(SenePlus) – The recent diplomatic and economic crisis between Benin and Niger is a dark reminder of the missed appointment of May 1963, when African leaders should have embarked on the path of the “United States of Africa”. As Jean-Baptiste Placca of RFI points out, “This is why certain leaders, depending on their moods, crush their people behind closed doors and play with the Constitution.”
The two neighbors came close to a crippling economic war over Niger’s oil exports, which pass through Beninese territory. Only China’s intervention as mediator made it possible to defuse a conflict with potentially continental repercussions. “Isn’t it up to all of Africa to thank China?” asks Placca, while specifying that Beijing was mainly defending its own colossal financial interests in Niger’s oil infrastructure.
At the heart of this crisis is an old and deep schism between the two countries. As Placca describes it, “As always, on this continent, each side insists on blaming the other for the causes of its misfortunes.” Benin accuses the military junta in Niger of ignoring its sovereignty, while the Nigerien putschists stick to their conception of national “honour”.
This desperate situation recalls the post-colonial fragmentation of Africa. “The real tragedy of this continent is that the United States of Africa no longer even exists in planning,” laments the editorialist. Unlike the 50 borderless states of the United States of America, Africa remains divided into 54 national “sensitivities” ready to burst into flames in the name of “national pride”.
In a striking metaphor, Placca compares relations between African states to those between village neighbors, obliged to cross the courtyards of others: “Procency requires greeting those whose privacy is thus violated.” This “property of interdependence” is currently sorely lacking.
However, Benin has legitimate grievances regarding Nigerien “contempt” for the passage of the vital oil pipeline on its soil. And conversely, Niger can invoke national security to restrict movements at its borders. In this climate of mutual “suspicion”, the future looks stormy.
In short, this powerful editorial recalls the immense waste of African unity lost in 1963. Rather than uniting, leaders too often choose to “crush their people behind closed doors” out of cynicism or greed. China was able to temporarily extinguish this Beninese-Nigerian bush fire. But until when ?
