France has been in Mali for 7 years. To fight terrorism? No, to defend the uranium deposits
It was January 11, 2013 when François Hollande announced that France was sending its army to Mali to "face the terrorist aggression that threatens all of West Africa". Holland's rhetoric accompanied the French government like a bass drum as it grappled with its singular crusade against the threatening jihad no popodimenoche in Mali. Nobody at the time wondered why the Rafale took off and materialized with airplanes and helicopters thousands of French soldiers in Bamako (some journalists in France yes, but no one was running away). Seven years after the deployment of the French army in Mali not only has nothing changed but the country seems increasingly in disarray, with the same colonels in power who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on August 18 (in a putsch officially carried out without of blood), and a territory prey to incursions by unscrupulous jihadists who kill, rape, cut off hands and make anyone who gets in their way disappear.
But just as happened at the time of the military intervention against Gaddafi in Libya, it is at least ironic that France has carried out and maintains control of a military intervention, being largely responsible for what is happening in Mali. In fact, in this country we have seen only corrupt regimes largely supported by France, regimes that have led to the total disintegration of the Malian state. It is probably this collapse that led Islamist groups to take a bold step towards Bamako. Who can really believe that France's seven-year stay in Mali is to expel the jihadist ogre and ensure democracy in Mali?
The reality is much more prosaic: with the intervention in Mali, France wanted to guarantee the supply of uranium to its nuclear power plants. The uranium is in fact extracted in the mines of northern Niger, a desert area separated from Mali only by a line on the maps. For 40 years, France has therefore deliberately kept Niger in a state of weakness and dependence on the former colonial power precisely to allow its flagship uranium mining company, Cogema , which later became Areva , to do gold business by effectively monopolizing Nigerian uranium in these mines located 500 kilometers from the capital and from the fragile Nigerian political "power". When Niger decided to step forward (after all they are its mines) Tuareg, Islamists, some former GIA who sowed terror in Algeria, others controlled by Gaddafi, and strengthened after the latter's disappearance, reappeared. Varied groups of cutthroat barbudos who in fact precipitated the French military intervention that was already in preparation. In short, a neo-colonial coup d'état, even if the methods were implemented thanks to the timely help of the then interim president of Mali, whose legitimacy was already nil as in office following a coup d'état that took place on 22 March 2012.
The tale of military intervention for democracy in Mali therefore does not hold up. France is not in Mali to drive out the jihadists who kill and sow panic in this unfortunate country, it is there to secure raw materials for its nuclear system (75 per cent of the energy used in France comes from nuclear power, the surplus is even resold to Italy). The arrogance of nuclear capitalism even led the Areva company to sue the Nuclear Observatory before the Paris High Court on February 1, 2013, for "defamatory" comments. In fact, the NGO accused Areva of organizing a "corrupt maneuver" in Niger to "perpetuate its grip on the country's uranium reserves". In fact, the Nuclear Observatory was one of the few voices to denounce the military operation immediately after launch. Today, however, while we speak of freed hostages, no voice is raised to denounce yet another neo-colonial plunder against unfortunate Africa.
The post France has been in Mali for 7 years. To fight terrorism? No, to defend uranium deposits appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/la-francia-e-in-mali-da-7-anni-a-combattere-il-terrorismo-no-a-difendere-i-depositi-di-uranio/ on Mon, 12 Oct 2020 03:51:00 +0000.