Niger PM Accuses France, Ukraine Of Sponsoring Proxies To Attack Niger, Declares AES Irreversible At UNGA
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Niger, His Excellency Lamine Zeine Ali Mahaman, has accused France and its allies of orchestrating terrorism in the Sahel to recolonize the region and steal its resources, while warning that proxy forces are mobilizing to attack Niger’s oil installations and military posts.
Mahaman spoke at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, on behalf of the Head of State, General of the Army Abdourahamane Tchiani and the sovereign people of Niger.
Addressing the theme of the session — “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation, A United Nations That Delivers for All” — the Nigerien leader said trust cannot be built on promises but on implementation, truth and justice.
“Trust cannot be decreed. It is built, it is earned, and it requires truth and justice. How to restore trust when, for decades, propaganda has been used to maintain the idea of a poor Africa, condemned to do everything it is told to do, to survive thanks to the assistance of supposed international generosity—even while its resources, its riches are stolen and locked away for the benefit of other agendas?” he said.
He slammed international institutions for double standards, saying they have become tools where some peoples count and others merely survive, and where international law does not apply equally.
“What can we say of the crimes committed in Libya, in Iraq, in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Cuba, in Venezuela, and in our Sahel? In the name of supposedly universal values which nevertheless remain unpunished, those crimes, even while sovereign nations are threatened with sanctions for simply having wanted to decide on their own fate,” he queried.
On Palestine and Gaza
On the war in Gaza, Mahaman said Niger is following with deep concern the tragic situation where civilians are paying an unbearable human cost.
“We call for the effective protection of civilian populations, for unhindered humanitarian access, and for the pursuit of a just and lasting peace. Niger reaffirms its support for a two-state solution, allowing the State of Palestine and the State of Israel to live side by side in peace, security, and dignity,” he said.
On UN Security Council Reform
The Prime Minister questioned why Africa with over 1.5 billion inhabitants and 54 states still has no permanent seat on the Security Council 81 years after San Francisco.
He reaffirmed Niger’s commitment to the Ezulwini Consensus and called for the historic anomaly to no longer be subject to sterile debates but to a full and concrete decision.
Sahel War Is Recolonization War — Accuses France, Ukraine
Mahaman said the Sahel is at war — a war of liberation against a conspiracy aimed at recolonizing it.
“Our Sahel is at war. It is in a war of liberation against a conspiracy aimed at recolonizing it. What is happening in the Sahel is not simply an armed rebellion, nor a war of religion, nor is it the inevitable result of our own weaknesses,” he said.
“What some call terrorism in our region is the cynical machinery of recolonization, dressed in the trappings of extremism, but the real motivation of which lies elsewhere: in a covetousness for the significant resources that God has placed in our land. Niger’s uranium, Mali and Burkina Faso’s gold, lithium, gas, oil, and so many other riches still make the former colonial powers salivate.”
He accused France under President Emmanuel Macron and its allies of acting through local proxies, networks and complicity to make Africans believe they cannot govern themselves.
“They want to make us believe that we are incapable of governing ourselves, incapable of producing, of thinking, and of defending ourselves. They want to make us believe and convince us that we do not have the science, the intelligence, or the sovereignty needed to build something precious by and for ourselves, and that, as a consequence, we should accept the tutelage of Emmanuel Macron’s France and his allies—a France which very often acts through its local proxies, networks, and complicity.”
“For centuries, they have instilled self-deprecation, fear, and resignation. They continue to want to introduce permanent conflict in communities which, since time immemorial, have been living in harmony in the same space and which have created peaceful mechanisms for settling disputes, such as joking kinship, for example.”
He said the attempt to destabilize the Central Sahel, conducted by France with the active complicity of Ukraine, is now widely documented.
“This perfidious attempt to destabilize the Central Sahel, conducted by France with the active complicity of Ukraine, is now documented—widely documented. This criminal enterprise has been unmasked now that the military, political, and media elites that justify it in the name of their own countries’ interests have themselves removed their veils and removed their masks.”
“I say solemnly from this rostrum: the Sahel sees, the Sahel hears, the Sahel remembers, and the Sahel understands things very well. Our Sahel is determined to defend its liberty, its resources, and its dignity at any cost. A people that has decided to be free cannot be recolonized through fear, through deceit, nor even through savage violence,” he declared.
Border Threat Warning
The Prime Minister disclosed that armed proxies are currently positioned on Niger’s northeastern border.
“As I speak to you, on our northeastern border, there are proxies led by that France, supported by Ukraine and two other countries—and you know which countries I am alluding to—those proxies are armed, managed, and led, and they are about to attack our military positions and our oil installations. But Inshallah, they will find what they deserve if they do so,” he warned.
AES Irreversible
On the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Mahaman described it as an irreversible process towards sovereignty.
“The AES (Alliance of Sahel States), the result of a long and historic struggle of our peoples against colonization and neocolonialism, is now an irreversible process towards our countries’ sovereignty. Make no mistake: the century that we are living in marks the end of old hegemonies and the awakening of hitherto suppressed forces. The AES is to Africa and its historic and contemporary diasporas as light is to darkness.”
“It is for this human community that is present around the world a source of hope and of dignity. The AES is the result of a movement that dates from the dawn of time; it is a profound, lasting, irrepressible, and irreversible change, Inshallah.”
“A change which, by trimming the sharp claws of imperialism, abolishing the trade in Black persons and slavery, overthrowing colonialism and neocolonialism, is bringing the peoples of Africa towards independence, sovereignty, and liberty.”
He said Niger’s refoundation is not targeted against anyone, but is an expression of will to rely on itself and have total control over its resources.
“Our organization must understand this truth: the sovereignty of our states is not negotiable, our resources belong to our peoples, our future will no longer be decided elsewhere,” he said.
He concluded by commending the courage of Niger’s defense and security forces and paying tribute to civilian and military martyrs.
