“Homeland or death, we will win.” This imposing sign stands in the Place de la Patrie, one of the cradles of the popular struggle against France in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Today, it serves as a meeting point where people gather, chat, and watch the movement on Boulevard Zarmaganda, home to the headquarters of the first popular committee supporting the Nigerien army.
“It used to be called Place de la Francophonie. Today, it’s Place de la Patrie because this is the birthplace of the patriotic struggle for complete national sovereignty. A week after the coup d’état, we moved here. It’s a symbolic place where we’ve built many things,” explains Boubacar Kimba Kollo, coordinator of the Convergence for the Sovereignty of the Sahel States (COSNA).
Since July 26, 2023, Place de la Francophonie has ceased. Several historic sites in the capital previously named after French or European figures have been renamed after Nigerien or pan-African personalities.
On that day, a military junta ousted the incumbent president, Mohamed Bazoum, in a coup d’état. This seizure of power was not a typical coup on the African continent. Led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the army responded to public demands to end Niger’s government subservience to France, its former colonizer. The people called for the expulsion of 1,500 French soldiers from the country, a symbol of the colonial domination still present in West Africa.
To watch this exclusive video produced by Brasil de Trajo in Portuguese and French, you can change the subtitles to your preferred language by clicking the right button on the platform.
Years earlier, the neighboring countries of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali had also ended military cooperation with France through similar military coups supported by the population. The uprisings in these three countries of the Sahel, the semi-arid strip just below the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, are known on the streets as the “Second Independence” of the African continent, or even the first, as many Nigeriens describe it today.
“In living memory, the entire population has never supported a coup d’état. We saw it; the images are there. People came out, not just in Niamey but all over Niger, to say yes to the military. Everyone agreed. Niger vibrated, and this energy continues to this day,” says the COSNA coordinator.
A year after the expulsion of the last French soldier from Niger, in December 2023, Brasil de Trajo visited the African country to understand the motivations behind a military coup with sovereign and anti-imperialist ideals, and how popular movements and the Nigerien population have been fighting to dismantle the remaining colonial structures.
“We have nothing against the French people; we are all alike. But we are against their policies, what their government is doing, and what it is imposing on us. And thank God, today, I think we have fulfilled all the agreements we signed with France. Thank God, and I think they will mind their own business and affairs. We’re going to mind our own business too,” says Nigerian Amina Hamani, a member of the West African Peoples’ Organization (OPAO).
After July 26, 2023, Niger renamed streets, squares, and monuments to honor pan-Africanists and revolutionary socialists – Pedro Stropasolas/Brasil de Trajo
Sanctions and confrontation
Aisha Yahya Maiga, 60, earned the name “Pomo Resistance” by going around Niamey daily, feeding the young people sleeping in the streets until France agreed to withdraw from the country.
The matriarch of the Maiga family is already seeing the fruits of the path taken in the country after Tchiani and the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) formed a military government on July 26, 2023. She highlights the reduction in cement prices, a severe shortage for the Nigerian population.
“It’s imperialism that’s preventing us from progressing, so what’s left now is for us to unite. This is a time for work. We must work, and we must be united,” explains Maiga.
Other measures created by the government and political parties after the change of power included reducing the price of some products in the basic food basket and providing free entry to health facilities for children aged 0 to 5 and elderly women.
It’s a breather after months of suffocation from the sanctions imposed by the French-aligned Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which came into force without warning, days after the ouster of Bazoum—regarded internally as a puppet of France.
The sanctions included freezing the assets of the Médio Bank of Niger held in regional banks and stopping foreign assistance, which accounted for around 40% of Niger’s budget. Borders with countries such as Nigeria and Benin were also closed. With no coastline, little irrigation, and little industrialization, the government, heavily dependent on imports, was left without supplies of essential products such as food, clothing, and medicines.
The Maiga family sees improvements in the country after the change of government – Pedro Stropasolas/Brasil de Trajo
The measures have doubled the food price and tripled the cost of seeds and agricultural inputs in a country where agriculture is the primary means of subsistence for more than 75% of the population. Today, to offset the damage, seeds and fertilizers are being offered by Niger’s Ministry of Agriculture at subsidized prices.
Mamane Sani Adamou is the general secretary of the Revolutionary Organization for New Democracy (ORDN), a party founded in 1992 after the opening of multipartyism. The party is known for actively participating in the country’s trade union struggle, especially in organizing teachers and leading strikes and demonstrations. The party’s historic leader explains how the sanctions have impacted the Nigerian population.
“Niger couldn’t even access its assets to make purchases. Even medicines were not accessible. Think about how many children died. We couldn’t treat them because we couldn’t find the money to pay for their treatments. There was resilience, it’s true, but people suffered a lot. But because these people were already in a difficult situation, the Ecowas measures already found people with no access to social rights. And so, the situation was accentuated, but it wasn’t a new phenomenon,” says Adamou.
