Meeting About: Implications of Recent Developments in Africa and the Birth of a New Resistance Axis.
Speech of Dr. Yahya Ghaddar.
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.
We welcome our guest, the General Coordinator of the Global Gathering in Support of the Choice of Resistance in Djibouti, who is the President of the General Union of Djiboutian Intellectuals.
We also welcome our guests via Zoom, the coordinator of the gathering in Mali, His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Bah.
And the coordinator of the gathering in Burkina Faso, His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Tao.
And the coordinator of the gathering in Niger, His Eminence Sheikh Jawad Othman Jibo.
We also welcome all the participants in the meeting from the leaders and friends of the assembly to the main center of the assembly and via Zoom.
The return of the echo of the Free Officers Revolution in Egypt comes from Africa, the continent that the immortal leader Gamal Abdel Nasser loved and supported its peoples and liberation movements. The brown continent, which is promising with its area, wealth, and population, most of whom are young, rises up, resists, and liquidates the old colonialism and its new and deceitful forms.
As in Nasserite Egypt, the army, with its officers from the sons of the peasants and the forces of the working people, assumed responsibility at the appropriate time and seized power in response to the needs of the times and geography and embodying the will and free decision of the people. This is to extract national sovereignty and liquidate colonialism and its local tools, to restore wealth, unleash the capabilities of the people and achieve their interests. Today, rebellious and persevering Africa appears in the footsteps of Nasser and the Free Officers Revolution.
Armies, by their nature and division, are national and sovereign, and when their movements and goals coincide with the interests of the people, they become a real revolution in which the army participates as an initiative force, motivates the people, and gives solidarity and defense of the revolution and its rights and dignity. Contrary to the logic and experience of the coups organized by the Western intelligence agencies to change faces and names to secure their control, plunder and colonization.
Africa is revolting while its armies entrusted with sovereignty, unity and people’s rights are turning over and turning their coups into popular revolutions on the Nasserite model.
Nasser’s call, “Raise your head, my brother, the era of colonialism is gone.” And the interest of the Nasserite revolution in Africa and its peoples and liberation movements is being answered today. Regional and international conditions, transformations, and developments are available to great degrees in favor of the peoples and their revolutions. The arrogant Anglo-Saxon aggressive world.
We must also salute the position of the Algerian leadership, army and people, which affirmed their support for the will of the people and the right to self-determination and stood in the face of any external interference and declared a state of alert for the Algerian army to prevent any external interference.
Welcome to you and our dear honorable guest, and our guests via Zoom. We listen to them attentively, explaining the facts, facts and paths of Africa’s future in a changing world and in the throes of the birth of the new world.
Speech of Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim (Al-Shami)
General Coordinator of the Global Gathering in Support the Choice of Resistance in Djibouti
President of the General Union of Djiboutian Intellectuals.
- The repercussions of recent developments in Africa and the birth of a new resistance axis
The beginning of French ambitions in Africa was after a series of defeats of the famous French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte inside the European continent as well as in the Middle East, as the French colonial machine gradually headed towards the south in the African continent, and the first decade of the twentieth century did not pass until France had extended its influence upon third of the continent’s land.
1) Africa became the site of the new colonial influence, so France occupied Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania in the north of the continent, and it also occupied other countries in the west and central of the continent, namely Senegal, Mali, Togo, Guinea Conakry, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Comoros, Central Africa, Madagascar, Gabon and parts of Gambia and others.
2) Paris imposed a kind of political and economic patriarchy, and it did not withdraw from its colonies except after imposing its language on it, so that French became the official language and the language of education in nearly half of the African countries.
3) France imposed on these countries to deal with the CFA franc, which is printed, and its purchasing power is determined by Paris, in addition to the acquisition of the most important economic assets and control of basic services. The CFA franc is circulated in 12 countries that were formerly French colonies.
4) According to agreements concluded by France with these countries, the central bank of each African country is obligated to keep a large percentage that may exceed 50% of its monetary reserves in foreign currencies in a commercial account with the French central bank, as these countries do not have the right to lay their hands on these funds or exploit them. And if they are forces is forced, they have no choice but to borrow from the French treasury.
5) The French treasury earns, due to this control, about $500 billion annually in profits and revenues coming from Africa.
6) After France was the only player in Africa, it now has one or more competitors in every foothold, such as China, Russia, Turkey…etc.
7) The repercussions of the events that are developing in Niger and the African coast in general could be disastrous for the security and stability of the region and the world, if international powers interfered in its natural course. In fact, it is a second wave of liberation movements after the Free Unionist Officers movement led by leader Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Republic of Egypt, which had a wide resonance and influence throughout the Arab region and Africa in general.
