First, there was Mali; then came Burkina Faso. Today, in the epic saga that is the anti-Western revolt sweeping across the Sahel, it is the turn of Niger to play the protagonist — the third country to suffer a coup in just three years. On 26 July, a military putsch led by general Abdourahamane Tchiani deposed the country’s pro-Western president Mohamed Bazoum, elected in 2021 amid allegations of fraud and protests.
In each of these coups, the military officers involved cited the same reasons for seizing power: mounting concerns about a surge in terrorism and chronic social and economic underdevelopment. Despite being one of the world’s richest regions in terms of natural resources, including oil, gold and uranium, the Sahel is also one of the poorest financially. Niger is a striking example: it is one of the world’s leading exporters of uranium, yet consistently ranks towards the bottom of the Human Development Index.
In the eyes of these countries’ new leaders and their supporters, much of the responsibility for this lies with one villain in particular: France. They are, after all, all former French colonies, part of what used to be known as Françafrique. And more than any other imperial power, France has continued to exercise a huge influence over its former outposts, replacing outright colonial rule with more subtle forms of neocolonial control — first and foremost with currency.
Before Africa’s decolonisation in the Fifties and Sixties, it was common among Western powers to impose forms of monetary subservience on their respective colonies. The latter were generally forced to use currencies issued and controlled by the imperial centres, to ensure the European countries’ economic control and financial benefit. France was no exception; rather, what set France apart from other imperial powers was the fact that its monetary empire survived decolonisation. While most African colonies, upon becoming independent, adopted national currencies, France managed to cajole most of its former outposts in Central and Western Africa into maintaining the colonial currency: the CFA franc.
In the decades that followed, various countries tried to abandon the CFA system, but very few succeeded. As the Senegalese economist Ndongo Samba Sylla and the French journalist Fanny Pigeaud write in their book Africa’s Last Colonial Currency (which I translated), France did everything it could to discourage countries from leaving the CFA: “Intimidations, destabilisation campaigns and even assassinations and coups d’état marked this period, testifying to the permanent and unequal power relations on which the relationship between France and its ‘partners’ in Africa was based — and is still based today.”
The CFA franc, as a result, continues to be used by 14 countries, mostly former French colonies, throughout Central and Western Africa — including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Together, they form the so-called “franc zone”, with France still playing a central role. Despite the formal “Africanisation” of this group, which involved transferring the headquarters of the CFA franc’s two central banks to the African continent, France continues to enjoy far-reaching control over the system — and the countries that employ it.
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SubscribeHaving witnessed the corruption in West Africa first hand; its endemic. The governments of the region have had more than 50 years to develop and have all failed. How much of this is due to meddling by former colonial powers is open to debate and undoubtedly some is but even so the lack of development is more due to excessive tribalism and corruption. Democracy is not necessarily the answer for countries with no history of it but rooting out corruption is essential and its not going to happen anytime soon because it is so entrenched from top to bottom.
Well said. Too easy to blame French involvement when one is dealing with a multitude of local factors routinely ignored by the current western elite. Such scepticism is only rendered more important in an age when that western elite is entirely possessed by an inverted messiah complex, under the terms of which anything which goes wrong – but anything – must be blamed on Europe or the west.
We, the people of West Africa blame the colonial powers for the corruption you are talking about in your comment.
How many of our past and present leaders are truly elected by their people? We blame the colonial powers , specifically France when it comes to Francophone Africa, for using it’s military to support and in most cases maintain poorly elected Presidents against the will of their people.
How many of the leaders in our region really enjoy the legitimacy of their population? I can give you numerous examples of past and present leaders who have managed to stay in power as long as they have, simply because they (had) have the support of the French government and it’s military.
French government and its military have never been a force for good nowhere in Africa, and of course with the complecity of our poorly elected presidents. What is happening in Niger and by extension in most of Francophone Africa needs to be read through the lens of economical liberation. It is a liberation movement that needs to be supported by all the people of good will.
When former French president, Jacques Chirac declared on national television that <> and you want us to believe that we are poor because there is corruption? Who is doing the corruption in our countries? When you have a French multinational financing election campaigns of our so called presidents ? ( Talking about Bolloré group)
Do you think France loves democracy? Or the US for that matter?
This is a liberation movement, a second liberation movement, and good people everywhere need to support it.
Fine. We’ll leave it to you. No more “aid”, no more advice, no more involvement of any kind. Let’s see how you get on. But be warned: if talk of “economic liberation” imports yet another experiment with Marxism, you’ll merely renew the basket case conditions you blame on France. And then there’s Islam, not to mention China. Who is going to stop them? And are you so sure that your governmental class will be immune to those influences?
Fact:: African countries have been receiving this so called western aids since 1960’s and it doesn’t seem to be improving the lives of the people, we are still the poorest people in the world, despite having one of the richest continent in terms of mineral resources.
Either our begging bowl licks or that the so called western aid is really meant to keep us in a constant begging condition.
Aid that does not helps the ones at the recipient end becomes autonomous is not a good aid.
I for one do not think aid is what our countries need.
Fact: The current Islamist insurgency that the sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger , Tchad ) And recently northern Togo, Benin, have been dealing with since 2011 find its origin from the destruction of Libyan state by western countries. They went and destroyed that country , destroyed all the institutions of the country while telling us they want to bring democracy. Look at the state of Libya today. So, yes, some of us would appreciate it if they stay out of our affairs.
Fact: At some point, until the expulsion of French army from Mali last year, by the Malian military government, that country was one of the most militarized country in the world. The French had their army base there , the UN has its forces there, West African states have military forces there, the US has its special forces there, but despite the presence of all those military forces, the ISIS of this world have managed to take control of over 70% of the country.
What are all those military forces doing there?
I personally do not have any issue with China, as long as it brings a little bit of prosperity to our people. Obviously we have tried capitalism and western democracy and none of them seems to work for us. We are still the poorest people in the world. Either we have bad and corrupt government and I would argue that we do, or the entire economic system wasn’t set up to favor us.
The fact remains that our region is still one of the poorest on the planet, with no access to electricity, no access to clean water, no access to food, non existent education system, no hospitals and above all our countries are recently been taken over by Islamic insurgency and you are telling me we shouldn’t try anything new?
Someone said, <>.
Well, you seem to have got one thing right: aid is worse than useless; it pauperises the recipient whilst impoverishing the giver.
But to say this was the intention, or that aid is the only reason for corruption and dependency is to say too much. Indeed it smacks of backward-looking resentment and a fatal belief that it’s all somebody else’s fault – the very root and origin of future failure.
For if, as you concede, aid breeds dependency and corruption then the answer can only lie in taking responsibility for oneself. I strongly doubt whether the flimsy, post-imperial involvement of France or any other western nation in the affairs of former colonies has more than marginal significance when set against this cardinal point.
After all, it’s not as if there aren’t abundant examples of ex-colonial possessions doing very nicely, despite truly catastrophic histories within living memory – catastrophes which unfolded after and not before the colonial powers had gone.
The real harpies preying upon Africa therefore are not the colonists or their ghostly successors; nor are they found on the European right; they are in fact the self-hating European left who encourage Africans to blame the past and take no responsibility for the future.
Well, at this point I would like to rest my case.
Your case is well made, thank you. The West Africans have not bèen left to their own devices to show that they are more than capable of resolving their differences and competing fairly with their neighbours. I trust the western powers less than African powers. It is an ancient civilisation which has been corrupted by Western hegemony. It is time to listen and not dictate. We should be asking how may we help please? If African leaders turn to China or Russia for that help we only have ourselves to blame.
Most countries in Africa have “been left to their own devices” except in endlessly begging aid. Just look at the disastrous route South Africa is now taking. There is no ‘right to be wealthy’. Hard work, the right policies, meritocracy (the able qualified white manager above the poorly educated and over promoted black, if it comes to it). Building competent institutions and not populating their leadership with relatives of the president. Etc. These things can be done; but not in a few short decades any more than this happened in Europe.
