Horace Campbell on Opposing Military Intervention in Niger & Disastrous U.S./French Role in Africa

in Niger leaders of last month's military coup have appointed a 21-member cabinet as they Forge ahead with building a new government this comes as West African leaders from ecowas are holding an emergency Summit today in the Nigerian Capital Abuja to determine their next steps after a deadline to restore ousted president Muhammad bassum past Sunday ecowas backed by the U.S and the former colonizer France had threatened to use military force if their deadline was not met but there's been deep division within the region over how to respond the senate in Nigeria has said military force should only be used as a last resort if diplomacy fails neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso all ruled by cool leaders who've ejected French forces from their country have said any military action would be taken as an attack on their countries as well many Nigerians have been taking to the streets since July 26 coup to show their support of the military and voice opposition to any foreign intervention on Wednesday the coup leadership accused France of violating its airspace this is Niger Army spokesperson Colonel major amadu adraman these security disruptions planned by these French forces was the case in Mali and Burkina Faso aimed to discredit the cnsp and create a Rapture with the people who supported its actions or to create the feeling of a generalized insecurity in any case meanwhile sanctions and power Cuts imposed on a share have hampered delivery of humanitarian Aid to over 4 million people in need of assistance according to the U.N African officers trained by the U.S military have now taken part in 11 coups in West Africa since 2008 including in Burkina Faso and Mali for more we turn to Horace Campbell professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University activist and chairperson of the global pan-african movement North American delegation he's also the author of global NATO and the catastrophic failure in Libya Professor Campbell we welcome you back to democracy Now can you talk about what's happening as we speak the meeting in Nigeria the most populous country in Africa of the ecowas leaders West African leaders who set a deadline of this past Sunday saying if the president bazoom was not returned they would militarily intervene well clearly they haven't what's your response of course Burkina Faso Molly Guinea threatening that they better not attack well good morning Amy and thank you for having me we oppose all military intervention you should make that very clear we oppose the military intervention in Mali Burkina Faso Niger and guinea but one cannot oppose the military intervention without opposing France and the United States and their militarization of the region this recent destruction of Civilian power and civilian leadership in Niger is one of the nine sequences that has developed since the war and Terror in that region the fabrication of Terror the intervention of the United States and France in the region and the consequences of the destruction of Libya and the financing of groups military groups in the region by France now this this military intervention in Niger is a consequence of the militarization of Nigerian society when the society needs social and economic reconstruction the United States has pumped more than a billion dollars into this region into military facilities and Military programs and supporting military elements in this region in Nigeria alone the United States has spent half a billion dollars building a military base a military and drone facilities in agades to support French exploitation of the mineral human resources of Niger so we cannot discuss what's going on in Nigeria without discussing the call by the African people for the expulsion of France from West Africa the foreign minister of Mali has calling the United Nations to investigate France in the region the the former prime minister of Italy has called for sanctions against France and it is the great Wing conservative forces in the United States that is supporting France to the point where now we see the conservative wing of the Biden administration led by Victoria Newland and Anthony blinken leading the discussions on Africa why is it that Victoria Newland was in Niger on Monday and Victor Newlin is in South Africa the Biden Administration has African expert they named Johnny Carson as their expert on Africa at the last U.S Africa Summit but is Victor Newland the hawk that wants to militarize the planet Earth who is a rabid military who is now flying between a Nigeria mid-year and South Africa carrying out U.S policies the task is for the left and Progressive forces in this country to call for the removal of the United States Africa command from Africa the closing of the U.S military facilities in Nigeria and to support the people of Niger in removing France from Niger just as the people of Burkina Faso and Mali has done and we should support the call for Federation between Mali Niger and Burkina Faso give us the history of Niger and French colonialism there we'll also talk about the United States well Niger is one of those states that has suffered from French military intervention and destruction in the region the French are inordinately dependent on the exploitation and plunder of Africa the French has military personnel in Niger when their military personnel were thrown out to Mali and Burkina Faso they were redeployed to Niger and they were Stoned on the way to their bases in Niger the France has exploited the mineral and natural resources of Niger the French uranium Minds energy or not only exploited the uranium resources of Niger but France has also closed minds and left radioactive material that that is delivered to the health and safety of the Nigerian people now everyone in West Africa is calling for the ending of the CFA Franc and the domination of the economies of West Africa by France they're calling for the removal of the 240 000 French Personnel in West Africa in the case of Niger France is opposed to any plans for the Reconstruction of the country let's take the major plan in this region for the Reconstruction of the country that is the replenishing of Lake Chad you started this news broadcast this morning by talking about a fire in Hawaii those kinds of fires are going on all across West Africa because of global warming