FEATURE - 'Paternalistic' France Drives Pro-Democracy Activists In Niger To Support Military Coup

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2023) While the international community rallied around President Mohamed Bazoum who was ousted in a recent military coup in Niger, a local pro-democracy activist explained to Sputnik why many Nigeriens decided to support the military that took power.

After soldiers led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani staged the military coup and detained Bazoum in late July, leaders from most Western countries condemned the putsch and demanded the immediate release of the ousted president.

Leaders from neighboring countries in West Africa expressed similar positions. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States went as far as to threatening to intervene militarily and issued a seven-day ultimatum against the military coup plotters in Niger.

In sharp contrast with the overwhelming condemnation of the coup, a number of civil rights groups in Niger organized large public demonstrations in support of the military that took power. Supporting a military junta that ousted an elected president appears to go against the fundamental values of the organizations that strive to advocate for democracy.

As someone who has been advocating for human rights, freedoms and democracy in Niger for over 20 years, Adamou Kore, a co-founder of one of the civil rights groups, explained to Sputnik why he sided with the military.

"It is a dilemma. We're a democratic organization. But we support the military coup. If our last president (Bazoum) respected democratic rules, we could also condemn the military coup. But his regime doesn't respect fundamental freedoms in our democracy. We have already been warning the deposed regime for curbing freedoms in a democratic country," Kore, 41, told Sputnik.

When Bazoum came to power in Niger in 2021, he was celebrated as the country's first president to take office through a peaceful transition after winning an election.

However, Kore argued that Bazoum's actions after taking office failed to live up to the expectations of a democratically elected president.

"Yes. That's everybody says. He is a democratically elected president. But even for a democratically elected president, there're democratic rules. If you don't respect those democratic rules, you can't be a democratic president. Bazoum was elected. But we have laws and rules in our country that he did not respect," Kore said.

The government under Bazoum tried to restrict the freedom of expression in the country in recent years. More than seven months before the military coup took place, Abdoulaye Seydou, a fellow activist and a good friend of Kore, was arrested by Nigerien authorities and charged with "publication of information likely to undermine public order" in January. Seydou was sentenced to serve nine months in prison over the same charge in April.

"Since January 2023, Seydou, the coordinator of the M62 Movement, has been in prison just for defending the fundamental freedoms in Niger. All Nigeriens know that we have a lot of problems. We have problems with the rising cost of living, unemployment, and security. We have corruption and misappropriation of public funds. We have water problems and sanitary issues. All those problems existed under the deposed regime. But we can't even express that we're not happy," Kore said.

The activist pointed out that nobody came into the streets in Niger to express their support for the ousted president.

"You see? The deposed regime did not allow people to go out and express what they felt. There are people who support the ousted president. They can go out and say it. But they didn't come out even as they have the freedom of expression now," Kore said.

When the pro-coup protests emerged in Niger, most of the media outlets focused on the anti-West sentiment among the groups that organized the demonstrations.

The Pan-African Network for Peace, Democracy and Development, or REPPADD, which was co-founded by Kore, was among the most active groups leading the demonstrations.

As some activists in Niger waved Russian flags, the protests were almost painted as part of the geopolitical competition between Russia and the West in Africa.

But a quick look into Kore's career as a human rights defender and an advocate for freedoms and democracy could help explain that the protests were more than the results of geopolitical competition.

When Kore was a student studying physics at the Abdou Moumouni University in the capital city of Niamey in 2002, he met fellow student Seydou, who was studying mathematics at the time. Their common interests in freedoms and democracy quickly turned them into student activists on campus.

"We shared the same idea. We wanted to make our country free and democratic. Coming from different regions of our country, we began to work together in a student organization. We started to fight for the basic things that the government failed to provide for the students," Kore, 41, told Sputnik.

After working together to advocate for students for a few years, Kore and Seydou decided to dedicate their efforts to promoting human rights, democracy and development among young Nigeriens. Along with several other student activists, they founded REPPADD in 2011.

As part of REPPADD's key mission was to promote pan-African values among young Nigeriens, Kore and Seydou, together with a number of other civil rights organizations, started the M62 Movement last year to highlight the lingering influence of former colonial ruler France in the country despite becoming independent 62 years ago.

"When we founded the M62 (Movement) last year, we wanted to stress that we had been free for 62 years. But we were really not free," Kore said.

As more and more young activists like Kore began to advocate for pan-African values on the continent, their struggle against continued influence from former colonial powers, such as France, was often viewed through the optics of geopolitical competition between Western countries and rising powers like Russia or China.

However, Kore explained that their fight against French influence was more about the paternalist attitude of France's policies.

"We don't have a problem with French people. We have a problem with the French government's policies. The only big problem with France is that they adapt a paternalistic habit. We want to be good partners with them. We don't want them to be our father," he said.

The activist gave an example of what kind of policies from the French government were problematic for Niger.

"If you talk about what's wrong with the French policies, take the uranium in our country as an example. France takes our uranium and sells it in the world. It looks like Niger is just part of France. When our President Tandja Mamadou wanted to sell the uranium to whom we wanted, it was not possible because France wouldn't allow it. France thinks it is Niger's father. That's not good," Kore said.

Compared to how the United Kingdom handled relations with its former colonies in Africa such as Nigeria or Ghana, French policies for its former colonies were much more controlling, the activist added.

"The partnerships between Nigeria or Ghana with (UK) is not the same as ours with France. I think Nigeria and Ghana ... were more free in their working relationships with their former colonizer than we were with France," he said.

Following similar coups in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, the newly established military-led governments in both countries decided to discontinue the French military's presence there. Such rejections from Mali and Burkina Faso made Niger the new hub for France's counterterrorism operations in West Africa.

However, Kore argued that the French military's presence in Niger before the coup served more for the purpose of protecting the interests of the ousted president.

"We do have a big security problem in Niger. We have French military bases in our country. But they didn't do anything to help resolve the security problems in Niger. We can see that the problems are not resolved as many terrorists still come to our country from Mali or Burkina Faso. It looks like they came to (Niger) to protect the regime that was deposed (in the recent military coup). They're not here to protect our people from terrorism. They're here to protect the last president and his team," he said.

Shortly after the coup in Niger, the junta announced plans to discontinue France's military presence in the country.

Nevertheless, the activist argued that rejecting French policies in the region did not mean countries like Niger had picked a side in the growing geopolitical rivalry between the West and Russia in Africa.

"We say that we don't want neocolonialism. We're looking for partners. We don't want a partner that comes and does the same thing as France did. For example, if Russia comes and becomes a partner of Niger, but it does the same thing as France did, we'll also tell them to move away. We want partners that respect us. If France stops its paternalistic attitude, maybe we can work together. It's not a problem," Kore said.

Similar to Bazoum in Niger, many presidents in neighboring countries in Western Africa were also acting under heavy influence from France, Kore pointed out. That could help explain why the Economic Community of West African States stood strongly against the military coup in Niger.

"Most of the presidents of the countries under this organization are under French influence. For example, the presidents of Ivory Coast, Senegal and Chad are all ruling under the influence of French policies. They represent France and they want to free their friend, who is our last president (Bazoum)," he said.

Nevertheless, as a pro-democracy activist, Kore expressed hopes that the military that took power in Niger would fulfill their promises in restoring a democratic government in the future.

"We're Africans. We have our culture. We can try to do our own democracy. But when we tried to copy the Western democracy, we always had problems because we always had military coups. We don't want military rule all the time. They have to resolve all the problems faced by the deposed regime. We can only wish that we'll have politicians that are better than the ones that were removed. We wish that this would be the last military coup," he said.