Most countries in Africa have “been left to their own devices” except in endlessly begging aid. Just look at the disastrous route South Africa is now taking. There is no ‘right to be wealthy’. Hard work, the right policies, meritocracy (the able qualified white manager above the poorly educated and over promoted black, if it comes to it). Building competent institutions and not populating their leadership with relatives of the president. Etc. These things can be done; but not in a few short decades any more than this happened in Europe.
Your case is well made, thank you. The West Africans have not bèen left to their own devices to show that they are more than capable of resolving their differences and competing fairly with their neighbours. I trust the western powers less than African powers. It is an ancient civilisation which has been corrupted by Western hegemony. It is time to listen and not dictate. We should be asking how may we help please? If African leaders turn to China or Russia for that help we only have ourselves to blame.
Well, at this point I would like to rest my case.
It is the nature of aid.In the 19th century Britain set up RIEC to train engineers.
Royal Indian Engineering College – Wikipedia
Schumacher said ” Small is beautiful. Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him to fish and he can feed himself. ”
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan championed eduction and Britain set up the first medical school in India in 1828, engineering colleges followed.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: The champion of education – The Core Indian
From 1945 devlopment had been run by impractical left wing middle class types. The first example was the LSE and Groundnuts Scheme of East Africa in the 1940s.
Since 1945s £Bs has gone in aid to developing nations where the ruling class has taken large chunks of money and impractical schemes constructed in wrong location- Ground Nut scheme be a good example .
Aid has created a massive employment scheme for impractical left wing middle class types in the West. No aid, not jobs for these people.
Solution
Train craftsmen and midwives/nurses in developing countries. Skills,- building- brickwork, carpentry, electricians, civil engineering. Train local midwives in western nursing and basic surgery. Teach basic surgery taught to military medics, especially Commandos.Develop farming skills- increase soil fertility, breed crops with higher protein, vitamin and mineral content, high disease and drought resistance, develop irrigation. Do for animals especially goats, sheep and chickens. Set up equivalent of Royal Indian Engineering College in West Africa. Army to take on infrastructure development , copy Roman Army/ Indian Army of up to 1947. Remember Chinese Communist Party have murdered 70M of their own people since 1949.The most important resources are ability, honesty and capacity for hard work.
Nothing has worked because your leadership has failed – many of these countries are kleptocracies. Not an Obama fan at all, but even he threatened to withhold aid should the illegal takings not stop. Find better people to lead. As mentioned a lot of this aid started in the 60’s when at the United Nations, Third World countries began to demand a ‘transfer of resources’ to them. Western liberal academics jumped on the bandwagon (John Galbraith for one).
The UN only exacerbated and abetted the financial shakedown – so I say dissolve the UN which is just a Third World ‘pity party’ – it no longer is doing used work.
The wretched condition of most of Africa is of course owing to the wretched quality of its population.
Well, you seem to have got one thing right: aid is worse than useless; it pauperises the recipient whilst impoverishing the giver.
But to say this was the intention, or that aid is the only reason for corruption and dependency is to say too much. Indeed it smacks of backward-looking resentment and a fatal belief that it’s all somebody else’s fault – the very root and origin of future failure.
For if, as you concede, aid breeds dependency and corruption then the answer can only lie in taking responsibility for oneself. I strongly doubt whether the flimsy, post-imperial involvement of France or any other western nation in the affairs of former colonies has more than marginal significance when set against this cardinal point.
After all, it’s not as if there aren’t abundant examples of ex-colonial possessions doing very nicely, despite truly catastrophic histories within living memory – catastrophes which unfolded after and not before the colonial powers had gone.
The real harpies preying upon Africa therefore are not the colonists or their ghostly successors; nor are they found on the European right; they are in fact the self-hating European left who encourage Africans to blame the past and take no responsibility for the future.
It is the nature of aid.In the 19th century Britain set up RIEC to train engineers.
Royal Indian Engineering College – Wikipedia
Schumacher said ” Small is beautiful. Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him to fish and he can feed himself. ”
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan championed eduction and Britain set up the first medical school in India in 1828, engineering colleges followed.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: The champion of education – The Core Indian
From 1945 devlopment had been run by impractical left wing middle class types. The first example was the LSE and Groundnuts Scheme of East Africa in the 1940s.
Since 1945s £Bs has gone in aid to developing nations where the ruling class has taken large chunks of money and impractical schemes constructed in wrong location- Ground Nut scheme be a good example .
Aid has created a massive employment scheme for impractical left wing middle class types in the West. No aid, not jobs for these people.
Solution
Train craftsmen and midwives/nurses in developing countries. Skills,- building- brickwork, carpentry, electricians, civil engineering. Train local midwives in western nursing and basic surgery. Teach basic surgery taught to military medics, especially Commandos.Develop farming skills- increase soil fertility, breed crops with higher protein, vitamin and mineral content, high disease and drought resistance, develop irrigation. Do for animals especially goats, sheep and chickens. Set up equivalent of Royal Indian Engineering College in West Africa. Army to take on infrastructure development , copy Roman Army/ Indian Army of up to 1947. Remember Chinese Communist Party have murdered 70M of their own people since 1949.The most important resources are ability, honesty and capacity for hard work.
Nothing has worked because your leadership has failed – many of these countries are kleptocracies. Not an Obama fan at all, but even he threatened to withhold aid should the illegal takings not stop. Find better people to lead. As mentioned a lot of this aid started in the 60’s when at the United Nations, Third World countries began to demand a ‘transfer of resources’ to them. Western liberal academics jumped on the bandwagon (John Galbraith for one).
The UN only exacerbated and abetted the financial shakedown – so I say dissolve the UN which is just a Third World ‘pity party’ – it no longer is doing used work.
The wretched condition of most of Africa is of course owing to the wretched quality of its population.
Fact:: African countries have been receiving this so called western aids since 1960’s and it doesn’t seem to be improving the lives of the people, we are still the poorest people in the world, despite having one of the richest continent in terms of mineral resources.
Either our begging bowl licks or that the so called western aid is really meant to keep us in a constant begging condition.
Aid that does not helps the ones at the recipient end becomes autonomous is not a good aid.
I for one do not think aid is what our countries need.
Fact: The current Islamist insurgency that the sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger , Tchad ) And recently northern Togo, Benin, have been dealing with since 2011 find its origin from the destruction of Libyan state by western countries. They went and destroyed that country , destroyed all the institutions of the country while telling us they want to bring democracy. Look at the state of Libya today. So, yes, some of us would appreciate it if they stay out of our affairs.
Fact: At some point, until the expulsion of French army from Mali last year, by the Malian military government, that country was one of the most militarized country in the world. The French had their army base there , the UN has its forces there, West African states have military forces there, the US has its special forces there, but despite the presence of all those military forces, the ISIS of this world have managed to take control of over 70% of the country.
What are all those military forces doing there?
I personally do not have any issue with China, as long as it brings a little bit of prosperity to our people. Obviously we have tried capitalism and western democracy and none of them seems to work for us. We are still the poorest people in the world. Either we have bad and corrupt government and I would argue that we do, or the entire economic system wasn’t set up to favor us.
The fact remains that our region is still one of the poorest on the planet, with no access to electricity, no access to clean water, no access to food, non existent education system, no hospitals and above all our countries are recently been taken over by Islamic insurgency and you are telling me we shouldn’t try anything new?
Someone said, <>.
No mention of the “Big Man” complex that plagues all of subsaharan Africa, which includes many countries with no colonial ties to France. Zimbabwe being an excellent case in point.
