There is hardly a justifiable coup. And no army in the world is above the people. Its duty and what at the same time makes its nobility is to ensure the security of its people and to protect territorial integrity. Its duty is not to make coups d'Etat. Any coup d'Etat is always carried out in defiance of the will of the people whose authors claim to defend the interests and who suffer from it. But it is always the result of a more or less serious bankruptcy of the political frameworks of the country in which it intervenes.
General Tchiani's coup in Niger, which is not one - since he borrows some of their methods from the Terrorists against whom he claims to hold his justification. Namely kidnapping and blackmail, by holding hostage the democratically elected head of state, Mohamed Bazoum, who has still not formally resigned. On the contrary, he is resisting. But the Nigerien soldiers who set up what they called their own National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), also took hostage and President Mohamed Bazoum with his family and many of his ministers or others collaborators. Methods that are strangely and sadly reminiscent of the situation in Haiti, with its gang warfare and hostage-taking. Except that here, in Niamey, the Nigerian soldiers of the CNSP only claim Power as a ransom for this mass kidnapping of the Nigerian officials of the Cabinet of Bazoum.
“At a time when we need it, I call on the US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order. Fighting for our common values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make lasting progress in the fight against poverty and terrorism. The people of Niger will never forget your support at this pivotal moment in our history.”
Thus expressed President Bazoum himself in his Tribune in the “Washington Post” and taken up on the official site of the Presidency of the Republic of Niger.
With the historical precedent that the CSP has created in Niger and whose repercussions could be incalculable, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) but also the African Union (AU) have sinned by their inability to no longer tolerate foreign mercenaries in Africa and in particular those of Wagner associated with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. A serious political and diplomatic error whose consequences can be clearly appreciated not only in Mali, Burkina Faso but now in Niger. And yet, the texts and laws of the African Union, which are binding on all, are formal on this dangerous question of mercenary activity.
And President Mohamed Bazoum makes a relevant and accurate analysis when he writes:
“In Africa's troubled Sahel region, Niger is the last bastion of respect for human rights amid authoritarian movements that have taken over some of our neighbours. While this coup attempt is a tragedy for Nigeriens, its success would have devastating consequences far beyond our borders.
With an open invitation from the coup plotters and their regional allies, the entire central Sahel region could fall under Russian influence via the Wagner Group, whose brutal terrorism has been on display in Ukraine.
Boko Haram and other terrorist movements will certainly take advantage of Niger's instability, using our country as a staging ground to attack neighboring countries and undermine peace, security and freedom in the world. They will step up their efforts to target our young people with hateful anti-Western indoctrination, pitting them against the very partners who help us build a more hopeful future.”
If ECOWAS does not give itself the strength and the means to restore constitutional order in Niger, then it would be necessary to say definitively “Goodbye to Democracy” in West Africa. Because what is being played out in Niger is not just a blow. Whatever name it bears. It is also the coup de grace to the whole complex and essential edifice for democratic learning that the peoples of West Africa have put in place for several decades. What is at stake is again and above all the desire to internationalize the institution of autocratic, even dictatorial powers or regimes to counter a certain idea that we have of Power in the West, by opposing any form of Democracy in Africa on the pretext that it is a Western invention even though Democracy was not born in the West but it was indeed born in Africa.
As my colleague and Ivorian Venance Konan said so well:
“This coup in Niger is the fourth in less than three years in our ECOWAS region. There was close to being a fifth in Guinea Bissau. Why all these putsches in this region? Is it the poorest in Africa, the one where there is the most insecurity? We have to ask ourselves. And, apart from Guinea Bissau where the coup attempt failed, they all happened in French-speaking countries. We also wonder about this aspect. But I believe that there are all these coups d'etat mainly because there is no one to prevent them. And obviously, there is someone behind it who benefits greatly from it. As Laurent Gbagbo would say, we see the back of the swimmer. A swimmer who, to tell the truth, has never hidden his intentions. There was this video broadcast by the Russian group Wagner which clearly announced that Côte d'Ivoire was in its sights. After the abortive mutiny of the Wagner boss, it was announced that this group would now deploy in Africa, a continent too juicy for Russia to abandon. And we saw this boss of Wagner, who we thought was in disgrace, flaunting around the Russia-Africa summit that has just been held in Saint Petersburg”
Let those who do not want ECOWAS leave it. But ECOWAS must remain very firm and no longer allow soldiers anywhere in the sub-region to desert the barracks to manage political power. And that whatever it should cost. But ECOWAS must not forget one thing, that this same firmness must also prevail with regard to the leaders within it who have skilfully deviated the texts and laws of their countries in defiance of their peoples in order to remain in power in beyond the will of the people. And now, we will have to force the perpetrators of constitutional or institutional coups to restore the democratic order on which, by means of a referendum, only the people are empowered to decide. And this in a democratic and transparent way.
The former President of the United States, Barack Obama, was indeed right when he declared on the occasion of his trip to Africa in Accra: "Africa does not need strong men, but strong institutions". A profession of faith that he hammered once again from the top of the African Union platform in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Until Africans build strong institutions, there will always be crooked politicians out to trick Democracy to their detriment. And if the West continues to tolerate these grotesque tricks, the African democrats will end up definitively turning their backs on them, come what may, whether it is to go to China or Russia.Just to get rid of these African pseudo-democracies on which Western Democracies do not hesitate if not to close their eyes, at least to look away when their abuses or their departures from the fundamental principles of Democracy do not otherwise disturb their interests.
ECOWAS must restore constitutional order in Niger or scuttle itself. No matter what some African countries like Algeria or non-Africans who better shut up think about this situation. There is no other possible alternative if ECOWAS wishes to still exist as an institution. Even if it means reforming from within to establish a new regional order. It is about its own credibility, even outright its survival.
By Marcus Boni Teiga
