NIAMEY DECLARATION: SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLES OF THE SAHEL: FOR ANTI-IMPERIALIST UNITY, PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLES

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NIAMEY DECLARATION – 21 NOVEMBER 2024]

Participants from various parts of the world—The Americas, Asia, and Africa—attended the Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel. This event was organised by the West African Peoples’ Organisation (WAPO) and the Pan Africanism Today Secretariat (PAT). It took place from 19-21 November 2024, at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre in Niamey, under the theme “For Anti-Imperialist Unity, Peace, and Friendship Between Peoples.”

Participants from various parts of the world—The Americas, Asia, and Africa—attended the Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel.
This event was organised by the West African Peoples’ Organisation (WAPO) and the Pan Africanism Today Secretariat (PAT). It took place from 19-21 November 2024, at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre in Niamey, under the theme “For Anti-Imperialist Unity, Peace, and Friendship

Between Peoples.” We hereby issue the following declaration:

I. International Context
The world faces a multidimensional crisis on the brink of a third World War,
characterised by the aggressive and offensive actions of imperialist powers led by the United States and their NATO allies. These powers engage in actions that signal their decline—including commanding massacres and genocides in Gaza and Lebanon and inflaming the wars from Ukraine to
Western Sahara and Sudan. They are inciting multiple provocative actions in Southeast Asia, maintaining an over six decade long illegal blockade against Cuba and imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan people as part of their global tyranny.

As participants of the Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel,
we strongly condemn these acts, which we view as fuel for a potential
full-scale third world war. We hold the United States and its NATO allies
responsible for these actions and demand an immediate cessation of the
atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon, an end to blockades against Cuba and
Venezuela, and a stop to imperialist provocations worldwide for the peace of
humanity.
II. African Context and Specific Focus on the Sahel Region

1. 140 years ago on November 15, 1884, fourteen European colonial
   powers led by German Chancellor Bismarck convened in Berlin to
   divide the African continent for their gain. Following centuries of
   exploiting tens of millions of African workers through slavery, these
   European nations physically occupied Africa to exploit its rich natural
   resources.
2. During this division, France and the United Kingdom claimed the largest
   portions of West Africa. France came to control large parts of the Sahel,
   taking the supposedly less fertile desert regions, while the United
   Kingdom occupied Africa’s more fertile, populous regions.
3. Whilst heroic liberation struggles were waged and significant gains won,
   independence in the 1960s did not translate into true sovereignty,
   especially for French Colonies. The nations of the AES remained
   tethered as “French Enclosures” in Africa, where all aspects of
   sovereignty, from currency and defence to natural resources, were
   controlled by France through puppet governments coerced by a
   permanent military presence. Continuous exploitation made the
   so-called Francophone African states among the poorest globally, with
   Niger as a poignant example.
4. Recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger stem from rulers’ failures
   to protect their nations against French imperial aggression and their
   cultivation of terrorist forces. This includes the connivance and
   complicity of these former Governments with terrorists in the massacres
   against the population. These coups also reflect widespread discontent
   and a call for substantial change within these countries.

III. Support for the Resolute Peoples and Leaders of the
Alliance of Sahel States (AES)

1. We commend the governments emerging from recent coups for
   adopting patriotic measures to reclaim political and economic
   sovereignty over their territories and natural resources. These measures
   include terminating neocolonial agreements, demanding the withdrawal
   of French, American, and other foreign forces, and undertaking
   ambitious plans for sovereign development.
2. We are particularly encouraged by these countries’ formation of the
   Alliance of Sahel States. This move revitalises the legacy of Pan-African
   leaders and represents a concrete step toward true independence and
   Pan-African unity.
3. These governments currently enjoy widespread support from their
   citizens, who drive and rally around these revolutionary actions. This
   unity is crucial for achieving democratic and patriotic ideals and is an
   aspirational development model for other African nations.
   In conclusion, while much remains to be done toward the complete liberation
   of the Sahel states, we are optimistic that these governments, by continuing to
   listen to their people, will fulfil their objectives for total national liberation and
   contribute to the broader goal of a unified and free Africa.
   We stand together with popular and revolutionary forces in the Sahel in their
   struggle for full and total sovereignty. We depart Niamey with a commitment
   to defend the advances the people have made in the Sahel and Rally the
   internationalist forces around the world to this aim.
   Long live patriotism, anti-imperialism, and Pan-Africanism!
   France and Allies, withdraw!
   The Participants.