Fine. We’ll leave it to you. No more “aid”, no more advice, no more involvement of any kind. Let’s see how you get on. But be warned: if talk of “economic liberation” imports yet another experiment with Marxism, you’ll merely renew the basket case conditions you blame on France. And then there’s Islam, not to mention China. Who is going to stop them? And are you so sure that your governmental class will be immune to those influences?
No mention of the “Big Man” complex that plagues all of subsaharan Africa, which includes many countries with no colonial ties to France. Zimbabwe being an excellent case in point.
We, the people of West Africa blame the colonial powers for the corruption you are talking about in your comment.
How many of our past and present leaders are truly elected by their people? We blame the colonial powers , specifically France when it comes to Francophone Africa, for using it’s military to support and in most cases maintain poorly elected Presidents against the will of their people.
How many of the leaders in our region really enjoy the legitimacy of their population? I can give you numerous examples of past and present leaders who have managed to stay in power as long as they have, simply because they (had) have the support of the French government and it’s military.
French government and its military have never been a force for good nowhere in Africa, and of course with the complecity of our poorly elected presidents. What is happening in Niger and by extension in most of Francophone Africa needs to be read through the lens of economical liberation. It is a liberation movement that needs to be supported by all the people of good will.
When former French president, Jacques Chirac declared on national television that <> and you want us to believe that we are poor because there is corruption? Who is doing the corruption in our countries? When you have a French multinational financing election campaigns of our so called presidents ? ( Talking about Bolloré group)
Do you think France loves democracy? Or the US for that matter?
This is a liberation movement, a second liberation movement, and good people everywhere need to support it.
Well said. Too easy to blame French involvement when one is dealing with a multitude of local factors routinely ignored by the current western elite. Such scepticism is only rendered more important in an age when that western elite is entirely possessed by an inverted messiah complex, under the terms of which anything which goes wrong – but anything – must be blamed on Europe or the west.
Having witnessed the corruption in West Africa first hand; its endemic. The governments of the region have had more than 50 years to develop and have all failed. How much of this is due to meddling by former colonial powers is open to debate and undoubtedly some is but even so the lack of development is more due to excessive tribalism and corruption. Democracy is not necessarily the answer for countries with no history of it but rooting out corruption is essential and its not going to happen anytime soon because it is so entrenched from top to bottom.
Niger will stay poor if its new government and its supporters think this is of any relevance:
“France’s biggest source of uranium, which is needed to fuel the nuclear plants which provide roughly 70% of the country’s electricity. Yet, only one in seven Nigeriens have access to modern electricity services, while more than 40% of the population live in extreme poverty.”
It betrays a deep ignorance of how wealth is created. Anyone thinking like that isn’t going to make poor people better off, and are more than likely to make them poorer. Resources don’t make prosperous nations: the most prosperous nations often have very few resources. Social capital, low corruption, social cohesion, and capitalism are the bedrock of economic growth.
As for uranium, its ore is plentiful, and fuel manufacturing and fuel burn in reactors uses relatively small amounts of ore because – and this should be obvious – it is a nuclear reaction that unleashes the energy. For these reasons uranium mining is not going to make a significant improvement in the wealth of a poor country. It is a nice industry to have amongst many others, but in a low social capital, corrupt, divided, and now anti-capitalist country like Niger, it is more than likely to be destroyed.
The problem in Niger isn’t imperialism, it is Niger. Anyone saying the problem is imperialism is making Niger’s problem worse. The uncomfortable truth is Asia was a bigger part of the imperial economic project and yet is now the wealthiest continent on the planet.
That critique might easily apply to the Ukraine.
While Ukraine was suffering from the Russian encouraged Kleptocracy of the Oligarchs there was an element of truth in what you say. However, Zelensky was elected on an anti corruption platform and despite the full scale war resulting from Putin’s invasion and occupation with its many attendant atrocities, those in Ukraine guilty of corruption are being investigated and prosecuted. Any assessment of the present level of corruption in Ukraine will be grossly inaccurate and posting comments using outdated data helps no one but Putin whose propaganda units are paid to post this disinformation daily.
Besides the impending prosecution of one Constantine Zhivago, I am unaware of any other major corruption trials.
Could you please perhaps enlighten me?
Joe and Hunter Biden, sometime in January 2025.
Thanks, I’d forgotten that one!
Thanks, I’d forgotten that one!
Joe and Hunter Biden, sometime in January 2025.
I love this meme. Corruption in Ukraine was the fault of Russia . Russia was a bad influence on Ukraine, etc. Who invents such poppycock? Presumably the various disinformation units in the UK. I worked in and with both countries. Everyday corruption in the Ukraine was of a different scale and type to Russia. And Poroshenko handed over control of the regions to the oligarchs, as I recall. I suppose when the Crown Agents pulled out of trying to help Ukraine by i.a. sending them medicines, and blamed the Ukraine customs for their endless demands for bribes, this was Putin’s fault. The EU task force set up to assist Ukraine after the 2014 coup were asto;oshed and dismayed at the day to day corruption at every level that they found. One has to ask,why is a country so rich in natural resources so poor? So undeveloped? Before the war over a million Ukrainians went to Poland for work. Etc.
Wellington said it was England’s religion which had made her a nation of honest men”. ” I would rather sacrifice Gwalior and every portion of India ten times over to preserve or credit for scrupulous good faith “.
Wellington said it was England’s religion which had made her a nation of honest men”. ” I would rather sacrifice Gwalior and every portion of India ten times over to preserve or credit for scrupulous good faith “.
Besides the impending prosecution of one Constantine Zhivago, I am unaware of any other major corruption trials.
Could you please perhaps enlighten me?
I love this meme. Corruption in Ukraine was the fault of Russia . Russia was a bad influence on Ukraine, etc. Who invents such poppycock? Presumably the various disinformation units in the UK. I worked in and with both countries. Everyday corruption in the Ukraine was of a different scale and type to Russia. And Poroshenko handed over control of the regions to the oligarchs, as I recall. I suppose when the Crown Agents pulled out of trying to help Ukraine by i.a. sending them medicines, and blamed the Ukraine customs for their endless demands for bribes, this was Putin’s fault. The EU task force set up to assist Ukraine after the 2014 coup were asto;oshed and dismayed at the day to day corruption at every level that they found. One has to ask,why is a country so rich in natural resources so poor? So undeveloped? Before the war over a million Ukrainians went to Poland for work. Etc.
While Ukraine was suffering from the Russian encouraged Kleptocracy of the Oligarchs there was an element of truth in what you say. However, Zelensky was elected on an anti corruption platform and despite the full scale war resulting from Putin’s invasion and occupation with its many attendant atrocities, those in Ukraine guilty of corruption are being investigated and prosecuted. Any assessment of the present level of corruption in Ukraine will be grossly inaccurate and posting comments using outdated data helps no one but Putin whose propaganda units are paid to post this disinformation daily.
Watch, as those valuable assets slowly diminish in our own country with the influx of third world vices – the reverse side of that cultural enrichment dividend immigration enthusiasts like to boast about.
Yes, the problem with Niger is Niger – but perhaps in 20 or so years they will be able to blame their failings on Russian or Chinese exploitation and stage another futile revolution.
Well said!
“Social capital, low corruption, social cohesion, and capitalism are the bedrock of economic growth.”
Utter nonsense! Some of us are old enough to recall the IMF, World Bank etc encouraging developing economies to disinvest in education, health, social welfare, devalue their currency to make their resources cheaper for western capital etc because, you know, the answer is always pushing free market solutions into every human problem! And look how well that turned out!
