A Visit To The Africa Country Powering One Of Europe Largest Economy (NIger)
About 9 hours into the journey we arrived the Major town of Kandi in the north of Benin. Farmers around here produce most of the cotton that makes Benin Africa's largest producer of cotton. However the focus was on getting to the border and crossing into Niger.
In this video i visit the republic of Niger for a situation update following the September military coup in the country. Earlier This week the Niger Millitary government started a fight with Ecowas in Court over what it calls Barbaric sanctions. Before we look at how the sanctions by fellow African countries could be unlawful, we need to see the current state of things on the ground.
Due to ongoing terrorist activities in Niger, the safest way to access the country by road is through the border with Benin, another former colony of France in west Africa. but that border has been shut down since the past 3 months. That is where i am heading.
I started the journey in the coastal capital city of Benin Cotonou, and headed straight up north of the country towards the border with Niger.
The US will forge strained but pragmatic relations with the new military government in Niger after recognizing as a fait accompli a July coup in the west African nation, said President Joe Biden’s special assistant on Africa.
US position on Niger contrasts with that of France, which has been forced to sever ties with the military regime after it expelled France’s ambassador and ordered 1,500 French troops to leave.
The US continuous to maintains more than 1,000 troops and two drone bases in Niger, from which it claims to surveils Islamist activity throughout the Sahel, a semi-arid region south of the Sahara. Its reason for remaining in the country it says is to provide security for not only Niger but also the neighboring countries Ghana, Togo and Benin.
As we approached Melanville the Benin republic border town with Niger, we started to see the reality on the ground. These trucks have been lined up here for over 3 months since Benin shut its border with Niger along with other Ecowas countries. To under the seriousness of this I'll let you see the full drive to understand how many the trucks are here being prevented from taking food, and other goods including medical equipment into Niger.
According to a post by the US department of States in October, the United States continues to provide life-saving humanitarian, food, and health assistance to benefit the people of Niger. The question is why is Ecowas still preventing food from reaching Niger. Even with all the western sanctions against Russian for its aggression in Ukraine, there has never been an attempt to prevent food from entering Russia. For a landlocked country Niger, there can never be a greater crime against humanity. It will be interesting to see how the court interprets this in the case which Niger has just filled again Ecowas. Let us know in the comment what you think of the Ecowas sanction against Niger and hit the like button on the video.
I was told due to the border closure, the Easiest way to enter Niger from the border town is via a back route which some people brave to smuggle goods across the river that separates the 2 countries. I wanted to see what impact this largely unchecked route could have on the security of both countries.
I paid 5000 CFA franc and was told that covers payment for security personnel to allow the boat to move across freely.
About 100 meter inside the water we were officially on the side of Niger. The boat continued unchecked, uninspected and arrived Niger where i proceeded to the Capital city Niamey.
Niger is the largest country in West Africa and is predominantly covered by the Sahara Desert.
It shares borders with several countries, including Algeria to the northwest, Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the southwest.
The journey from the Niger border to the capital city takes approximately 5 hours which means we would be on the road into the night. At first that got me worried considering that we are travelling by night in a country fighting terrorism. But as we continued, every thought of terrorism quickly disappeared. The new military government has increased the country's army manpower making sure there is a good presence of security on the road.
As one of the world's top producers of Uranium, Niger, a former French colony, plays a very important role in supplying uranium to France, contributing to France energy production.
