The Duran Podcast - France completes withdrawal from Niger

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

France completes withdrawal from Niger

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the fact that France is out of Niger. I think that's it. That's the big news. We talked about Niger a lot over the summer and the spring summer. And we came very close to a big conflict, but it didn't happen. And what happened instead is that France was pushed out of the country. So this is a big event. Absolutely.

I think it is the first time there is no French presence on the territory of the state we now call Niger since 1897. I mean, that is, that gives you a sense of how long France has had a presence in this part of Africa. And it was Niger, very important country, country with, you know, huge uranium deposits, strategically positioned all of that. that we've been hearing about so much. A duel in France's old colonial crown. Very much a place where France continues to exercise

predominant influence right through the Cold War and beyond. And now it's gone that they've finally severed their links with France. And if we go back a couple of months when there was the coup in this year,

it was really, if you remember, it was touch and go. I mean, we had threats from Macron at one point. France was actually going to intervene in Niger. There's going to be military action taken by France in Niger. And it turned out the African Union was dead against it. It was completely opposed to a neo-colonial intervention by France in Niger. And then there was an attempt to try to split the Niger military. And if you remember, no less a person than Victoria Newland turned up in the capital of Niger and tried to get the Niger government to the military to release the overthrown president and to return to democracy and all of that.

And the fact that Victoria Newland went to Niger has you a number of things. Firstly, how important Niger is. Because, you know, Newland, let's face it, is probably the single most important person behind the scenes in the State Department. I mean, I think probably she's probably a more purposeful figure, even than Blinken himself is. But, you know, she's now the second, you know, the second in charge at the State Department.

And she went off to Niger, tried to talk the military round. The military refused to listen. They remain united. Then we had a major attempt, a major effort by France, and the United States, and Britain also, by the way, to try to get ECOWAS to send troops and to Niger to overthrow the new government there. And there was supposedly agreements about this, and military force was accumulated, and the president of Nigeria appeared to be in support of this, and we were even given deadlines, two-week deadlines, and all of those things. And then it became clear that.

that within ECOWAS itself and within Nigeria itself, there was enormous opposition. And that military operation was cancelled. And now we have France and they've had to leave Niger. And Niger itself is now closely aligning with Burkina Faso and Mali, which are also countries where they've been anti-French coups, and which are increasingly aligning with the bricks. So a major event in Eastern Africa, an event that should not be underestimated,

the significance of which should not be underestimated. And this talk, which may or may not happen, about Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger forming some kind of federation together. Well, we'll see. Yeah. The world is changing. France has been weakened. Yes. Yes. Especially under Macron.

It was, it's a big blow and it's a big, if I could say so, it's obviously a big victory for the military in Niger, though all the indications are that the coup enjoys very big popular support in Niger. So this is something that the Niger people also support. But the big winners here are, is Africa, in my opinion, because Africa opposed, collectively opposed the French intervention in Niger. They opposed an attempt by the Western powers to overturn what had happened in Niger. And the unity of Africa in its opposition. meant that it couldn't happen, and a key African country has now broken free. Yeah, it's amazing what happens when a country has a choice now.

It doesn't only have to depend on the Collective West. So now it can find everything that the Collective West gave it, it can now find in Bricks, Russia and China, financing, money, investment, infrastructure, military security. where before it didn't have a choice. So it actually has the choice now to tell France to leave. And it won't skip a beat. It will actually prosper now. I imagine Niger is going to be much better off.

Well, absolutely. They'll be able to renegotiate. They'll be able to renegotiate. Well, they are renegotiating the incredibly lopsided deals that they had with France, about supplying France with uranium. I mean, remember France's nuclear industries. I know since nuclear weapons basically were founded on uranium from Niger. Well, now there's a set the Niger government is renegotiating all of that.

But they can also, as you correctly said, they can achieve all of these other things, trade links, economic links, and military and security links with the BRIC states. And it will work very much more to their advantage. If you're talking about military links, interesting to look at what is happening in Mali, because of course Mali was an ally of France before, as it was as Niger and Burkina Faso used to be. There was a French military presence in Mali. There was also a major insurgency in Mali. There were the various jihadi forces and the Turek rebels.

in the north, in the Sahel area of Mali. And whilst Marley was working with the French, it was unable to dislodge them. They were advancing. They were gaining territory. And then when Mali had a coup and threw out the French and brought in the Russians, that has completely reversed. And over the last couple of weeks, especially, we've been hearing of more and more territory, being brought back under the control of the Mali government. And we can see that the Russian military advice and assistance provided partly by ex-Vagner people now, or Wagner people, but also the Russian Defence Ministry,

Sudeviken. You remember him? He's been quite busy traveling to all of these places. Anyway, that's all having a, that's all leading finally to Mali being looking like it will be able to regain control of all of its territory. All right. We will leave it there. The durand.locals.com. We are in Rumble, Odyssey, but shoot, Telegram, Rock Finn and Twitter X.

And go to the Duran shop. Use the code, Christmas 20, 20% off. All merch. Take care.