Even in the west, that model has been disastrous! To quote RobertDavie:
“In the immediate post-war decades the US was economically and politically at the leading edge of civilisation. According to Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian in their book, The Privatization of Everything, the government acted to ensure the nation’s prosperity in many ways, “The government built highways and dams, conducted research, increased its regulatory authority across an expanding horizon of activities, and gave money to state and local governments to support functions ranging from education to road-building. The workforce became more productive and living standards rose evenly across the board.”
https://prospect.org/culture/books/privatization-myth-cohen-mikaelian-review/
Then came the privatization agenda in the US that has transformed the country from a prosperous nation to one that is now in serious decline, “……… numerous examples and studies showing that private-sector managers have no compunction about adopting profit-making strategies that make essential services unaffordable or unavailable to large segments of the population. A profit-seeking operation may choose, for example, not to provide health care to the indigent, or extend education to poor or learning-disabled children, or deliver packages to remote destinations.”
https://prospect.org/culture/books/privatization-myth-cohen-mikaelian-review/
The extent of the extraction of wealth from the US alone is truly staggering, “In the past four decades—under Democrats and Republicans alike—$50 trillion has moved from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent of Americans.”
…………………….……………………………………………………………
“And while this was happening, America’s middle class—the wonder of the world—was decimated. Two generations have grown to adulthood not even knowing what “middle class” means. Those generations have no conception of a time when factory workers could afford to own a home, two cars, send their kids to college, pay their medical bills, take a vacation, retire with dignity. What was once a normal and basic reality now seems like fantasy to people who have grown up in a work environment where the minimum wage today has half the buying power it did in 1968.””
I would like to see evidence of developing economies disinvesting in social areas at the behest of the WB. What a joke. All their aid was conditional on improvement in education, health and human rights. That is why the developing countries understandably prefer dealing with China’s extortionate loan arrangements, – no conditionalities. Western aid paid for programmes in education and health, which allowed the governments to spend their revenues on armies and arms, and themselves, of course.
Tell me you haven’t got the faintest idea what you’re talking about without saying so! Never heard of the economic structural adjustment programmes that have been visited on poor countries from the 80s onward? Clearly not even got a clue where the term ‘neoliberalism’ comes from!
Tell me you haven’t got the faintest idea what you’re talking about without saying so! Never heard of the economic structural adjustment programmes that have been visited on poor countries from the 80s onward? Clearly not even got a clue where the term ‘neoliberalism’ comes from!
Re: even in the west that model has been disastrous.
As Douglas Murray would say, “compared to what?”
I would like to see evidence of developing economies disinvesting in social areas at the behest of the WB. What a joke. All their aid was conditional on improvement in education, health and human rights. That is why the developing countries understandably prefer dealing with China’s extortionate loan arrangements, – no conditionalities. Western aid paid for programmes in education and health, which allowed the governments to spend their revenues on armies and arms, and themselves, of course.
Re: even in the west that model has been disastrous.
As Douglas Murray would say, “compared to what?”
That critique might easily apply to the Ukraine.
Watch, as those valuable assets slowly diminish in our own country with the influx of third world vices – the reverse side of that cultural enrichment dividend immigration enthusiasts like to boast about.
Yes, the problem with Niger is Niger – but perhaps in 20 or so years they will be able to blame their failings on Russian or Chinese exploitation and stage another futile revolution.
Well said!
“Social capital, low corruption, social cohesion, and capitalism are the bedrock of economic growth.”
Utter nonsense! Some of us are old enough to recall the IMF, World Bank etc encouraging developing economies to disinvest in education, health, social welfare, devalue their currency to make their resources cheaper for western capital etc because, you know, the answer is always pushing free market solutions into every human problem! And look how well that turned out!
Even in the west, that model has been disastrous! To quote RobertDavie:
“In the immediate post-war decades the US was economically and politically at the leading edge of civilisation. According to Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian in their book, The Privatization of Everything, the government acted to ensure the nation’s prosperity in many ways, “The government built highways and dams, conducted research, increased its regulatory authority across an expanding horizon of activities, and gave money to state and local governments to support functions ranging from education to road-building. The workforce became more productive and living standards rose evenly across the board.”
https://prospect.org/culture/books/privatization-myth-cohen-mikaelian-review/
Then came the privatization agenda in the US that has transformed the country from a prosperous nation to one that is now in serious decline, “……… numerous examples and studies showing that private-sector managers have no compunction about adopting profit-making strategies that make essential services unaffordable or unavailable to large segments of the population. A profit-seeking operation may choose, for example, not to provide health care to the indigent, or extend education to poor or learning-disabled children, or deliver packages to remote destinations.”
https://prospect.org/culture/books/privatization-myth-cohen-mikaelian-review/
The extent of the extraction of wealth from the US alone is truly staggering, “In the past four decades—under Democrats and Republicans alike—$50 trillion has moved from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent of Americans.”
…………………….……………………………………………………………
“And while this was happening, America’s middle class—the wonder of the world—was decimated. Two generations have grown to adulthood not even knowing what “middle class” means. Those generations have no conception of a time when factory workers could afford to own a home, two cars, send their kids to college, pay their medical bills, take a vacation, retire with dignity. What was once a normal and basic reality now seems like fantasy to people who have grown up in a work environment where the minimum wage today has half the buying power it did in 1968.””
Niger will stay poor if its new government and its supporters think this is of any relevance:
“France’s biggest source of uranium, which is needed to fuel the nuclear plants which provide roughly 70% of the country’s electricity. Yet, only one in seven Nigeriens have access to modern electricity services, while more than 40% of the population live in extreme poverty.”
It betrays a deep ignorance of how wealth is created. Anyone thinking like that isn’t going to make poor people better off, and are more than likely to make them poorer. Resources don’t make prosperous nations: the most prosperous nations often have very few resources. Social capital, low corruption, social cohesion, and capitalism are the bedrock of economic growth.
As for uranium, its ore is plentiful, and fuel manufacturing and fuel burn in reactors uses relatively small amounts of ore because – and this should be obvious – it is a nuclear reaction that unleashes the energy. For these reasons uranium mining is not going to make a significant improvement in the wealth of a poor country. It is a nice industry to have amongst many others, but in a low social capital, corrupt, divided, and now anti-capitalist country like Niger, it is more than likely to be destroyed.
The problem in Niger isn’t imperialism, it is Niger. Anyone saying the problem is imperialism is making Niger’s problem worse. The uncomfortable truth is Asia was a bigger part of the imperial economic project and yet is now the wealthiest continent on the planet.
What an excellent review of yet another French disaster.
I for one couldn’t help feeling a little twinge of ‘schadenfreude’ reading this.
The French really don’t do Empire very well! Their first one in the 18th century was easily wrapped up by us, thanks to the sterling efforts of Messrs James Wolfe and Robert Clive and their assistants.
The second attempt in the 19th century saw France ‘rewarded’ with the least attractive bits of Africa, namely the Sahara Desert, whilst ‘we’ made off with the ‘choice cuts’, Kenya, Uganda, Rhodesia, and even the somewhat stroppy former Boer Republics.
Come the 20th century we see the French driven humiliatingly, and in short order from Syria in 1946, Indo-China in 1954, and perhaps most poignantly from Algeria in 1962.
So now the denouement of French hubris, what a joy it is to behold, given their decidedly anti Anglo-Saxon manipulation of the EU in recent years and their intransigence over cross Channel migration wallahs.
UnHerd, you simply must make this man your roving reporter – the world needs him reporting from the Sahel or Syria.
Touché Mr McGloan, you would make a far better candidate than I.
You’re too kind, but I’d only accept if you promised to act as a historical consultant and arbiter of writing style.
Sadly I must decline, as I fear I lack the necessary qualifications.
Besides I’m a bit of an ‘old dog’ now, as you have probably guessed!
You’re too modest. At the very least you should be imbuing young Foreign Office squabs with the cold, calculating Anglo-Saxon worldview that served the Empire so well.
You’re too modest. At the very least you should be imbuing young Foreign Office squabs with the cold, calculating Anglo-Saxon worldview that served the Empire so well.
Sadly I must decline, as I fear I lack the necessary qualifications.
Besides I’m a bit of an ‘old dog’ now, as you have probably guessed!
