By Mazhun Idris
The clock appears to be ticking on French military and economic influence on a region where it once held sway as a colonial overlord and, later, as an overbearing partner. The military coup in Niger is being seen as the death knell for France's inglorious postcolonial legacy in West Africa, from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea.
Driven by decades of grievances against neocolonialism, a strong wave of anti-French sentiment has been building up in the countries of the Sahel, with almost all them groaning under the weight of protracted insecurity, political instability, economic challenges, and climate-triggered crises.
"People are waking up to the realisation that France remains in Africa for its own interests," says Dr Garba Moussa, a Paris-based Nigerien economist.
According to him, the fact that France was once the colonial master is no longer acceptable as the rationale for its shadow still looming large over the former colonies such as Niger.
Anti-French protests have flared up throughout West Africa over the last decade, all of them ignited by a chain of events including political interference and military presence.
"As a citizen of Niger, I can say that I haven't seen anything positive coming out of our 60-year connection with France. Nothing has changed for the better, at least not our fortunes," says Mounkaila Abdou Seini, secretary of the influential "We Are Bloggers" network in Niamey.
Anti-French, not pro-coup
French decades of influence on its former colonies’ governments appears to be inviting a backlash.
"The cost of the fall of Libya is being paid through the spike in armed groups terrorising West Africa. Most recent coups were partly fuelled by rejection of 'French puppets' leading African countries," Seini tells TRT Afrika.
Following the coup that removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum, a mob was seen attacking the French embassy building in the capital city of Niamey.
Seini, co-founder of the "Niger Center" think tank in Niamey, attributes the public angst to a sense of despondency over their country's security and economic problems worsening over the years.
"In the past 10 years of security cooperation with France, violence never abated," he points out.
"Not all the people that joined the demonstrations following the junta takeover were really supporting the coup. It's just that they see it as a golden opportunity to drive home their desire for resource control. The overwhelming sentiment is that our resources should belong to us, and that we will survive without foreign aid."
Opportunism at play
The Sahel region is seeing the emergence of a military-coup corridor, or what security analysts call "the coup belt". This area comprises the four French-speaking countries that are currently under military rule — Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.
In many ways, the rebellion against French influence in West Africa is being spearheaded by the putsch leaders.
This axis of young, firebrand military leaders eager to derive legitimacy from their terrorised countrymen by wagging the dog seem to be having a field day instrumentalising all sorts of populist sentiments, from Africanism to economic independence.
Their biggest bet is public hostility towards France, and the popular desire to see the back of the erstwhile European colonial master for good. In a way, they have usurped the badge of being the French nemesis in Africa.
It all began with the military takeover in Mali in 2020, Guinea in 2021, and Burkina Faso in January this year. When the elected government in Niger fell in July, the ugly undemocratic trend prompted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to start mobilising support from the regional and international community to reverse the putsch.
But how will ECOWAS manage the clamour for cutting ties with France? As an organisation built on multilateral diplomacy, the success of the regional leadership in navigating the citizenry's demands for termination of French military bases and France-backed currency will depend on their use of tact and double-edged strategy.
"Nigeriens aren't demanding much," says Seini. "We all know that France is relying on our uranium for their electricity generation. People are accusing France of abetting the armed groups targeting us so that they can continue to siphon off our resources, leaving our country wallowing in growing poverty."
The final push
What majority of people in French-speaking countries in West Africa are undeniably demanding is for a drastic disengagement with France, and its neocolonial legacy of exploitation and domination at the cost of the sub-region's economic independence.
This reality is now forcing ECOWAS leaders to take heed of the anti-French sentiment sweeping across the region.
In his statement while dispatching a delegation to Niger's junta, Nigeria's President and ECOWAS chairperson, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said that the regional bloc "does not want to hold brief for any foreign country".