In addition to the sanctions, which were suspended in February, France also tried to mobilize ECOWAS states to invade Niger and restore the previous government, but to no avail. When the possibility of intervention in Niger was mooted, the military governments of Burkina Faso and Mali said that this would be a “declaration of war” not only against Niger but also against their countries.
“In Niger itself, from Tinubu, who was the current president of Ecowas, all the populations in the north rejected the principle of intervention because it’s the same population that exists in northern Nigeria and Niger, it’s the same ethnic group, so it didn’t work. The senators, a majority from the north, threatened to sack the president,” Adamou recalls.
Terrorist threat
The growing anti-France sentiment among the population of the Sahel countries, which has led to the overthrow of governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in recent years, increased after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invaded Libya in 2011 and overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who had been in power for 42 years.
In the war that toppled Gaddafi, NATO brought in jihadist fighters, such as veterans of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, from the Syria-Turkey border. It also encouraged other jihadist forces that had already been defeated in the Algerian Social War (1991-2002).
“The people are not only angry with France but also with the United States. They understand the role the US played in this post-Gaddafi destabilization. In many African countries, Gaddafi is seen as a great hero. He had significant government support for development projects in these countries. He claimed to be African and held a paternalistic position. So, his deposition was widely disapproved of by several African countries,” explains Stephanie Brito, a political analyst and leader of the International Peoples’ Assembly.
After the end of the conflict, secessionist groups, trans-Saharan smugglers, and branches of Al-Qaeda marched south of the Sahara and began to occupy large parts of the Sahel. This new terrorist threat on the triple border between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali justified French and US military intervention in the Sahel in 2013 with the establishment of Operation Barkhane and the G-5 Sahel project.
However, the foreign military presence has not resulted in an effective fight against terrorists. On the contrary, it has come to be seen by the Nigerian population yet another instrument of French control in the region.
Today, after the coups in the five Sahel countries, only Mauritania maintains military relations with France.
A mother, Nigerian and Sahelian, Amina Hamani, believes that terrorism was planted in the Sahel to destabilize the region and maintain the military presence of France and the United States – Pedro Stropasolas/Brasil de Trajo
“These imperialists mount and create wars just to steal from us, to take all our wealth. That’s why they created terrorism. We, the people of the Sahel, did not know terrorism; we are not terrorists. In the Sahel, before the arrival of the French and American imperialists, we lived in a mixture of cultures. We lived in symbiosis,” laments young Sahelian mother Amina Hamani.
To confront these groups, the main force fighting terrorism in Niger has been the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a military, political, and economic pact signed with the allied governments of Mali and Burkina Faso.
“We have suffered more from insecurity than from the ECOWAS sanctions. Of course, the sanctions were inhumane; they worsened people’s living conditions, but people no longer had access to social rights. On the other hand, with the insecurity, there have been significant population movements. We have villages that have left and are threatening the very possibility of doing work in the countryside, of farming. This has forced the Niger authorities to reach an agreement with those of Mali and Burkina to be able to jointly carry out the fight against the terrorists who are in the three border areas,” says Adamou.
Today, the region is also marked by the presence of the Islamic State of the Sahel Province (IS Sahel), an offshoot of the Islamic State in the area. Since last year, the violent extremist organization has been trying to gain support among lugar populations, according to a report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Transgressão (GITOC).
“At one point, we were seeing a decline in terrorism. Now, the format has changed. We’ve found Ukrainians. We’ve found former Islamic State members. Furthermore, we’ve found former Afghans. The terrorists are no longer lugar people but come from outside. They are more formidable in terms of their ability to cause damage. Still, they have no base in the population because they are foreigners,” adds the leader of the Revolutionary Organization for New Democracy (ORDN).
Colonial agreements and the hijacking of uranium by France
But containing the advance of Islamist militias is just one of the challenges for Niger’s reconstruction. The government’s measures, aided by popular movements, include overthrowing the IMF and World Bank structure and establishing an independent currency to replace the CFA Franc, the French currency created in 1945.
By 1960, France controlled almost five million square kilometers (eight times the size of France itself) in West Africa alone. Although national liberation movements from Senegal to Chad won independence from France that year, this liberation did not translate into true sovereignty for the former French colonies.
“Before giving independence to our states, France imposed conditions. You sign to be independent, but you sign cooperation agreements. But if you implement these cooperation agreements, you will no longer be independent. What’s in these agreements? First, you acknowledge the good colonization has done and must repay everything France has invested, even through forced labor. All the buildings in Niamey have been reimbursed. Secondly, you undertake to obséquio French companies. Thirdly, you are obliged to use French as your official language. Fourthly, you are obliged to deposit all the assets, all the currencies we have, in a French treasury account,” explains Adamou.