You’re too kind, but I’d only accept if you promised to act as a historical consultant and arbiter of writing style.
Touché Mr McGloan, you would make a far better candidate than I.
While much of that is true, schadenfreude is a petty response rather like the delight of some EU countries that BREXIT is an almost total failure.
For someone who recently stated “Ashli
Babbitt got what she deserved”, it ill becomes you Sir to lecture me on schadenfreude.
For someone who recently stated “Ashli
Babbitt got what she deserved”, it ill becomes you Sir to lecture me on schadenfreude.
Slight correction. Vichy French allowed Japan to take Indo China and then invade Malaya. Post WW2 Mounbatten advised Leclerc not to return to Indo China as a conqueror but as liberator and was ignored.
Douglas MacArthur would not allow British troops into Saigon before received formal Japanese surrender so Vietminh rose up and took Japanese weapons
French used troops with little combat experience who committed dubious acts. The British called in experienced jungle troops including Gurkhas and nearly defeated the Vietminh but government called them back to India. By 1945, British Empire had finest jungle troops in the World – Chindits, SOE Force 136, V Force,
Britain’s Vietnam War – YouTube
In the jungle, quality is more important than quantity.
UnHerd, you simply must make this man your roving reporter – the world needs him reporting from the Sahel or Syria.
While much of that is true, schadenfreude is a petty response rather like the delight of some EU countries that BREXIT is an almost total failure.
Slight correction. Vichy French allowed Japan to take Indo China and then invade Malaya. Post WW2 Mounbatten advised Leclerc not to return to Indo China as a conqueror but as liberator and was ignored.
Douglas MacArthur would not allow British troops into Saigon before received formal Japanese surrender so Vietminh rose up and took Japanese weapons
French used troops with little combat experience who committed dubious acts. The British called in experienced jungle troops including Gurkhas and nearly defeated the Vietminh but government called them back to India. By 1945, British Empire had finest jungle troops in the World – Chindits, SOE Force 136, V Force,
Britain’s Vietnam War – YouTube
In the jungle, quality is more important than quantity.
What an excellent review of yet another French disaster.
I for one couldn’t help feeling a little twinge of ‘schadenfreude’ reading this.
The French really don’t do Empire very well! Their first one in the 18th century was easily wrapped up by us, thanks to the sterling efforts of Messrs James Wolfe and Robert Clive and their assistants.
The second attempt in the 19th century saw France ‘rewarded’ with the least attractive bits of Africa, namely the Sahara Desert, whilst ‘we’ made off with the ‘choice cuts’, Kenya, Uganda, Rhodesia, and even the somewhat stroppy former Boer Republics.
Come the 20th century we see the French driven humiliatingly, and in short order from Syria in 1946, Indo-China in 1954, and perhaps most poignantly from Algeria in 1962.
So now the denouement of French hubris, what a joy it is to behold, given their decidedly anti Anglo-Saxon manipulation of the EU in recent years and their intransigence over cross Channel migration wallahs.
Very good article, I agree with most of it. However, I do have to wonder, if Niger had its own currency, would it actually be a success/better for Niger
For a lot of these African nations I think the currency is the least of their problems. Many of them are still split down tribal lines, with corruption and nepotism looking after their own while the rest of the country goes to the dogs
For a lot of these African nations I think the currency is the least of their problems. Many of them are still split down tribal lines, with corruption and nepotism looking after their own while the rest of the country goes to the dogs
Very good article, I agree with most of it. However, I do have to wonder, if Niger had its own currency, would it actually be a success/better for Niger
Up to a point – however it would be equally naive to suppose that the ‘recent foreign influence’ Fazi refers to here – which comes of course from Russia and China – has nothing to do with this. On the contrary their fingerprints are all over this coup, and those in Mali and Burkina Faso. I am frankly baffled by the Left’s ability to see in these foreign-backed military takeovers a form of ‘liberation’ or ‘decolonisation’. There was a similar article in the Guardian (yes, I do still read that esteemed organ), and it says a lot about Fazi’s relentlessly anti-Western take on the situation in Niger that I can reproduce the same comment I made there more or less unchanged:
While this article is informative in some ways, there is an underlying tone of triumphalism which seems to me entirely misplaced – it is very hard to see how you can put a positive or ‘decolonising’ spin on the Niger coup, in which a democratically-elected government – the product of the first peaceful transfer of power in Niger’s history – has been overthrown by a military junta in Russia’s pocket. France’s colonial record in Africa has many dark chapters, of which the original conquest of Niger and Chad (what the French called the Western Sahara) was certainly one, as of course was the Algerian War. But not all French colonial legacies in the region are negative – Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and to some extent Senegal are politically stable and wealthier than most comparable countries in sub-Saharan Africa. French influence came with costs, but it also provided investment and aid of a kind which will now either dry up altogether (as Russia has nothing comparable to offer) or will come from China with a much heavier political and economic price attached. It is a bit much to denounce the West for withdrawing aid and development funding in response to the coup when that was almost the only thing keeping Niger’s economy afloat. Niger’s problems are not just down to western influence – some are due to very profound environmental factors (climate, poor soil) and demography, while others are owing to the country’s generally poor postcolonial leadership, though of course France has tended to support this – still, local elites have to take some responsibility for the mess Niger is in.
Russia makes cynical use of understandable postcolonial resentment to advance a political agenda in the region that will be considerably less benign than the existing relationships with France. This is not to defend the CFA franc, which is bad for West African economies (though good for its elites), or the way in which the French and other European powers have winked at grotesque corruption within West African regimes, but simply to point out that the alternative they are rushing towards will be much, much worse. The current Russian regime has nothing to offer but violence, weapons (though fewer of these lately for obvious reasons) and the looting of resources on terms that will make European and American investment seem generous by comparison. Underlying this is the claim that Russia itself does not have a colonial past (or present) and therefore is in a position to ‘liberate’ these countries from lingering colonial relationships. This of course is not true, as the inhabitants not just of Ukraine but of the Caucasian and Central Asian former Soviet republics will tell you. The Russian state just had its colonies elsewhere.
Spot on. And I would add that Wagner are active in most African countries where the disparity between haves and have nots makes them ripe for anti western coups. France probably has behaved stupidly in its dealings with former colonies but the corruption in these countries is down to them. Russia and China will make it worse and have already begun teaching the ruling elite of various countries how to make any criticism of their rule against the law by ‘disposing’ of the opposition as in Russia by framing them with bogus charges. Parliament, the Law Courts and the Police will all be trained to achieve this end which has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER with Law and Order or Justice.
What few commentors here seem to know or appreciate is that if Niger or indeed any other nation even opens negotiations with a China/Russia bloc then they will have greater leverage over the USA/EU bloc. Who wants to deal with a monopoly supplier in anything be it finance, security or culture and ideology? More players in the market make for a better market as each player has to out-bid their competitors. As the old ad said, “If you find a better deal, take it”.
“I am frankly baffled by the Left’s ability to see in these foreign-backed military takeovers a form of ‘liberation’ or ‘decolonisation’.”
Like, I’m baffled by the left’s failure to see that the status quo is the only way forward!
Neoliberalist policies has totally impoverished not just these economies but after decades of being visited on poor countries, the same extractive ideas are being visited on western populations, decimating the middle classes! How can the left not see there is no other way but to accept western countries’ extractive agendas are the way forward!
You can even go back to the decolonial armed struggles in Africa: how could the left not see the USSR’s fingerprints all over those liberation movements? Why couldn’t the left see the continuation of western dominance in those countries was the only way forward? I’m frankly totally baffled! Coups are only good if they have our fingerprints all over them!
Compare Africa with Singapore and South Korea. Ghana was wealthier than South Korea in 1953 due to war.
Compare Africa with Singapore and South Korea. Ghana was wealthier than South Korea in 1953 due to war.
