West African People’s Movements Call for Greater Unity as France Announces Military ‘Reorganization’

Tanupriya Singh Mass protests held in Mali against the imposition of sanctions by ECOWAS following the military coup (Photo via @abdoulayekn1/Twitter) The West Africa Peoples Organisation has welcomed the proposal for greater collaboration between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea, and has called for coordinating and planning production, trade, infrastructure, economic development, and defense The prime…

Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali: The Eternal African Bonfire

Guadi Calvo Reports of the ambush in which ten soldiers were killed in the southwest of Niger, close to the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, last Friday 10, are practically unnoticed. The authorities fear that the casualties will increase, since 16 other people are still missing and 13 other soldiers were wounded, some seriously….

Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali Propose Strategic Axis Amid French Military Ouster

Tanupriya Singh Foreign Ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea hold a tripartite meeting in Ouagadougou. (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Mali) The three West African countries, all of whom have recently undergone military takeovers amid rising public anger against France, have agreed to a Bamako-Conakry -Ouagadougou axis, with enhanced cooperation…

Burkina Faso: How to Escape from Terror

Guadi Calvo Burkina Faso calls for a “federation” with Mali “What our predecessors could not achieve, we have no excuse not to do. Our predecessors tried to regroup, like the Federation of Mali, which unfortunately did not last. But they showed the way. Even before I became Prime Minister, I had written articles and made…

Mali Today

Petr Kutsenkov The economic situation in Mali is now undesirable: food prices have roughly doubled in a year – for example, if in 2022 one of the staple foods, “Tuo Zaafi (Tuo)” (African millet), cost 4,000 CFA francs per kilogram (which is also a lot, about the same as 400 RUB), it is now double…

Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso

Ian Beddowes We do not know yet how good or bad the coup governments of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso will be. But one thing for sure, they have weakened the parasitic hold of France and the USA on a large part of Africa and we must support them at this time. At the recent…

Mali’s Roar

Guadi Calvo Mali is leading a regional insubordination against France, the former colonial metropolis. Perhaps never in history has the rejection of the French presence in West Africa been so evident. The news appeared and was treated as practically inconsequential. Perhaps because it involved two African nations. But that a country, whatever it may be,…

Aminata Dramane Traoré: “They Want to Lead Us Into War”

Raphaël Schmeller Aminata Dramane Traoré is an author, human rights activist and former Minister of Culture of Mali. She will be a guest speaker at the upcoming “International Rosa Luxemburg Conference. (Internationale Rosa-Luxemburg-Konferenz XXVIII. 2023)” An interview with Aminata Dramane Traoré on the chaos caused by Western states in the Sahel and the interests of…

Mali’s Break with France is a Symptom of Cracks in the Transatlantic Alliance

Tricontinental SEYDOU KEÏTA (MALI), UNTITLED, 1948–1954 On 21 November 2022, Mali’s interim prime minister, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, issued a statement on social media announcing the government’s decision ‘to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by [French] NGOs operating in Mali’. This announcement came a few days after the French government cut Official Development Aid (ODA)…

Is Russia Really the Reason Why Mali Continues to Push France Away?

Vijay Prashad A new burst of anti-colonial feeling has swept through France’s former colonies, where the debates are now centered around breaking with its stranglehold on their economies and ending the military intervention by its troops On November 21, Mali’s interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga posted a statement on social media to say that Mali has decided “to…

Germany is Forced to Give Up its Ambitions in Africa

Vladimir Danilov The US and the former European metropolises – France, Britain and Germany – have made desperate efforts in recent years to maintain their neo-colonial positions on the African continent. After all, the Western bloc views Africa primarily from a military-geopolitical and resource-based perspective, with projected prospects for global development. These aspects are viewed…

Why Nigerian Protesters Want the French Army Out

Ekaterina Blinova Nigerians took to the streets of the country’s capital Niamey on September 18, with some of the protesters carrying Russian flags and placards saying “criminal French Army – get out” and “The colonial army of Barkhane must go”. “The demonstration [on September 18] fits in a wider development and sentiment that has been…

Mali vs. Ivory Coast: When Dignity Must Confront Pro-Western Outsourcing

Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov The current crisis between Bamako and Abidjan goes beyond the strictly West African regional framework. It is in fact and above all a confrontation between two diametrically opposed visions. The first is based on national sovereignty and pan-African values, while the second remains in a position of subcontracting in favor of Western neo-colonialism….

Mali Presents the UN with Evidence of French Support of Terrorists

Vladimir Danilov Recently, Radio RFI has announced that Malian authorities made accusations against France, citing a letter of Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, that alleged that Paris was supplying terrorists with weapons and called for the convening of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. In his August 15 letter, Abdoulaye Diop cited some…

Mali: Expectations and Challenges

Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov Following the now complete withdrawal of the French military presence from Mali, challenges remain in a context where the former colonial metropolis and other Western regimes do not intend to ease the pressure on the country, which has become another example of a pan-Africanist and pro-multipolar orientation. After nine years of military presence…

Petition Against French Troops’ Presence in Niger Launched After Protest Rally Banned in Capital

Oleg Burunov On Monday, France withdrew its troops from Mali, bringing its anti-terror Operation Barkhane, which kicked off in 2017, to a close, and relocating its headquarters to Niger. Niger’s M62 public movement, consisting of 15 NGOs, has launched a petition against the presence of France’s Barkhane force in the country after the authorities banned…

Russia’s Latest Military Aid to Mali Confirms its Regional Anti-Terrorist Commitment

Andrew Korybko Instead of fleeing in the face of foreign-backed Al Qaeda-connected terrorists recently declaring war on it in Mali, Russia proved that it’s ready to double down by doing its utmost to ensure that its regional ally can wipe out these destabilizing forces once and for all after France failed to do so despite…

Once Led by a Fierce Champion of Anti-Colonialism, Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo Has Been Recolonized by Western Capital

Owen Schalk Coltan mine, Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States does the heavy lifting, but Canada provides consistent behind-the-scenes support to enable the plunder of Congo and other nations in the Global South. On October 14, 2004, a group of ten armed men took control of the city of Kilwa in the eastern Katanga…