Niger is a landlocked country in Africa that is surrounded by Libya in the North, Nigeria and Benin in the South, Burkina Faso and Mali in the West, and Algeria in the Northwest. For those who didn't perform well in geography, that means Niger is a gateway country to the Sahara desert region. An area with great historical significance, Niger was once a part of the ancient Songhay empire that included Mali's Timbuktu, which is the world's oldest recorded university.
Today, Niger, like the rest of Africa, is dominated by neo-colonialism, the system where the capitalist powers have instituted a process of governance that serves their political and economic interests, not the interests of the people of Niger and greater Africa. This is proven by the fact the African Command, the U.S. military program that has created almost 100 military installations throughout Africa, chose Niger as the place to build its $100 million dollar drone base. The base is located in the Niger city of Agadez, the largest city in central Niger, which has a population of almost 120,000 people. Agadez is approximately 200 kilometers - or about 120 miles - from Niger's capitol city of Niamey.
The purpose of this drone base is the produce the MQ-9 Reaper drones which are used for what the imperialists call "predator" missions e.g. espionage, but also attack actions. These drones have been recently equipped with the capacity to fire two A14 Hellfire missiles. All of this is propagated by imperialism to serve the purpose of diminishing the so-called ISIS presence throughout Africa, although these imperialists would have a very difficult time explaining to you what exactly all these thousands of U.S. military personnel, and the thousands of Africans they are providing equipment to and training, have done to address these so-called terrorist concerns (not to mention the millions of your tax dollars - if you live in the U.S. - you paying to finance all of this).
Instead, the presence of these drones are so unpopular in Africa that Niger was the only neo-colonial state in the region that the U.S. could convince to house this base. And, looking at the assault against these Green Berets, its not just the drones people don't want there.
It should be noted that although the imperialists are blaming ISIS for these attacks, I would only suggest believing that if you are the gullible type who depends upon your enemies for all your world analysis. I don't claim to have absolute evidence of who committed those killings, but we do know that even the imperialist U.S. military intelligence units are claiming that the soldiers (including the five Nigerian troops who were also killed while accompanying their trainers from the U.S. military) were intentionally delayed in the village where they were meeting with local leaders in a deliberate effort to ensure the troops would be placed right in the line of fire of those who attacked them. All the physical evidence verifies this account which tells us that whomever carried out the attack had a significant measure of popular support among the local population. This isn't the profile for the brutal terrorist entities that imperialism keeps trying to convince you the U.S. military presence is there to protect everyone from.
The more likely scenario is that one some level, people are starting to resist the U.S.'s imperialist and violent existence in Africa. People are resisting this effort to make Africa a police state. And we say this because Africa is on fire with resistance. Whether its protesting elections in Kenya, regime control in Rwanda, economic disparities in Azania, South Africa, land reform in Zimbabwe, exploitative mining in Guinea and Ghana, or oppressive puppets for imperialism in Libya, Africa is on fire. And the fact you aren't hearing about it doesn't make it any less so.
Its also noteworthy that of the four U.S. service people killed, one was an African born in the U.S. His body was not recovered with the others. This brings recollection to the warnings issued by African liberation movements in the 80s when U.S. military intervention was threatened. Those movements issued decrees warning Africans in the U.S. that if they joined with imperialism in invading Africa, they would not be taken prisoner, meaning they would be killed on sight. This is a serious warning for Africans in the U.S. If you belong to the U.S. military and you are in Africa participating with imperialism's efforts to subjugate Africa, don't expect a family greetings because you don't deserve one.
People in the U.S. are programmed to view the U.S. as the center and initiator of everything in the world. The truth couldn't be farther from that. These uprisings in Africa are the current steps towards fighting for one unified socialist Africa to cement the final battle against imperialism on the world stage. Stay tuned to these developments. We can assure you there will be more to come.