And btw Algeria was a Department of France, since 1840 ( I think). Something Roosevelt never understood. Algeria was part of France for considerably longer than Texas or Hawai were part of the US. The usual roads, railways, ports and harbours, vines and cornfields, post offices, hospitals in Algeria were all paid for by France. And the French abolished slavery in Algeria, as they did in Morocco n 1911.
Spot on. And I would add that Wagner are active in most African countries where the disparity between haves and have nots makes them ripe for anti western coups. France probably has behaved stupidly in its dealings with former colonies but the corruption in these countries is down to them. Russia and China will make it worse and have already begun teaching the ruling elite of various countries how to make any criticism of their rule against the law by ‘disposing’ of the opposition as in Russia by framing them with bogus charges. Parliament, the Law Courts and the Police will all be trained to achieve this end which has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER with Law and Order or Justice.
What few commentors here seem to know or appreciate is that if Niger or indeed any other nation even opens negotiations with a China/Russia bloc then they will have greater leverage over the USA/EU bloc. Who wants to deal with a monopoly supplier in anything be it finance, security or culture and ideology? More players in the market make for a better market as each player has to out-bid their competitors. As the old ad said, “If you find a better deal, take it”.
“I am frankly baffled by the Left’s ability to see in these foreign-backed military takeovers a form of ‘liberation’ or ‘decolonisation’.”
Like, I’m baffled by the left’s failure to see that the status quo is the only way forward!
Neoliberalist policies has totally impoverished not just these economies but after decades of being visited on poor countries, the same extractive ideas are being visited on western populations, decimating the middle classes! How can the left not see there is no other way but to accept western countries’ extractive agendas are the way forward!
You can even go back to the decolonial armed struggles in Africa: how could the left not see the USSR’s fingerprints all over those liberation movements? Why couldn’t the left see the continuation of western dominance in those countries was the only way forward? I’m frankly totally baffled! Coups are only good if they have our fingerprints all over them!
And btw Algeria was a Department of France, since 1840 ( I think). Something Roosevelt never understood. Algeria was part of France for considerably longer than Texas or Hawai were part of the US. The usual roads, railways, ports and harbours, vines and cornfields, post offices, hospitals in Algeria were all paid for by France. And the French abolished slavery in Algeria, as they did in Morocco n 1911.
Up to a point – however it would be equally naive to suppose that the ‘recent foreign influence’ Fazi refers to here – which comes of course from Russia and China – has nothing to do with this. On the contrary their fingerprints are all over this coup, and those in Mali and Burkina Faso. I am frankly baffled by the Left’s ability to see in these foreign-backed military takeovers a form of ‘liberation’ or ‘decolonisation’. There was a similar article in the Guardian (yes, I do still read that esteemed organ), and it says a lot about Fazi’s relentlessly anti-Western take on the situation in Niger that I can reproduce the same comment I made there more or less unchanged:
While this article is informative in some ways, there is an underlying tone of triumphalism which seems to me entirely misplaced – it is very hard to see how you can put a positive or ‘decolonising’ spin on the Niger coup, in which a democratically-elected government – the product of the first peaceful transfer of power in Niger’s history – has been overthrown by a military junta in Russia’s pocket. France’s colonial record in Africa has many dark chapters, of which the original conquest of Niger and Chad (what the French called the Western Sahara) was certainly one, as of course was the Algerian War. But not all French colonial legacies in the region are negative – Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and to some extent Senegal are politically stable and wealthier than most comparable countries in sub-Saharan Africa. French influence came with costs, but it also provided investment and aid of a kind which will now either dry up altogether (as Russia has nothing comparable to offer) or will come from China with a much heavier political and economic price attached. It is a bit much to denounce the West for withdrawing aid and development funding in response to the coup when that was almost the only thing keeping Niger’s economy afloat. Niger’s problems are not just down to western influence – some are due to very profound environmental factors (climate, poor soil) and demography, while others are owing to the country’s generally poor postcolonial leadership, though of course France has tended to support this – still, local elites have to take some responsibility for the mess Niger is in.
Russia makes cynical use of understandable postcolonial resentment to advance a political agenda in the region that will be considerably less benign than the existing relationships with France. This is not to defend the CFA franc, which is bad for West African economies (though good for its elites), or the way in which the French and other European powers have winked at grotesque corruption within West African regimes, but simply to point out that the alternative they are rushing towards will be much, much worse. The current Russian regime has nothing to offer but violence, weapons (though fewer of these lately for obvious reasons) and the looting of resources on terms that will make European and American investment seem generous by comparison. Underlying this is the claim that Russia itself does not have a colonial past (or present) and therefore is in a position to ‘liberate’ these countries from lingering colonial relationships. This of course is not true, as the inhabitants not just of Ukraine but of the Caucasian and Central Asian former Soviet republics will tell you. The Russian state just had its colonies elsewhere.
I don’t dispute that France uses the CFA or that it is ridiculous that interest rate changes in Europe should affect West Africa. However, the countries who use the CFA have had currency stability. Residents of these countries know that the notes in their pocket will not lose value like the Zimbabwean Dollar has.
A lack of balance is also in the assumption that coups are popular and the failure to mention that the coup leaders are backed by imperial powers Russia and China.
“Residents of these countries know that the notes in their pocket will not lose value like the Zimbabwean Dollar has.”
Yet they’re economically no better or worse than the Zimbabweans! Funny that! But yay, they have western controlled currency!
I disagree that they are not better off than Zimbabwe. Those poor people go hungry, and emigrate to South Africa n large numbers.
I disagree that they are not better off than Zimbabwe. Those poor people go hungry, and emigrate to South Africa n large numbers.
“Residents of these countries know that the notes in their pocket will not lose value like the Zimbabwean Dollar has.”
Yet they’re economically no better or worse than the Zimbabweans! Funny that! But yay, they have western controlled currency!
I don’t dispute that France uses the CFA or that it is ridiculous that interest rate changes in Europe should affect West Africa. However, the countries who use the CFA have had currency stability. Residents of these countries know that the notes in their pocket will not lose value like the Zimbabwean Dollar has.
A lack of balance is also in the assumption that coups are popular and the failure to mention that the coup leaders are backed by imperial powers Russia and China.
“Historical grievances”. Is that really a thing, or just a narrative construct of angry academics and journalists? We (USA) have suffered depredations from and been at war with Vietnam, Japan, Germany, Spain, Mexico and the UK, etc. but I don’t detect any “grievances” either way today. Sounds like colonialism is just a handy cop-out for cultural and government failures.
After all, we were a colony of England once upon a time. We did pretty well by that.
Us (Vikings) slaughtered Anglo-Saxons en mass but there’s no grievance. Gustavus Adolphus decimated the German population by 25% and neither here I hear any grievance. It’s on the other hand quite fashionable to speak about the Viking time in England and one could almost feel a pride in telling of the genocide. The same happens in both Germany and Poland though we butchered people in cold blood but it’s sort of a positive historiography.
I wonder if the same thing will be told of WWI and WWII in, let’s say 300 hundred years. Will Hitler and Stalin be sort of mythical figures that would be spoken of with pride and wit. Maybe we should give Africa some time to digest all the atrocities and the French will become a positive happening in history.
Cheers
Us (Vikings) slaughtered Anglo-Saxons en mass but there’s no grievance. Gustavus Adolphus decimated the German population by 25% and neither here I hear any grievance. It’s on the other hand quite fashionable to speak about the Viking time in England and one could almost feel a pride in telling of the genocide. The same happens in both Germany and Poland though we butchered people in cold blood but it’s sort of a positive historiography.
I wonder if the same thing will be told of WWI and WWII in, let’s say 300 hundred years. Will Hitler and Stalin be sort of mythical figures that would be spoken of with pride and wit. Maybe we should give Africa some time to digest all the atrocities and the French will become a positive happening in history.