global warming has accelerated the depletion of Blake Chad Lake Chad has lost 95 percent of its water resources there's a plan by the lake Chad Basin authority to replenish Lake Chad who is against this France who is against investment in reconstruction in West Africa France who has been supporting who allegedly has been supporting Terror groups in West Africa when the United States called for investigation into Boko Haram it was revealed in the Nigerian newspapers that the French has been supporting Boko Haram in Nigeria so the French create terrorist groups and then goes into African countries to say they are fighting terrorism in Africa this kind of duplicity by France and fomenting Terror and Destruction has been challenged by the peoples of West Africa in in every country in West Africa they're calling for the ending of French economic financial and Military domination so we in this country must call on our representatives and our um our political forces who are progressive for example okaze Cortez who is a progressive member of Congress when she was a student she went into Niger why are they not raising their voices against the militarism and militarization of West Africa by the United States military and to call for investment in health reconstruction water supply and the safety of the people of Niger Burkina Faso and Mali the United States France is gung-ho about reversing a military coup in Niger what about the military coup in Sudan that has been supported by the United States Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates what about the destruction of the military in Sudan against the peoples of Sudan calling for the restoration of democratic relations we cannot be selective in our opposition to militarism we must oppose militarism of All Sorts in Africa but the priority at this moment is for the removal of France and the call on the United Nations to have sanctions against France for its destruction and militarism in Africa and then talk about the U.S role the U.S drone base in Niger and talk about the significance of uranium in the world that's in Niger well let's start with the United States of America the United States of America has been involved in what they call a war and Terror which is as the in the words of Jerry McKinnon a Fabrication in West Africa the people who are called terrorists and many cases are people who were supported by France in in the case of the destruction of Libya the United States and France removed Gaddafi and now the United States and France are fighting on both sides of the war in Libya after the destruction of Libya the tuarig left Libya and went into Mali Niger and Burkina Faso the French supported groups that are supposed to be Terror groups and then the United States started what they call the Chan Sahara counter-terror initiative and spent half a billion dollars on that counter-terror initiative the United States then went into Niger to build a military base and a drone base in agades now all of this is very murky because even the Pentagon cannot account for what is happening the Congressional Representatives say they do not know what's going on in in in in this year when four United States Marines were killed at tongatongo in Nigeria and if you look at the map to see where tongutongo is right at the border between Mali Niger and Burkina Faso when these four Marines were killed in 2017 up to now the Pentagon cannot say what happened to these four Marines the ABC documentary three two one t one unredacted talks about the murkiness of the intelligence and the opaque operations of the Pentagon in Niger the United States needs to remove its military forces from Africa and to support the peace social justice forces in Africa who are fighting for reconstruction in that part of the world so the the United States itself is a force for Destruction against the peoples of Africa at the moment hello hello good morning are management I want to ask you about the leaders of Burkina Faso Molly Guinea all warning against the foreign intervention in Nigeria to reverse the coup now Burkina Faso is interim leader Ibraham Troy who took power in a coup in September recently spoke um in Moscow during the Russia African Summit he criticized what he called imperialist neocolonialism the questions my generation is asking are the following if I can summarize is that we do not understand how Africa with so much wealth on our soil with generous nature water sunshine and abundance how Africa is today the poorest continent Africa is a hungry continent and how come there are heads of state all over the world begging these are the questions we are asking ourselves and we have no answers so far we have the opportunity to forge new relationships and I hope that these relationships can be the best ones to give our people a better future My Generation also asks me to say that because of this poverty they are forced to cross the ocean to try to reach Europe they die in the ocean but soon they will no longer have to cross because they will come to our palaces to seek their daily bread as far as what concerns Burkina Faso today for more than eight years we've been confronted with most barbaric and the most violent form of imperialist neocolonialism slavery continues to impose itself on us our predecessors taught us one thing a slave who cannot assume his own Revolt does not deserve to be pitied we do not feel sorry for ourselves we do not ask anyone to feel sorry for us the people of Burkina Faso have decided to fight to fight against terrorism in order to relaunch their development so that is Burkina faso's interim leader Ibraham Trey who took power in a coup in September wearing that red beret that's reminiscent of Thomas Ankara the leader who is assassinated in 1987. talk about that history Professor Campbell the the political consciousness of the peoples of Africa at the moment this Consciousness has been heightened by the conjuncture of the global capitalist crisis the Investments for billion years the climate crisis covid-19 and the general immisceration of the African peoples Thomas Sankara was a military leader in Burkina Faso and that's why though we condemn military coup d'etat we do not have a knee-jerk reaction against all military leaders because within the ranks of the military in Burkina Faso are The Heirs of tamasankara Thomas Sankara was a leader who organized the people of Burkina Faso to bring safety security