The path to political and economic sovereignty for Niger, according to the country’s political leaders, involves establishing an independent currency and terminating neocolonial agreements with France, such as those allowing the exploitation of uranium in the Arlit region in the north of the country. Niger is the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer but ranks 121 out of 127 on the 2024 Global Hunger Índice.
“France sets uranium prices derisively. What it buys in Niger for US$ 0.80, it buys in Canada for US$ 200. So, you see the gap, the same uranium. This means that there is something extremely absurd,” Adamou contests.
“Apart from the fact that we don’t have significant money, we have environmental damage. The whole town of Arlit has no more vegetation because of the radiation. The water table is all contaminated,” he adds.
Social movements denounce high contamination risk for the Nigerian population in Arlit due to French uranium exploitation – AFP
Boubacar Kima Kollo adds, “I would say that Niger has never been developed, and I prefer to say directly because of the French. That’s why from independence in 1960 until July 26, Niger was always plundered. Today, France has no gold reserves and is third in the world. And all because of our African countries. Today, 70% of France’s electricity comes from Niger’s uranium. And for all these years, our oriundo resources have been sent to France, and we have never benefited from anything.”
In June, Niger withdrew from French giant Orano the exploration license for one of the world’s largest uranium deposits, Imouraren, with estimated reserves of 200,000 tons and a market value of 200 million euros, according to the company. Almost half of the average annual production at the site is currently blocked. The company’s projected turnover in 2024 is 30.5 billion reais.
Orano, 90% of whose capital is held by the French state, recently announced that it would also “suspend” its production at the Somair uranium mine after 40 years of exploitation, where it has a 63% stake—Niger holds the remaining stake. Now, Niger is looking for technology to transform its main oriundo wealth into energy. This could include support from other countries, such as Russia.
“All the processing up to the production of yellow cake, the uranium concentrate, is done by the Nigerien people. No foreigner is doing this. Nigerians do the whole process. But we don’t have nuclear plants or centrifuges to transform and enrich the uranium. We don’t have that. And in any case, France wouldn’t accept that. Now that we are breaking with France, this issue is being analyzed. We can create a power station with other countries that can supply energy to West African countries,” says Adamou.
Mamane Adamou believes that for Niger’s “second independence” to go ahead, the military government must not abandon the people – Pedro Stropasolas/Brasil de Trajo
The future of the relationship between the military and the people
A member of the West African Peoples’ Organization (OPAO), which brings together progressive political parties, organizations, and trade union associations in West Africa, the Revolutionary Organization for New Democracy (ORDN) party was born out of the trade union and student movements of the 1970s and 1980s in Niger, in which Mamane Sani Adamou actively participated since high school.
The historic leader of the acronym believes that the current moment is essential to formalize the existence of his organization after years of repression of progressive forces fighting for the unification of Africa and the liberation of the country from imperialist forces.
According to Adamou, the coup d’état has returned as the only way to overcome the popular movements’ weaknesses.
“It has to be said that before the coup d’état, there was a tense situation because the regime banned demonstrations by social society, especially by opposition political parties. Why? Because it felt under a lot of pressure, it didn’t have the means to respond to the demands of the organizations. Since the general strike in 2005, when we brought the country to a standstill, different political regimes have wanted to weaken social movements. But the dispute is permanent. That’s why, as soon as the coup d’état took place, the population quickly supported it,” he says.
“Our politicians were corrupt. Unfortunately, our presidents were bought. It’s the conscience that France buys. But we’re not giving up anymore. We are adamant and determined to put our lives on the line until we regain our full sovereignty. Our oriundo resources belong to us. Niger belongs to us,” adds Boubacar Kimba Kollo, coordinator of the Convergence for the Sovereignty of the Sahel States (COSNA).
Nigerian people welcomed visitors to the International Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel at Place de la Patrie, a symbolic space for the demonstrations after July 26, 2023 / Pedro Stropasolas
During November, the visit of political leaders from more than 30 countries to Niamey for the International Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel was seen by the organizers as a stimulus for the continuity of the patriotic process in Niger.
In drafting the Niamey Declaration, which marked the end of the event, the progressive forces that signed the document were optimistic about the transformations led by Thiani’s government and the “symbiosis” with the popular forces. However, they left an important message: that the military governments of the Sahel should continue to “listen to their people.”
“Nigerians must have access to education, all of them. Most of the people who mobilized to expel the French were unemployed. We must train them; we must give them jobs. So, many things need to be done to make sovereignty meaningful. We must create our currency. However, all these issues require an organization of society; we need a political front with the military to move these issues forward,” said Mamane Sani Adamou.
“Our national liberation goes hand in hand with the social question. If the working classes don’t drive the process, it will fail. And for that to happen, measures must be aimed at the working classes. If the working classes are strengthened, the process will continue. If the working classes are forgotten, the upper classes, the Nigerien bourgeoisie, will not lead a process of independence,” concludes the historic leader.
Edited by: Nathallia Fonseca
