“When I talk about France, I feel angry inside. I hate France, but I speak French, you know? The French stole from us and massacred us for 400 years. Our ancestors were killed. They took everything from us.”
The words of Bilal Sali Sussani, a first-year journalism student at Abdou Moumouni University (AMU) in Niamey, the capital of Niger, sum up the sovereigntist wave that is currently sweeping West Africa.
Today, around 65% of the African continent’s population is under 30, according to the African Union. In the Sahel region, it is young people like Sussani who have been supporting the uprisings that put the military in power between 2020 and 2023.
It happens for a reason: The new governments express the anti-French sentiment that was already strong among young people even before the military took power in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
BdF spoke to young Sahelians to understand their perspectives on the ongoing struggle against imperialism in the region. The Sahel is the stage of intense geopolitical disputes, particularly over natural resources such as gold and uranium.
“I would say that this is a very good moment for young people in Niger. After the coup, a lot has happened in the country. If it doesn’t come from young people, nothing can be achieved in Niger because we are the majority of its population. We are truly free thanks to us,” Sani said.
Union des Scolaires Niger
Effred Al Hassane is Secretary General of the Union des Scolaires Niger (USN). Since its creation on July 16, 1960, the USN has been one of the first social groups to oppose French colonial rule in Niger.
Throughout the history of Niger, several governments have tried to dissolve the organization because of its work. USN members have even been murdered, deported or exiled for denouncing France and the governments that served the interests of the European country, such as Hamani Diori (1960-1974) and later Seyni Kountché (1974 – 1991).
Since the emblematic July 26, 2023, the USN has been drawing up reports on social and economic issues and making recommendations to the military junta led by Abdourahamane Tchiani, the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la Patrie, or CNSP).
According to Al Hassane, the youth and the CNSP share the same “anti-imperialist and pan-African ideology”, which justifies their joint support and fight against neo-colonialism.
“Today, our headquarters are well-structured thanks to the military. This means that our organization is an honest and constant CNSP supporter as long as the CNSP is on the anti-imperialist side. What binds us to the CNSP – what binds the people to the CNSP – is the anti-imperialist struggle. If this anti-imperialist struggle turns into something else, the Nigerien Students’ Union will speak out against any initiative aimed at distorting the meaning of the pan-African struggle for the liberation of our people,” says Al Hassane.
Today, the USN covers nine universities in Niger, as well as institutes, vocational schools, technical, technological and general education colleges and also Nigerien students in the diaspora. In all, it is present in 56 of the country’s 103 departments.
“I’m studying communication to show people in Niger what’s really happening,” said Bilal Sali Sussani.
Present and past in Burkina Faso
Inem Richardson, president of the Thomas Sankara Center for the Liberation and Unity of Africa in Burkina Faso, notes an evolution in the pan-Africanist perspective in the Sahel since the creation of the Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), or Alliance of Sahel States, in English.
“We used to talk about Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as three separate nations. But now, when you talk to people, they are very aware of them being one thing. In fact, when you ask some people if they are from Burkina Faso, some say no, they are from the AES. So, we can see that even concepts of nation and state are changing,” Richardson points out.
Richardson stresses the importance of unifying the revolutionary forces of the past and present. The reference to the famous revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara in the three countries, she says, is a symbol of the path towards unity and regional sovereignty.
In this sense, she highlights the work of the so-called citizens’ vigils, which are a kind of popular committee that acts as the “eyes and ears of the revolution”, and which are inspired by the legacy left by Sankara.
“They are there every night, between 9 pm and 4 or 5 am, to protect the government leadership, to protect President Ibrahim Traoré and all his officials. It’s an inspiration we take from Thomas Sankara’s revolution, from 1983 to 1987,” says Richardson.
Mali: the continuity of a historic struggle
In Mali, popular support for the coups in the three countries that make up the AES was driven by the work of young activists and progressive organizations that “made the population aware of the evils of French imperialism.”
Ibrahima Kebe is one of the leaders of the Faso Kanu Political Association, a socialist movement in Mali that he describes as a continuation of the historic struggles for independence and against French colonial rule in his country.
“For a long time now, the militants of progressive organizations have been working to emancipate the people, to make them understand that French policy in Africa, that imperialist policy and capitalism have already done enough damage, that they have already made enough fun of the future of our citizens,” said Kebe.
“This policy of raising awareness and political, cultural and ideological rearmament of our citizens has contributed decisively to condemning France and orchestrating this vast popular movement in support of different overthrows of power,” adds the young Malian.
Repression of youth in Benin
Nidol Ishola Salami, a member of the Union of Communist Youth of Benin (IJCB), is very concerned about the current situation in his country. He blames the government of President Patrice Talon for unemployment and hopelessness among young Beninese.
According to Salami, since 2016, Talon, who is an ally of Emmanuel Macron’s French government in West Africa, has been implementing dictatorial acts, destroying rights such as the right to strike and freedom of expression, and imprisoning young people “on unfounded charges.”
As an example, he mentions the arrest of two members of the Patriotic Youth Council (CoJeP) in January of this year, a case that BdF exclusively reported. At the time, the young people were staging a peaceful demonstration in the center of Cotonou against the French military presence in the country.
“Today, we can’t talk anymore. Even the press is afraid to interview people if they say they don’t agree with the government. Many people are being sent to prison. They create unfounded accusations, and we end up in prison. In sum, the current situation in Benin takes us back years. And today’s youth is more awake because anti-imperialist awareness today, whether in Benin or Africa as a whole, is stronger. People now know that Benin’s problem is not just the government we have, but [a consequence of] imperialism,” says Salami.
