The Coup In Niger And The Moncada Barracks Attack

By Owei Lakemfa

Exactly 70 years separate the July 26, 1953 suicidal attack on Moncada Barracks by Cuban youths who wanted to remove the military from power, and this Wednesday’s coup in Niger Republic which removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum and restored military rule. The coup plotters, styling themselves as the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, said in a speech by Air Force Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane that their treasonable move “is as a result of the continuing degradation of the security situation, the bad economic and social governance”.

Indeed, Niger, like many other African countries, is a paradox. It is one of the poorest countries in the world with 41 per cent of its 20 million people living on less than a dollar. It depends a lot on aid. Nigeria under former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022 provided it with N1.4 billion worth of vehicles to run government and also took loans to build railway from Nigeria into Maradi in Niger Republic.

The United States Recurring Memory Loss In Diplomacy

 By Owei Lakemfa

Four archenemies of the United States, US, met variously in its Latin American ‘backyard’ this week. It was the five-day Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. No, the quartet did not make themselves enemies of the US, it was the latter which at various times had dictated to those countries, that designated them as such.

All four are under the unilateral sanctions of the US which punishes any country that dares befriend them. So only the independent-minded and strong countries maintain trade relations with them.