8) For example, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who led the Free Unionist Officers Movement in Libya at the dawn of the first of September 1969, surprised the international media, especially the European ones, in 1997, by visiting Niger and delivering a speech from the pulpit of the Niamey Grand Mosque, in which he called Nigerians to rebel against the French influence inherited from colonialism.
9) The right-wing populist politician focused in her electoral campaign that brought her to power in Rome, on attacking the French role and criticizing what she described as “France’s exploitation of the riches of the brown continent”, including Niger’s uranium, and how the policy of President Emmanuel Macron and his predecessors causes the poverty of the peoples of the region and the emigration of their youth in different tragic ways tragic to the European continent.
10) According to the scenarios for the development of the situation in Niger finally, its initial repercussions can be monitored through some elements: migration, security challenges, and energy security.
- New Wave of Immigration
1) Since the coup of the military group led by the Commander of the Presidential Guard, General Abd al-Rahman Tiani, against President Muhammad Bazoum, tension has increased in the Sub-Saharan African region, especially in light of the possibilities of external interference, whether from the ECOWAS group or other parties seeking to restore the legitimate constitutional order, which are increasing the intensity of fears in the Maghreb countries of a new wave of migration.
2) In addition to the crises of neighboring countries, the West African country, which is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, is threatening to turn in the event of further deterioration of its security and economic conditions into the largest source of displacement and migration towards the north, where Libya and Algeria are located with their borders that extend for a thousand kilometers each.
3) The countries of the European Union, led by Germany, annually provided generous aid to Niger to support development and combat poverty in return for the efforts of the authorities of President Muhammad Bazoum’s regime in combating illegal immigration. The overthrow of his regime constitutes a painful blow to the European Union’s strategy in this field.
4) It seems that the scenario of a new wave of migration is not excluded, due to at least three factors: the first is the possibility of a military intervention in Niger and the expansion of the state of chaos in the region. The second is that the putschists do not continue to abide by the cooperation agreements with the European Union in the immigration file, at least in light of the European sanctions imposed on Niamey. The third is that the economic and social conditions in Niger will worsen.
- Huge security risks
1) According to a new report on the Global Terrorism Index for 2023, the Sahel region in Africa is the most affected region of the world by terrorism.
2) Some security and strategic research centers classify the African Sahel region as the most dangerous in the world, as it has become a crossroads for global smuggling networks that are active between the American, European and Asian continents. The military coup in Niger comes as the latest episode in the series of declining French influence and further complicating the security situation in the Sahel countries.
3) Some observers have pointed the finger at conspiracies hatched by Russia or “terrorist organizations” in the region as being responsible for those coups. But Alex de Waal believes in his article that the Russian Wagner Group and the armed “jihadist groups” in the region are innocent of this, as they are just opportunists.
4) Algeria showed a cautious stance by not supporting the coup, but at the same time rejecting any foreign military intervention, whether by ECOWAS countries or France. Algeria, which has security cooperation agreements with Niger, fears to protect its borders.
These repercussions represent a challenge to the leaders of the military coups in the African Sahel. If they are able to confront them firmly and wisely, the Sahel countries will be liberated from the restrictions of colonialism and its hateful effects forever. There is no doubt that this will support the forces of resistance that will change the face of the world by creating a new balance of forces that gives everyone his right. Likewise, we support the struggle against imperialism, and we will stand in the ranks of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the heroic Hezbollah.
Sheikh Muhammed Tao
General Coordinator of the Global Gathering in Support of the Choice of Resistance
President of the Supreme Council of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, Burkina Faso
I am honored to participate in this meeting, and I thank His Excellency Dr. Yahya Ghaddar for his invitation
First, these coups taking place in Africa are a translation of African awareness, and they are movements that we have not witnessed before. It is a liberation movement to investigate from the West and from the French occupation, and to take the path of the new resistance, knowing that there are historical resistance fighters in Africa who respect them, but the African people suffered a lot from colonialism and the plundering of its wealth, just as the African people have been assaulted and their dignity by these colonial powers. So the word now is for those who decided to liberate themselves from the West, whatever the results may be
I had hinted previously at the Gathering conference held in Beirut about what is happening in Africa, and that the African people will only accept their freedom and the restoration of their honor and dignity. Therefore, we appeal through the Gathering to all Arab and Islamic countries and the free people of the world to support and stand with the African people in the process of liberating them from the grip of the West
Niger
In these changes going on in Niger we would like to highlight our role. On 26 July there was a coup against the regime of Bazoum. There are a lot of needs that his government did not meet, which led to a revolution in the Niger capital and across all 8 districts. We now have many public demands that allowed this coup to happen.
