meaning, literally: “down with France.”

Despite granting independence to its former African colonies through the wave of African decolonization in the 60s, France up until now maintains a neocolonial grip on its former African colonies- systemically exploiting their mineral resources through open brazen political interference- creating puppet regimes across the region and leaving the inhabitants of the territory in hapless poverty in the midst of a plethora of natural mineral wealth; a devastating paradox. 

The case of Burkina Faso is illustrative: in 1987, the charismatic military President of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara who, throughout his brief rule was committed to decolonial programs was slayed in cold blood by military goons under the instructions of Blaise Compaore who immediately became Head of State and ruled with an iron first with French endorsement from France for 27 years until he was forced out of power by mass protests in 2014. Since then, Burkina Faso’s political trajectory have been an amusingly devastating spectacle to behold; just like other francophone countries, Burkina Faso has become a theatre of political struggles. The same is true of Cameroon, where France currently supports an octogenarian who has been ruling in absentia since 1982, crushing oppositions horrendously and betraying the virtually all tenets of democratic principles.

The same is also true in Gabon. This at once has brought to the fore the inconsistency in the foreign policy of the French in particular, and the West in general. The West does not hate military takeovers, they only dislike “military takeovers that challenge their economic interests”. In one word: military regimes and other illegitimate governments are deemed acceptable as far as French economic interests are protected. In fact, Western economic interests trump democratic ideals. 

The same is true in Niger, where French military bases are scattered across the country ostensibly to help combat the militant Islamic fundamentalists in the region- with little or no progress achieved. The worsening material conditions of Nigeriens despite inhabiting the country that houses one of the largest deposits of uranium in the world, responsible for illuminating 40% of France while they are continually being pummeled into darkness have inspired the people of Niger into taking to the streets demanding a forensic reassessment of their economic relationship with France while at the same time demanding the complete withdrawal of French troops from their country; they are calling the toppled President Mohammed Bazoum a French puppet. 

These same perturbs are being reechoed in other former French colonies in the Sahel. Could it be that France, despite endorsing military regimes in the past and currently endorsing unconstitutional governments, has been buttressing democracy because of its unpopularity and the impending rise of Russia’s influence in the Sahel? France’s continuous unpopularity in the Sahel region and Russia’s imminent political relevance in the region have provoked a call for action by the EU through ECOWAS.

 Indeed, France cares less about the political system being practiced in Niger nor the material conditions of Nigeriens but the reassertion of its political influence by wrestling with Russia. The Sahel is a direct projection of over hundred years of French foreign policy; it mirrors the overbearing neocolonial influence of France. The Sahel is in one word, a theatre of struggle against French imperial dominion. 

ECOWAS: Foot Soldiers of Imperialism in the Sahel

ECOWAS and the EU are politically infantilizing the people of Niger by threatening military action as a panacea to restoring constitutional order in the little republic. However, French democratic commitments are spurious as they only have extrinsic value; these commitments lack substance as France is not trying to “restore democracy “in Niger but trying to reassert itself as an imperial power committed to canalizing the collective resources of the people through puppet regimes using ECOWAS as foot soldiers to this unscrupulous end.

As Frantz Fanon said, “each generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it”.  African leaders in the ECOWAS have an historic obligation in front of them; they have a duty of not letting their continent degenerate into a theatre of proxy wars. ECOWAS must not on the pressures, instructions and service of the EU invade their brothers and destabilize their continent instead, they must find peaceful ways in resolving the crisis in Niger Republic independent of the European Union. 

Niger Republic is an independent sovereign nation with its domestic issues; therefore, ECOWAS must refrain from betraying the basic principles of democracy by occupying a sovereign state in their bid to “restore democracy.” ECOWAS heads of states must act like one and stop acting like attack dogs at the whistle of the EU.