TPA Watchman

These are indeed dangerously exciting times in Africa, as military juntas in former French colonies continue overthrowing what are perceived as French puppets and agents of imperialism.

The latest is Gabon – the fourth largest oil producer and former French colony which has been ruled by one family for the past 56 years.

The Committee of the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions dissolved Gabonese government and all institutions om Wednesday as well as annulled general election results that had been declared won by Ali Bongo Ondimba, who succeeded his father Omar Bongo after he died in 2009 having ruled the central African oil-rich country since 1967.

As happened in Niger recently, it is expected that France will once again try to coerce the regional economic bloc – Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) – and the pan African body, African Union (AU) to restore the feeble Bongo, who suffered a heart attack in 2019.

With the Nigerien coup, France and the regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) uniformly condemned military junta and even threatening military intervention to restore deposed President, Mohamed Bazoum, who like Bongo, is now being kept under house arrest.

Clearly these coups, that began three years ago with Mali, then Burkina Faso and Guinea – point to one thing only – a third wave of Africa’s revolution to reclaim her economic liberation.

Indications are that these coups will permeate the length and breadth of the continent until the full meaning and import of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) is realised – and that’s when Africa’s mineral endowment is mined and worked by Africans for the benefit of Africans.

France, the former coloniser, clearly has its back against the wall and unable to re-exert its influence in these former colonies, despite the presence of its military troops in these countries. For example, there are 1500 French soldiers in Niger and many more in Gabon.

And emboldened by the good fortune extracted from the recent BRICS Summit in South Africa, where six more countries – Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia – joined the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Group – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has named a new Commander for the Wagner Military outfit, Viktor Afzalov following last week’s death in a jet crash of its former Commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

This is illustrative of Russia’s resolve to assist Africa proclaim her sovereignty and remove all vestiges of imperialism, as is happening in Mali and Niger, where the Wagner troops are already deployed.