UNTIL recently you may not have heard of our country, Niger. It is often confused with Nigeria, a former British colony to the south.

Even in France, the former colonial power, most people do not know Niger. We are usually referred to as Nigerians, not Nigeriens.

But recently Niger has hit world headlines because the July 26 military coup has changed the balance of international power in the Sahel of west Africa.

Many people speculate that the coup was secretly organised in cahoots with Russian or other outside forces. This is because our government has been swift in repudiating military agreements with France.

On Sunday it scored a historic victory when President Emmanuel Macron reluctantly confirmed the withdrawal of all French troops.

We in the diaspora support the aims of the coup insofar as we believe it is time Niger achieved a real independence that has not taken place since France formally left in 1960.

We support their aim to put an end to over a decade of misgovernance, corruption and impunity under the ejected administration.

We also condemn the sanctions imposed since the coup by France, the EU and even our neighbours in the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). Sanctions which are currently strangling Niger.

Furthermore, we oppose the continuing threat of military invasion of our country by Ecowas. Of course, we hope for a return to democracy as soon as is practicable but first we must banish the deep-rooted political causes that create military coups.

Today we will put the diaspora’s position on colonial reparations at the London Houses of Parliament during a pan-African event called by the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan reparations. 

France has never formally acknowledged, let alone apologised for, the appalling violence and discrimination of its conquest and rule of our country which included major crimes against humanity. 

A recent film, African Apocalypse, on the notorious Voulet-Chanoine mission of 1898 that barbarically killed tens of thousands of our kinsfolk in the so-called “Scramble for Africa” was shown on TV and in cinemas in Niger and around the world, but the French ambassador refused to let it be shown in the French Cultural Centre in Niamey in 2022. 

This culture of denialism is widespread in France (and similarly elsewhere among former colonising states).

Even as he announced the military withdrawal on Sunday, Macron denied that France has any responsibility in the political life of Niger. While we earnestly hope this is true for the future, in terms of history Macron is simply deluded.

Nigeriens like us are fed up because for over 50 years France has relied on uranium from Niger for its energy security.

We know that French farmers and landowners were generously compensated when their land was requisitioned in the 1970s to build nuclear reactors.

But for our people, the mines have only meant dangerous working conditions, ill-health and historically poor remuneration. Even today only around 15 per cent of Nigeriens have access to electricity. Incidentally, much of that is currently being blocked by our main supplier, neighbouring Nigeria.

In July 2021 our organisation met with former president Mohamed Bazoum at a global education summit in London. Bazoum told us that nowadays the French only buy our uranium as a favour. We need them more than they need us.

Today’s global economy, Bazoum told us, is more concerned with retail businesses like Alibaba and Amazon. It is because of this kind of disparagement that many in Niger do not mourn the exit of Bazoum. 

His condescension towards Nigeriens has also extended to our armed forces. He has repeatedly asserted they are not equal to the terrorist challenge. Many in Niger suspect this has been part of a deliberate destabilisation effort to keep French military in the country.

In 2021, there was compelling and well-documented eyewitness evidence that French troops had shot and killed three Nigerien protesters in Tera near the border with Burkina Faso.

The protesters were opposing the French transport of weapons from Ivory Coast to Mali as part of counterinsurgency operations against Islamic State jihadists.

People felt strongly because this is an area where more than 500 civilians had been recently killed, and over 100 villages had been displaced to make way for the expansion of a French military base nearby. 

Bazoum’s response to the shootings was to arrest human rights defenders organising demonstrations and declare that the departure of French military forces would lead to chaos in the region.

Under pressure he did, however, organise an inquiry into the killings. But that inquiry found no attributable responsibility.

So, the governments of France and Niger split equally compensation paid to the victims’ families. Many Nigeriens believe our former president was allowing France to act with impunity. And that submissive stance was not so different from colonial times.

Last week the military government spokesman claimed in a televised address that official representatives at the United Nations general assembly in New York were prevented from presenting evidence to show France maintains a neocolonial grip in Niger and even provides active support to terrorist groups. Yet more indications of destabilisation, if this is true.

Parliamentary deputies have told us that 10 years ago when a French military base was installed there was no legislative scrutiny. This murky form of democracy must end.

Our country regularly comes last or thereabouts in the UN Human Development Index. It should not be like that. Our country is rich. Aside from uranium, there are significant deposits of gold, bauxite and even lithium, essential for a global green transition.

It is wrong that these resources of such benefit to all humanity and the planet should not also equally benefit the people of Niger. 

Since 2011 our external debt has more than trebled. Yet education, health, security and agriculture have seen little improvement. So where did all the money go? Is it a coincidence this period has also seen a mushrooming of millionaires among the political, business and even Civil Service classes?

Recently we have joined with communities in Niger to call for meaningful reparation for France’s colonial conquest and occupation.

This must start with acknowledgement, apology and a transparent sharing of archives relating to the French colonial invasion and rule of more than 60 years. 

And then we must address the pressing need for targeted financial and logistical support, not as charity or development aid but as reparation for the historic and continuing harm done by over a century of unequal treatment.

There must also be a transformation in the terms of trade and, of course, migration policy too. For too long France has taken from us but not given back.

As the current Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine told the New York Times in August, we do not reject French people or even France in any way.

Some of us were trained in France, many have grown up with the French language. But we want to be respected.

In the words of the great Nigerien poet and trade union activist, Abdoulaye Mamani, “Let us shatter resignation!”

The six military coups in the region, of which the one on July 26 is only a part, signify a welcome trend to reclaim the initiative.

Neighbouring Burkina Faso’s transitional president Ibrahim Traore was right when he quoted his inspiration Thomas Sankara in July: “A slave who does not rebel does not deserve pity.”

Sankara also said: “Without patriotic political education, a soldier is only a potential criminal.”

So far in Niger we see a military government focused on justice and equality for all our people. We share that focus and believe at its heart too are reparations for colonialism. 

Kader Mossi and Sahidi Bilan are members of the Collectif des Nigeriens de la Diaspora (CND), a network founded in 2020 of the Nigerien diaspora organising in Britain, Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Rob Lemkin directed the documentary film African Apocalypse.