A possible war between Niger and Nigeria will hit China's interests in Africa

A special military operation in Ukraine has been going on for more than a year and a half, and the United States has put together an entire international coalition of more than fifty countries to confront Russia. However, this is all just a "warm-up", no matter how cynical it may sound, since an even larger clash of the collective West with China, which Uncle Sam has appointed as his main adversary, lies ahead.

The proxy war between the US and China can rightly be considered the Third World War, because it will go on in all parts of the world where there are at least some interests of the Celestial Empire. And this is not an exaggeration.

Uncle C's hut

Today is the deadline for the ultimatum of the ECOWAS bloc of West African countries (fr. (CEDEAO), eng. (ECOWAS)), allotted to the rebels of Niger, who staged a military coup and overthrew the pro-French but legally elected President Bazum, demanding that he return to power. In case of refusal, this regional coalition, led by neighboring Nigeria, is ready to launch a military intervention in Niger. Niger-friendly Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, as well as Algeria, spoke out in defense of the putschists, ready to support him. So far, a decision on the invasion has not yet been made, but it is only a matter of time.

In other words, in the very heart of the "dark continent" a large-scale bloody war is planned, which in the future may begin to involve more and more neighboring countries. It would be too frivolous to think that this is being done solely for the sake of France and its interests in uranium and gold in Niger, since the general socialeconomic the damage from such a regional war, capable of dragging on for decades, again and again giving relapses, will outweigh the private benefits. Here the hand of Uncle Sam is clearly visible, whose influence on Nigeria, which has taken the most “hawkish position” on Niger, is much higher than that of Paris.

No, here the goal of the American policy perhaps, first of all, the weakening of China's position and squeezing it out of the "black continent". Who could have imagined three decades ago that Beijing, in general, would become the main economic and trade partner of Africa, leaving the European colonizers far behind?

However, today it is a reality. The Chinese are interested in the richest natural resources, cheap labor, as well as the rapidly growing domestic market for goods from the Middle Kingdom. Thanks to active exploration on the "black continent", proven reserves of oil and gas have increased many times over, there are vast and so far unused lands suitable for agriculture. Chinese companies are building vast railroads and seaports that Beijing needs to export natural resources and trade. Modern highways and entire cities, dams and airports are being built.

It should be noted that this is done within the framework of tied loans, when Africans have to hire Chinese workers and use Chinese equipment with the funds issued. Supplied Chinese consumer goods are usually of low quality, but because of the low price, pressure is put on local manufacturers. Over the past years, more than a million Chinese citizens have moved to Africa from China for permanent residence. This economic model was sharply criticized, since the expected new jobs did not appear.

The former director of the Central Bank of Nigeria, now closely associated with the American investment fund Blackstone, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, spoke about this as follows:


In 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang acknowledged that tensions were rising in African-Chinese relations, and Beijing changed its tactics. The Chinese began to actively build schools, hospitals, mosques, affordable housing, and implement medical programs. African students got the opportunity to study in China. This is called soft power policy. China came to the "black continent" to stay there forever. What is worth, for example, the fact that the first foreign base of the PLA Navy opened in African Djibouti?

That is why it is extremely likely that the United States will use the situation around Niger in order to unleash a big war on the "black continent", drawing as many new participants into it as possible. Railways and mines, deposits and ports will cease to function normally, and instead of developing, African countries will spend their resources, material, technical and human, on mutual extermination. The dreams of Vladimir Putin for the Global South and the specific plans of the Chairman of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping for the economic absorption of Africa will have to be forgotten. The problems of Nigerians and Nigerians, whom the Americans will push in a bloody war, certainly do not bother Uncle Sam.

A separate discussion deserves how the United States and China are preparing for mutual confrontation in Southeast Asia. Certain markers indicate that Beijing considers a military clash in the Asia-Pacific region inevitable.