Burkina Faso: Minister warns against intervention in Niger

A minister for the government of Burkina Faso has warned the West against repeating the bungled intervention of Libya in 2011, in Niger.

Burkina Faso’s Minister of State addressed the UN General Assembly in a long-lasting speech, reports Africa News and agencies, September 25.

The West African country’s Minister of State, Bassolma Bazié spoke to the world in an address discussing multiple issues.

Bazié strongly condemned a potential military intervention in neighbouring Niger. France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc have pondered the idea of a forceful intervention if Nigerien President, Mohamed Bazoum, ousted in a military coup in July, was not reinstated.

The Burkinabe diplomat affirmed that intervention in Niger would be a “second Libya”, a nod to veteran ruler Muammar Gaddafi being toppled by a NATO-supported rebellion in 2011.

The crisis-laden country has seen little peace since then, which has been a concern for the United Nations.

Burkina Faso as well as fellow West African country, Mali are strong allies of Niger. The rulers of the two West African countries had the red carpet rolled out for them by Niger’s new leader back in August. General Tiani, Niger’s ruler stressed that troops from Mali and Burkina Faso would be allowed on Nigerien territory should ECOWAS go through with their intervention.

In his General Assembly address, Burkina Faso’s Minister of State said, “Every year, countless speeches with promises and pledges are given, the discrepancy between speeches and facts on matters of principles contained in the UN Charter, including justice, equality, dignity, integrity, the right to self-determination, the sovereignty of states, the inviolability of territory and respect for international law, is what can be observed in Libya, in the Sahel (more precisely Niger) and in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.”

Bazié’s views on the Niger situation were echoed by Abdoulaye Diop, the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in his General Assembly speech said that, “We (Mali) will not sit on our hands” with regards to a military intervention.

Mr Bazié also highlighted inequality and the “hypocrisy” of some nation states, “Inequality throughout the world is deliberate”, he noted, listing what he sees as “the true wounds that poison coexistence, namely the lies of States, diplomatic hypocrisy, thirst for power, the frenetic quest for profit, the diabolical spirit of domination, and exploitation of man by man.”

Notably, he highlighted the African continent’s lack of membership or veto rights in the United Nations Security Council in what he percieved to be a crime of the world body.

Africa News/AFP

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