Cheers
“Historical grievances”. Is that really a thing, or just a narrative construct of angry academics and journalists? We (USA) have suffered depredations from and been at war with Vietnam, Japan, Germany, Spain, Mexico and the UK, etc. but I don’t detect any “grievances” either way today. Sounds like colonialism is just a handy cop-out for cultural and government failures.
After all, we were a colony of England once upon a time. We did pretty well by that.
If there had been a coup in Niger, then the West would be cheering it on, and doing a lot more than that for it. We like coups, or at the very least we come to terms with them, as we had done with the recent ones in Mali and Burkina Faso until they carried over in recent days into support for the revolution in Niger.
That is what we dislike, you see. We dislike revolutions, and this is one of those, with strong popular support due to its being aimed at ending military occupation by the old colonial power and its allies, and at ending the transfer to that power of the most valuable natural resource.
Yes, this has overthrown an elected Government, but the Western anger at that only illustrates the point, since it is hardly as if we usually cared about that where coups were concerned. And no, this has not been staged by Greenpeace or by the Salvation Army. So yes, it is going to be brutal, as it already is.
But as for the attempt to present this as a danger of increasing Islamist influence, whatever else they may be, when has either Russia or the Wagner Group been that? In the last few hours, al-Qaeda has already attacked Wagner troops as they have tried to cross the border from Mali into Niger. IS fighters have been brought into Ukraine from Syria via NATO Turkey, so Russia and Wagner are at war with al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State on at least three continents.
If there had been a coup in Niger, then the West would be cheering it on, and doing a lot more than that for it. We like coups, or at the very least we come to terms with them, as we had done with the recent ones in Mali and Burkina Faso until they carried over in recent days into support for the revolution in Niger.
That is what we dislike, you see. We dislike revolutions, and this is one of those, with strong popular support due to its being aimed at ending military occupation by the old colonial power and its allies, and at ending the transfer to that power of the most valuable natural resource.
Yes, this has overthrown an elected Government, but the Western anger at that only illustrates the point, since it is hardly as if we usually cared about that where coups were concerned. And no, this has not been staged by Greenpeace or by the Salvation Army. So yes, it is going to be brutal, as it already is.
But as for the attempt to present this as a danger of increasing Islamist influence, whatever else they may be, when has either Russia or the Wagner Group been that? In the last few hours, al-Qaeda has already attacked Wagner troops as they have tried to cross the border from Mali into Niger. IS fighters have been brought into Ukraine from Syria via NATO Turkey, so Russia and Wagner are at war with al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State on at least three continents.
Fazi majors on the lack of Nigerien ownership of the uranium operating companies but doesn’t provide any details on the tax take for those and similar companies. Without that information we are in the dark and can make no judgment.
Fazi majors on the lack of Nigerien ownership of the uranium operating companies but doesn’t provide any details on the tax take for those and similar companies. Without that information we are in the dark and can make no judgment.
A dictator stages a coup and tries to blame the country’s troubles on a former colonial power. This article has completely failed to demonstrate how France is to blame.
Surely you haven’t forgotten the old adage that if there is an skullduggery afoot, France is to blame UNLESS proved otherwise?
Surely you haven’t forgotten the old adage that if there is an skullduggery afoot, France is to blame UNLESS proved otherwise?
A dictator stages a coup and tries to blame the country’s troubles on a former colonial power. This article has completely failed to demonstrate how France is to blame.
I really think to blame the problems on France is unfair. For Africa to thrive it needs to take a hard look at itself. Most of these countries have now been independent for more than 50 years and ALL African countries have performed extremely poorly compared with similar countries elsewhere in the developing world – especially compared with Asia, where many countries share the same colonial heritage. If you take GDP per head at current prices a country like South Africa was wealthier than Singapore in 1960, yet now Singapore is more than ten times wealthier (in 2021). Also in 1960 Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe were all wealthier than Thailand, Cambodia or South Korea. Yet now South Korea is 13-30 times wealthier than these African countries, Thailand 6 times wealthier etc etc. There are plenty of examples, The case of South Africa is so telling – it was richer per head than any country in Asia in 1960 and yet now languishes in comparison.
Re: South Africa – Why aren’t we hearing about the fabulousness of Nelson Mandela anymore? His fame was like a flash-in-the-pan. You don’t see Obama or Oprah rushing to Africa either doing their ‘good works’ – what gives? Is Africa no longer fashionable?
Just overlay IQ map of the world over political map and you understand straight away while Africa is poor in comparison to Asia.
Re: South Africa – Why aren’t we hearing about the fabulousness of Nelson Mandela anymore? His fame was like a flash-in-the-pan. You don’t see Obama or Oprah rushing to Africa either doing their ‘good works’ – what gives? Is Africa no longer fashionable?
Just overlay IQ map of the world over political map and you understand straight away while Africa is poor in comparison to Asia.
I really think to blame the problems on France is unfair. For Africa to thrive it needs to take a hard look at itself. Most of these countries have now been independent for more than 50 years and ALL African countries have performed extremely poorly compared with similar countries elsewhere in the developing world – especially compared with Asia, where many countries share the same colonial heritage. If you take GDP per head at current prices a country like South Africa was wealthier than Singapore in 1960, yet now Singapore is more than ten times wealthier (in 2021). Also in 1960 Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe were all wealthier than Thailand, Cambodia or South Korea. Yet now South Korea is 13-30 times wealthier than these African countries, Thailand 6 times wealthier etc etc. There are plenty of examples, The case of South Africa is so telling – it was richer per head than any country in Asia in 1960 and yet now languishes in comparison.
Two words: South Africa Let this be a warning to “decolonizers” everywhere.
Two words: South Africa Let this be a warning to “decolonizers” everywhere.
‘Niger is a striking example: it is one of the world’s leading exporters of uranium, yet consistently ranks towards the bottom of the Human Development Index.’. Typical moral judgement. It’s population has 5 doubled since 1970. IN a country without institutions, mostly madrassa like schools, doesn’t develop. Look at Pakistan. Conservative muslim countries can’t develop.
‘Niger is a striking example: it is one of the world’s leading exporters of uranium, yet consistently ranks towards the bottom of the Human Development Index.’. Typical moral judgement. It’s population has 5 doubled since 1970. IN a country without institutions, mostly madrassa like schools, doesn’t develop. Look at Pakistan. Conservative muslim countries can’t develop.
A Society of Mutual Loathing ; the French and their colonies. Odd, when you go to parties in Paris and hear reheated Gaullists complain literally that as compared with the UK ‘we got the rubbish colonies with the rubbish people’, that they keep trying to hang onto them.
This is France’s national paradox ; only being important to people you don’t like, and who don’t like you.
A Society of Mutual Loathing ; the French and their colonies. Odd, when you go to parties in Paris and hear reheated Gaullists complain literally that as compared with the UK ‘we got the rubbish colonies with the rubbish people’, that they keep trying to hang onto them.
This is France’s national paradox ; only being important to people you don’t like, and who don’t like you.
According to the article, Niger ‘consistently ranks towards the bottom of the Human Development Index‘. Could this be partly because of the persistence of slavery there…of blacks by blacks?
According to the article, Niger ‘consistently ranks towards the bottom of the Human Development Index‘. Could this be partly because of the persistence of slavery there…of blacks by blacks?
“only one in seven Nigeriens (and just 4% of rural residents) have access to modern electricity services”
Any IMF loans to Niger should be conditional on getting to NetZero right away. They can do it next week I guess
“only one in seven Nigeriens (and just 4% of rural residents) have access to modern electricity services”
Any IMF loans to Niger should be conditional on getting to NetZero right away. They can do it next week I guess
The reliably-prejudiced Fazi attempts to dignify Africa’s ongoing corruption-chaos by attributing it to an “anti-Western revolt”.
