WILLIAM GUMEDE | If there’s one thing Africa is good at, it's exploiting the youth to make a mint

The worst food insecurity in decades, caused by climate change and jihadist-fuelled instability in the Sahel, compounded by Covid-19 lockdowns and food shortages because of the Russia-Ukraine war, have caused mass anger, exploited by those behind the July 26 Niger coup.

It is the ninth attempted or successful coup in Central and West Africa since 2020.

Since independence from colonialism, food shortages, price increases and insecurity, especially if combined with state corruption, incompetence and a lack of care, have often fuelled mass uprisings against governments, coups by military leaders or the rise of jihadist movements exploiting mass anger.

Niger, now under military leadership, is likely to see violent conflict which will plunge the Sahel further into chaos, escalating already dire insecurity in the region. Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, his son and wife have been held by the military junta in the basement of his presidential palace in the capital Niamey since the coup.

The junta is led by head of the presidential guard Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, who has appointed himself leader of what he calls Niger’s “transitional government”.

Unemployed youth have lauded the coup, as many across the continent have during other such events. In Niamey, young people have formed vigilante groups to support the junta against possible military intervention from neighbours.

The coup leaders, no doubt, are eyeing the mining bonanza as part of the spoils of forcefully taking over government

Sadly, like in many parts of Africa, impoverished, unemployed and illiterate youngsters often support military coups, jihadist or populist leaders, hoping they will provide them better lives, only to worsen them as these false “leaders” escalate violent chaos, corruption and failure.

Youths also supported coups in Burkina Faso and Mali. As with those countries, Niger's coup leaders blame French “colonialism” and an incompetent French “puppet” government they insist is responsible for the country's economic hardships. Protesters, mostly young people, have raged against former colonial power France, including attacking its embassy, while praising Russia.

Blaming colonialism, even after more than 50 years of African independence, is still conveniently used by military coup leaders and populist leaders who want to gain power, and by autocratic leaders in power, to woo support of African youth.

The conditions for the Niger coup steadily built up. Its economy is dominated by agriculture, mostly of the subsistence form, and mining. The latter accounts for 3% of GDP and 40% of the country’s exports.

The main export is uranium, while oil exploration is taking place. Niger also produces coal, gold, gypsum, limestone, tin, cement and silver. The rise of mining is changing the economy and the country’s politics, opening up many areas for new patronage. The coup leaders, no doubt, are eyeing the mining bonanza as part of the spoils of forcefully taking over government.

One of the military junta leaders has met representatives of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner in neighbouring Mali as it seeks military allies against any outside force to remove it. Wagner has made strong inroads in Sudan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan. It has supported many African dictators in return for mining rights. On Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) instructed a standby force to mobilise to intervene if the junta does not reinstate Bazoum. Nigeria has cut off power to Niger.

The country’s economy is vulnerable to climate change and volatile global commodity prices. GDP per capita is at only $358 (about R6,900). If the UN’s Human Development Index is used as a benchmark, Niger is the poorest country in the world.

Early this year, its government estimated that more than 5-million people were in immediate need of humanitarian assistance because of food shortages. According to UN estimates, close to the same number face hunger because of consecutive failed rainy seasons, decades of desertification and the explosion of natural hazards.

Jihadist movements in the Sahel have generated such insecurity that it has made farming almost impossible. Before the coup, the UN reported that droughts, wildfires, an erratic climate, epidemics such as measles, malaria, meningitis and cholera, combined with violent insecurity caused by jihadist movements, had led to mass migration, homelessness and violent competition over resources. 

Unemployment has risen dramatically because agriculture, the largest employment sector, has been decimated by climate change, Covid-19, epidemics, insecurity and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Late last year the Niger government's analysis of food insecurity showed there was a 39% decrease in cereal production in the 2021-2022 cropping season. Last year the state reported that available production of all cereals (millet, sorghum, maize, fonio and rice) was 2,946,231 tonnes against a population consumption need estimated at 4,950,711 tonnes. Furthermore, the prices of food staples and livestock increased by more than 40%.

Before the coup, only 56% of the population had access to safe drinking water, 13% had access to basic sanitation, while open defecation was practised by more than 71%, according to Niger government reports

Last year the Niger government said 2.3-million people needed curative or preventive nutritional support, while 457,200 children under the age of five were suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Before the coup, only 56% of the population had access to safe drinking water, 13% had access to basic sanitation, while open defecation was practised by more than 71%, it added. Sanitary conditions had increased epidemic incidents.

Jihadist movements within Niger before the coup caused such insecurity in the country that many health centres in rural areas had either closed, had their services disrupted or lacked access to medicines.

Meanwhile the security situation on borders with Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria has increasingly deteriorated.

The country has struggled with corruption. As a case point, last year civil society organisations filed a legal complaint about the “disappearance” of $99m (about R1.9bn) in state funds. The Nigerien Organisations for Budgetary Transparency and Analysis (Rotab) and other civil society organisations said they had uncovered huge corruption in state spending.

Rotab pointed to incidents of fake public tenders, government officials being granted “undue advantages” in state contracts and government purchases of Covid-19-related materials being procured at “unreasonable costs”.

In 2021 Bazoum campaigned on an anti-corruption platform in the run-up to elections. Last year he announced that “about 30 senior state officials, guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation, are currently languishing in prison and will remain there for a long time”.

The Bazoum government in May last year detained Niger’s communications minister, Mahamadou Zada, for alleged embezzlement before he was minister. At the time, he ran the state-owned Sopamin company, which manages the state's holdings in mining. Zada was chairperson of Sopamin between 2013 and 2021. He was investigated after the “disappearance” of $4.8m (about R92m) from the company.

However, the Niger government has, like many in West and East Africa, often prosecuted anti-corruption activists and human rights defenders. Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International said local activists who shed light on corruption and human rights abuses are routinely subjected to repression, intimidation and harassment by authorities across the regions. This includes the use of defamation and “fake news” laws, disproportionate fines, arbitrary arrests, threats and physical violence to silence activists and journalists exposing corrupt practices.

In Niger, blogger Samira Sabou was convicted in January 2022 of “defamation by electronic communication” under the country’s cybercriminal law. She was sentenced to one month in prison and a $100 (now about R1,900) fine. She had republished an article from the Geneva-based Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, which alleged a drug shipment seized by the Nigerien anti-trafficking agency was reacquired by drug traffickers.

ECOWAS and the AU have so far been impotent in getting the junta to release the president and hand over power to civilians. There are fundamental weaknesses in the governance structures of all African continental and regional institutions in that they have military leaders, dictators and autocratic governments in their leadership.

These undemocratic leaders are often unwilling to act against coups or autocratic behaviours by their peers because they behave similarly. Mali and Burkina Faso's leaders, the former of which won power through a military coup in 2021, the latter in 2022, have supported Niger's coup leaders. The Burkina Faso junta this week suspended Radio Oméga, one of the most listened to stations in the country, from operating after it broadcast a critical interview of the Niger coup.

William Gumede is associate professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of South Africa in Brics (Tafelberg)