The public demands started in Mali and Burkina and others and Niger played its role in steadfastness to get their demands met. General Chani said on TV that this coup aims to return security to Niger and that all the terrorism in Niger needed to be eradicated. Former president Bazoum used to say that terrorists are stronger than Niger army, but the people who went through this coup want to see France leave.
The people know they are very rich but they can benefit from nothing due to colonialism, which is why this he coup was very successful and it saw full public support. It was a very strategic coup with no blood being shed in Niger.
I want to talk about the sanctions of ECOWAS on Niger because we think this coup is a popular coup and not a military one. Freedoms were taken away by Bazoum regime. The people wanted their rights and the right to protest and to speak and they were killed by terrorists and Bazoun did nothing to stop it. The people wanted this coup. The ECOWAS has no military power it is only an economic of economic countries, but they are now imposing an embargo on electricity and food and medicine which makes the people in Niger suffer.
We thank Mali and Burkina and Guinea and Algeria for standing alongside our people. We are being threatened by ECOWAS, but we know that they are being pushed by France to steal our resources and to steal our rich country for more than 60 years now. France has nuclear power plants using our resources while we live in darkness. We the people are ready in Niger to sacrifice to regain our independence.
Mali
There is now a construction of resistance between Mali, Burkina and Niger. The youth wisdom for the liberation movement is underway. The colonial powers had agreements with most of east African countries and these agreements gave France more influence in its colonies and especially with the unified African currency being the franc which only France can print it inside its own central bank.
After the attack on Libya and the so-called Arab spring…imperialism entered from wide gates to Africa. France also took advantage of this situation to control all the Sahel countries. Mali tried to resist the regime imposed by colonialism and I myself was amongst those who resistance the French occupation in Mali.
The French tried to maneuver games and conspiracies in Sahel countries. In 2020 Mali witnessed a coup that took down the puppet regime and imposed an embargo but the Mali people resisted and was patient and they succeeded. This gave a chance for the Mali people to see the evil face of France just like that of the united states.
This allowed the French in Mali to move away from the wave of the revolution as the current government makes decision in favor of the Mali citizens despite the sanctions and embargo.
Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali stood together and said that any foreign interference means war. Thank you everyone for your presence and hopefully we can talk more about Mali and the Sahel in general.
Uganda
I say that what happened in Niger will reach to the east of Africa as well, because when freedoms are touched the revolution will sweep all of Africa.
Sudan Hasab Al Rasul
Briefly I think what started in west Africa is another cycle for independence in Africa, it is not a normal coup, but a wave of liberation that awaits those countries to reach independence and free its sources and plan a future for its people.
Comoros Abdulrazzak
I am very happy to be part of this meeting and I want to thank Mr. Ghaddar for making this meeting possible. It is clear that colonialism with France usually work with their agents to impose their own coups, but this time it is not a coup but a revolution against France itself in Africa.
I stand against the ECOWAS that is imposing an embargo on Africa and we say all the regimes in Africa are puppets in the hands of France and that they all came along to their positions through coups initiated by France…but now because of this revolution they became suddenly against coups.
When Chad saw a coup and a new president came along, Macron himself came to Chad to support the coup and the new appointed President.
I want to talk about my country Comoros…where the current dictator came along to power through a coup against the Comoros constitution and France fully supported him and welcomed him and now, they want to put him as head of the African union.
The current dictator of Comoros also lied against President Sambi and threw him in jail with lies and conspiracies.
Dr. Ghaddar is explaining what happened with President Sambi who is being falsely prosecuted under grand treachery by the current dictator in Comoros.
Dr. Ghaddar explains how Comoros people love president Sambi because president Sambi stood against imperialism and normalization which is why we at the Gathering we support President Sambi’s cause.
In conclusion we all should do something to stop this colonialism especially the French colonialism in order to support any liberation movement in Africa.
We should not all what happened in Niger a coup but we should call it a revolution; a political and economic revolution against colonialism.
Dr. Qaisar Mustafa the secretary of the Gathering.
I want to say that the people in Africa are alive, and they will snatch their liberation and independence. When Niger stopped exporting its resources to France which hurt France, we all saw it as a great move, and we fully support it. France wants to regain its influence, but it is losing all its influence. We salute the Niger revolution.