Our company did business in sub-Saharan Africa for several years, in Ghana and in Tanzania, developing industrial-size electricity projects.
After several years, we sold up and pulled out. In my view, it’s not possible to do business honestly in Africa. The brown envelope culture is everywhere, and if you’re not prepared to do that, you will be frozen out.
To set up a power project, one first must deal with local landowners, typically tribal families who control the relevant land.
This was the best bit of the process. Without exception, we found the local tribespeople in Ghana were great to deal with. Hospitable, well-ordered, drove a hard bargain, keen to do business and people of their word. Oh, and great fun – at community meetings, no business could be done until everyone got up and danced first, a practice which, akin to Japanese karaoke pre-deals, should perhaps be more widely adopted – nothing like stiff-assed honkies making utter fools of themselves in public to break the ice in subsequent negotiations lol.
After a couple of years of work, we and the local Clan had a viable project, ready for construction.
Of course, a power project which has no market is not going anywhere, and so we were dependent on the good offices of the national government, which in parallel was working on a scheme to rescue its basket-case stet electricity company, ECG. ECG stands for “Electricity Company of Ghana”, or, as ordinary Ghanaian people cynically referred to it, “Electricity Comes and Goes”.
Blackouts were regular. It was selling power at below-costs prices. Corruption was everywhere.
So a franchise process was agreed, whereunder an international franchise would run ECG for 20 years – recapitalise it, clean up the corruption and return it to profitability and to good governance. Your standard ignorant Western bleeding hearts would of course present this as “Western financial imperialism”. Which jibes were wholly misconceived, since, at the end of that 20 years period, ECG was required to be returned to Ghanian state ownership, for the nominal sum of one dollar.
So far, so good.
However, as soon as the successful franchisee had been appointed, the Ghanian government did everything it could to undermine it and to withhold all co-operation. In disgust, the successful franchisee pulled out.
Of course, what was happening behind the scenes was that the government favoured another franchisee, one backed by the Chinese. That franchisee has of course achieved nothing since, but it was an open secret that its unsuccessful application had been accompanied by lots of stuffed brown envelopes to key government officials.
In short, rather than see their electricity service put on a decent and long-term sustainable footing, Ghana’s leaders prioritised their own pockets, took Chinese bribes, and f***ed over, both the franchisee who would have done right by the country, and ordinary Ghanaian people who still have to put up with rubbish electricity “supplies”.
Obviously, nobody can be in business to sell power at a loss.
Without any prospect of a viable market, our project was essentially a stranded project.
We explained this to the Clan that we had done the land deal with, and they were utterly unsurprised. Hospitable to the end, they treated us to a farewell feast.
That’s just one example, and it is sadly very typical.
It’s been my consistent direct, recent, experience that the ordinary people of Africa are sound, but that corruption cripples progress the nearer you get to the top; and, always, the corrupting influence of China and Russia is backstage. Obviously, Fazi’s numerous blind spots ensure he has SFA to say about that.
Trying to pin the blame for that onto long-vanished Western colonialism is risible.
Half a century on from Western colonialism, Africa has nobody to blame but itself.
The reliably-prejudiced Fazi attempts to dignify Africa’s ongoing corruption-chaos by attributing it to an “anti-Western revolt”.
Our company did business in sub-Saharan Africa for several years, in Ghana and in Tanzania, developing industrial-size electricity projects.
After several years, we sold up and pulled out. In my view, it’s not possible to do business honestly in Africa. The brown envelope culture is everywhere, and if you’re not prepared to do that, you will be frozen out.
To set up a power project, one first must deal with local landowners, typically tribal families who control the relevant land.
This was the best bit of the process. Without exception, we found the local tribespeople in Ghana were great to deal with. Hospitable, well-ordered, drove a hard bargain, keen to do business and people of their word. Oh, and great fun – at community meetings, no business could be done until everyone got up and danced first, a practice which, akin to Japanese karaoke pre-deals, should perhaps be more widely adopted – nothing like stiff-assed honkies making utter fools of themselves in public to break the ice in subsequent negotiations lol.
After a couple of years of work, we and the local Clan had a viable project, ready for construction.
Of course, a power project which has no market is not going anywhere, and so we were dependent on the good offices of the national government, which in parallel was working on a scheme to rescue its basket-case stet electricity company, ECG. ECG stands for “Electricity Company of Ghana”, or, as ordinary Ghanaian people cynically referred to it, “Electricity Comes and Goes”.
Blackouts were regular. It was selling power at below-costs prices. Corruption was everywhere.
So a franchise process was agreed, whereunder an international franchise would run ECG for 20 years – recapitalise it, clean up the corruption and return it to profitability and to good governance. Your standard ignorant Western bleeding hearts would of course present this as “Western financial imperialism”. Which jibes were wholly misconceived, since, at the end of that 20 years period, ECG was required to be returned to Ghanian state ownership, for the nominal sum of one dollar.
So far, so good.
However, as soon as the successful franchisee had been appointed, the Ghanian government did everything it could to undermine it and to withhold all co-operation. In disgust, the successful franchisee pulled out.
Of course, what was happening behind the scenes was that the government favoured another franchisee, one backed by the Chinese. That franchisee has of course achieved nothing since, but it was an open secret that its unsuccessful application had been accompanied by lots of stuffed brown envelopes to key government officials.
In short, rather than see their electricity service put on a decent and long-term sustainable footing, Ghana’s leaders prioritised their own pockets, took Chinese bribes, and f***ed over, both the franchisee who would have done right by the country, and ordinary Ghanaian people who still have to put up with rubbish electricity “supplies”.
Obviously, nobody can be in business to sell power at a loss.
Without any prospect of a viable market, our project was essentially a stranded project.
We explained this to the Clan that we had done the land deal with, and they were utterly unsurprised. Hospitable to the end, they treated us to a farewell feast.
That’s just one example, and it is sadly very typical.
It’s been my consistent direct, recent, experience that the ordinary people of Africa are sound, but that corruption cripples progress the nearer you get to the top; and, always, the corrupting influence of China and Russia is backstage. Obviously, Fazi’s numerous blind spots ensure he has SFA to say about that.
Trying to pin the blame for that onto long-vanished Western colonialism is risible.
Half a century on from Western colonialism, Africa has nobody to blame but itself.
Thomas Fazi, unreconstructed Marxist as he is. often proves one of the most naive UnHerd contributors. I am sure he is right about the sometimes baleful influence of French policy since decolonisation, but you’d have to make a much stronger case than he has to say that the old French Africa has been disproportionately held back in its development by that. As Douglas Murray is fond of asking “compared to whom precisely”? The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe?
Surely connection to a stable currency is a good thing. Morocco has tied its Dirham to the euro, and it seems rather stable.
Surely connection to a stable currency is a good thing. Morocco has tied its Dirham to the euro, and it seems rather stable.
I personally would think it’s more down to the influence of the Wagner group, who have their fingers in numerous pies across the region.
It’s much easier for them to get hold of the countries natural resources if they’ve helped militant groups topple the government
It’s that saying that if you didn’t like Western imperialism you’re going to really hate Chinese/Russian imperialism.
That’s quite neat. However, killing and/or imprisoning your political opponents for opposing edicts from the questionably ‘elected’ Parliament is a Russian and Chinese trait,not a British or French one.
That’s quite neat, I’ll pass it onto Julian Assange
That’s quite neat, I’ll pass it onto Julian Assange
That’s quite neat. However, killing and/or imprisoning your political opponents for opposing edicts from the questionably ‘elected’ Parliament is a Russian and Chinese trait,not a British or French one.
It’s that saying that if you didn’t like Western imperialism you’re going to really hate Chinese/Russian imperialism.
I personally would think it’s more down to the influence of the Wagner group, who have their fingers in numerous pies across the region.
It’s much easier for them to get hold of the countries natural resources if they’ve helped militant groups topple the government