sanitation peace to that country and it was about how to mobilize the people of West Africa against French imperialism and through French and ivorian machinations the the the Thomas Sankara was killed the military in Burkina Faso still has some of the sentiment and consciousness of Thomas Sankara but what was being said by the leader of Burkina Faso is now reflected all across West Africa in Senegal the anti-french Anti-Imperialist sentiments are very high and the highest anti-impural sentiment in Africa at the moment is to be found in the Sudan where the revolution in the Sudan has mobilized the people into resistance committees resistance committees that overthrew the military so Burkina Faso Sudan Mali and now Niger are countries where the room for developing the political consciousness of the people and strengthening the anti-imperious Block in Africa is very strong last week the the the the the eff in South Africa had its 10th anniversary Congress and if you listen to the speech of malema the anti-imp really speech you get a sense of the sentiment all across Africa about imperialism about the need for African unification harnessing the resources of Africa and to ensure that Africa is not drawn into any new Wars what we are seeing in Nigeria is that the Nigerian government which many in Nigeria call the present government illegal this government in Nigeria needs an intervention in Niger and in a Burkina Faso and Mali in order to get favor from the United States of America so that the new book can be in power the people of Nigeria they're against this military intervention the Senate of Nigeria as you said in the lead up said they should not intervene they said there should be dialogue the people of Nigeria the people of Nigeria are one so what Burkina Faso leader what the Burkina Faso the leader said in Russia at the Russia Africa Summit is a sentiment of the peoples all across Africa about Western military intervention in Africa and yet interestingly Professor Campbell um the African officers who are involved in these 11 coups in the last 15 years in West Africa including in Burkina Faso and Mali have been trained in the United States and trained by this money that the United States is supposed to be spending on counter-terror and think that is why we need great investigation in what the United States is doing in Burkina Faso Mali Niger and guinea and to call for closing of the United States Africa command and for there to be greater relations between the civilian Societies in Africa and the peoples of the United States the United States Africa command needs to be removed from Africa because United States Africa command has been responsible for part of the the sequences of militarism in West Africa and finally if you can talk about the U.S um I would say intensified interest in Africa right now as it tries to compete with Russia and even more importantly China if you can talk about Africa as a kind of proxy for This Global competition yes first of all the African peoples have been fighting for self-determination the African peoples have been calling for the unification of Africa the African peoples have been calling for the African currency so that they are not sending billions of dollars up to 48 billion dollars every year to Western European countries the African countries want freedom of movement they're creating the Africa Continental free trade community the United States France the European Union all foreign powers are against Africa uniting and creating roads and Railways and ports for the African peoples the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya was directly related to the plan by the African Union for an African currency an African currency that prevents the outflow of resources from Africa is a threat to France the European Union and the United States of America and that is why the United States is creating the Boogie about China and the United States is intensifying militarism in Africa next this war in Ukraine is the terrible war against the peoples of Ukraine in that region but that war in Ukraine is another of the militarization of the planet with the United States is supporting the fascist elements in Ukraine now Africans have taken a position that they do not have any dog in this fight they want peace in Ukraine the United States is threatening Africans with the counting Russian malign influence in Africa they've actually passed a bill in Congress to coerce Africans to support the United States and the NATO war in Ukraine when Africans are calling for NATO to be accountable for the destruction of Libya in South Africa in particular where there will be the brics summit the next week where Brazil Russia India China and South Africa are coming together to break the domination of the United States over the world economy the United States is threatening the South African government it's not by accident that Victoria Newland went from West Africa to South Africa they've been threatening the South African government and making allegations that South Africa is selling arms to Russia all of these are Fabrications the United States has no lean leaning on Kenya to send soldiers to Haiti the United States is calling on Kenya to sign a strategic trade investment partnership with Kenya to break up the plans for greater cooperation in Eastern Africa so the United States is running a mock in Africa based on challenging China the the United the African people do not need United States to tell them to challenge China what the people of Africa needs is to plant food to end Hunger they want jobs they want roads they want health care and they want tangible resources internationally to fight climate change this is the most important crisis globally so we in this part of the world need to join with the African peoples supporting peace and reconstruction supporting the replenishment of Lake Chad and do not support France and the United States in the destruction of Africa Morris Campbell I want to thank you for being with us professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University chairperson of the global pan-african movement North American delegation author of global NATO and the catastrophic failure in Libya

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 517,134

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News

Id: LMiLz2BMmWE

Length: 26min 8sec (1568 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2023