The Federation of West African States
Is the Junta uprising an opportunity to create the Federation of West African States? In as much as I do not ascribe to any military proroguing democratic structures, I must say a window of opportunity has been created to help start the process of West African Political and economical unity. It is about time we have a federal system with a powerful central government in West Africa(W/A) and by extension in Africa.
If I known of any selfless and disciplined group of people, I would most likely count on most W/A armies. I believe that the motivation for Traore of Burkina Faso, Goita of Mali, Doumbouya of Guinea, and Tiani of Niger was not necessarily born out of the desire to obtain power but basically to establish a foundation for the prosperity of their people. If that be the case, I believe the current coup leaders are best positioned to bring the unionist dream of one West Africa into fruition under their unceremoniously and spontaneous ascension to power.
It is important to note the apparent swift manner to which the current military leadership adhere to the principles of Solidarity when they were threatened by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and foreign fraternities in an extraordinary summit on Niger on 30th July, 2023 at Abuja Nigeria; the cohesive approach under which the military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea sounded a clear resistance warning to ECOWAS and their ‘appendix’ was very interesting; the question is, can this energy be channeled towards uniting the block under one leadership for the common good of W/A? ECOWAS was meant to bring this dream of unity into reality, however for many decades the body has failed to achieve this task; for example, convergence criteria for a common currency has become delusional as the body keeps postponing its implementation date year after year. As it stands now, there is limited hope of a political union within ECOWAS, and the largely corrupt elites, seeing what is prevailing in the sub region with respect to the military takeovers, are afraid for the stability of their own governments.
ECOWAS must come to the realization that, attempting to use force against Niger risk creating an even greater paranoia of stability in the sub region, with a potential perpetuity of hostilities; Who benefits from such a scenario? Your guess is as good as mine. Can ECOWAS reflect on what happened to Liberia and Sierra Leone in the past? What of Libya, and now Sudan, and other areas in the region which have only seen conflict and suffering in the past decades? Therefore any actions by ECOWAS should be carefully thought through. Let me emphatically state that in as much as ECOWAS citizens have embraced democracy, they do not ascribe to corruption and poverty. They simply want their lives to be better under efficient leaders; not leaders who ‘sell’ their citizen for a better life for themselves, families, and associates. There is a precedence of Chiefs selling their fellow blacks to enrich their pockets in our part of the world, and the ‘buyers’ know that there would be such people always in our mist as Africans, so they exploit this and sponsor such people to become our leaders ( most of these people are now our presidents). So ECOWAS must comprehend that its citizens currently careless about the form of governance superintending over them, they just want sincere leaders that are not manipulated by foreign powers and could win back sovereignty. ECOWAS must not miscalculate because the majority of its people do not support military intervention which in actual fact would be planned, financed, and executed by foreign powers with our Soldiers as sacrificial ‘lambs’ on the ground.
The message is very simple, the African is tired of neo colonialism which leaves the masses of its people poor and dripping off the left overs of looted resources by foreign powers. The attitude of Africans to the Russia – Ukraine conflict says it all; it is not that African condone the infringing of territorial integrity of a sovereign state, but they have seen the double standards on the Kosovo and Palestinian issues, among others. World powers cannot continue to survive on the resources of Africa at the detriment of its people, whiles it ‘paints’ a backward, primitive, and disease stricken image for the continent through its strong media empire, and doing very little to support them.
If the great powers wants to secure its future with Africa, they should do to it as they have done to the ‘Arabian dessert’, yet respecting its culture, values, and norms. it is about time it sees the continent as a partner and an equal one as such. If these powers would consider a philosophical doctrine which seeks a win-win situation with Africa, then there may be a harmonious relation ahead of us.
The Message to African leaders is that we can’t have abundance of wealth and yet keep our people poor; how can we negotiate resource deals where we have just around 1-10 % stake as leaders of the continent? How can we just sell off our Uranium, Oil, Gold, Bauxite, etc. without maximizing the benefits of having such resources? How can the rest of Africa allow themselves to wallop in this cycle of Master and Servant relationships? It is a wake-up call for the African Continent.
Today, the coupe leaders should know that the masses have repose their trust in them and are prepared to go down the path of hardship with them, but it shall not be long when the economy begins to bite as a result of sanctions, the euphoria would tend to criticisms, and if they care to know, counter coups may occur; that’s when they may realize that if they did not mean to really revolutionaries the system, perhaps they should have allowed the so called democratic systems to remain in place in their respective countries. If the junta leaders are not convinced of this ‘prognosis’, they should go to the grave site to ask “Flt. Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, General Sanni Abacha, Capt. Blaise Campaore, and others”. As they are being hailed today, they shall not enjoy the ‘honeymoon’ forever, it is therefore a call for all the Junta leaders to unite and think ‘outside the box’. Russia and China are friendly nation to partner with for development, but it should be noted that the West is not an enemy either; they only seek for their own interest and that of their people, therefore how can we position ourselves to seek the interest of our people without antagonizing the west with unnecessary ‘jargons and fist fights?’
Do we want to learn as Africans? Then we must go to the Indians to take some lessons.
