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WEST AFRICA
Earlier this month, a triumvirate of military leaders who oversee military juntas in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger signed a pact to establish the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a new confederation that they said would combat jihadism and foster prosperity in Western Africa.
“We have the same blood that runs in our veins,” said Burkina Faso’s leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, at the ceremony in Niger’s capital Niamey, according to France24. “In our veins runs the blood of those valiant warriors who fought and won for us this land that we call Mali, Burkina, and Niger.”
Traoré, who came to power in 2022 in a coup, recently extended his term in power for another five years, and linked the new confederation to his version of the region’s heroic legacy. “In our veins runs the blood of those valiant warriors who helped the whole world rid itself of Nazism and many other scourges,” he said. “In our veins runs the blood of those valiant warriors that were deported from Africa to Europe, America, Asia … and who helped to build those countries as slaves.”
Afolabi Adekaiyaoja was skeptical. The research analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development, a Nigerian think tank, argued in World Politics Review that the AES in the long run would spell more trouble for the region.
That’s because the three leaders are banding together to counter the powerful Economic Organization of West African States (ECOWAS), whose leaders have contemplated intervening in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger because they all came to power in coups, Adekaiyaoja said. Now, in declaring themselves separate, they have divided the region.
ECOWAS member Benin, for example, slapped sanctions on Nigerien oil exports in 2023 to force the coup leaders in that country to allow ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to return to office. Niger refused. Now, as Africanews reported, Niger might lose out on massive revenues from an oil pipeline that has been built with Chinese investments, unless they can reroute their pipeline through less stable neighbors like Chad.
Niger has also kicked out American and French troops previously based in the countries to combat Islamic militant groups that have rampaged across borders, fomenting violence, kidnapping or murdering locals, and developing corrupt moneymaking operations, noted the BBC. Russian military support has often replaced the exiting Western forces.
These groups, affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a grinding insurgency since 2015 that has killed thousands and displaced millions in the region.
The AES has struggled to maintain security in this environment so far. Armed thugs killed at least 26 people recently in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso, the Associated Press reported. An Al Qaeda-linked terror group was suspected of orchestrating the attack. Meanwhile, fighters in these conflicts have traveled farther afield in the region, to fight in Sudan’s civil war, for example, exporting instability, added University of Washington PhD candidate Yasir Zaidan in the Conversation.
The AES has a lot of work to do to instill confidence. But as Virginie Baudais, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Sahel and West Africa Program told France24, they could hardly do worse than what was in place before.
She said that the three states’ decision to create its own bloc was driven in part by more than a decade of failure by Western-backed regimes in the Sahel to hold back the tide of insurgent jihadist movements.
“It’s a response to the loss of credibility of the European states and of ECOWAS in the region in the fight against terrorism,” she said. “The three leaders all claim that they are achieving good results in the fight against terrorism thanks to their established military cooperation. Clearly, each country cannot fight against these groups … the only option is cooperation.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Olympic Hurdles
FRANCE
France’s telecom networks experienced a series of outages Monday after vandals targeted telecommunication installations across the country, the latest incident affecting the nation as it hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Sky News reported.
Officials said both landline and mobile services were impacted in the overnight attacks, affecting around 11,000 customers.
French media reported Monday that the vandalism targeted installations belonging to three companies, primarily impacting fixed-line services. At least six of France’s administrative departments were affected, including the region around Marseille, which is hosting Olympic football and sailing competitions.
The outage comes a day after authorities arrested a far-left activist in the northwestern region of Normandy in connection with a series of attacks on France’s high-speed train network ahead of the Olympic Games which officially began Friday.
Vandals used explosive devices to set fires that damaged signal boxes along lines connecting Paris with Lille, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg, which authorities called coordinated sabotage.
The disruption left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded, with traffic only returning to normal Monday morning.
Even so, authorities have not confirmed if the telecoms vandalism was related to the railway attacks.
Paris is hosting the Summer Olympic Games for the next two weeks.
The opening ceremony saw 300,000 spectators along the capital’s River Seine, featuring an athletes’ parade through Paris on barges and riverboats. The government deployed 45,000 police officers, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security agents to secure the event.
Meanwhile, Olympics organizers had to cancel Monday’s swimming training for triathletes over pollution in the Seine.
The Paris 2024 and World Triathlon issued a statement saying tests showed the quality of the water was below acceptable standards, the BBC wrote.
The cancelation comes despite years of efforts by French officials to clean up the picturesque waterway that had been considered unsafe for swimming about a century ago.
Earlier tests in July showed the Seine was clean enough for swimming. But heavy rain over the weekend resulted in untreated sewage entering the river and degrading water quality.
Even so, organizers are optimistic that water quality will improve before the start of the triathlon competitions Tuesday.
The Dangers of Doubt
VENEZUELA
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia both claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential election, amid accusations of fraud and irregularities that analysts say are likely to set the stage for a high-stakes political standoff in Venezuela, CNN reported.
With more than 80 percent of the votes counted, Maduro appeared to have secured in excess of 51 percent of the vote, while his rival won more than 44 percent, according to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE).
Even so, leaders around the world cast doubt on the results, and supporters of both candidates are expected to escalate protests, Reuters reported.
The results were announced despite the opposition’s claims of irregularities during the voting process and allegations of fraud. These included opposition witnesses being denied access to CNE headquarters and accusations that the electoral council was halting data being sent from local polling stations to their central location to prevent more votes from being processed.
The CNE has previously faced criticism for bias in favor of Maduro, with Western officials accusing the government of manipulating the council to suppress Venezuela’s democratic prospects.
The election was observed by a small mission from the US-based Carter Center, which admitted it lacked the capacity for comprehensive observation due to its limited size. Venezuela previously withdrew its invitation to allow observers from the European Union to monitor the vote.
Meanwhile, opposition leader María Corina Machado claimed that their internal records showed González had received 70 percent of the vote compared with Maduro’s 30 percent.
“We won, and everyone knows it,” she said during a news conference.
The results were met with a mix of support and condemnation both domestically and abroad.
In the capital Caracas, Maduro’s supporters celebrated outside the presidential residence, while opposition supporters expressed anger and greeted the announcement by banging pots, the Associated Press wrote. Dozens were arrested and at least one person was reported as killed in protests against the results in northwest Yaracuy state, Agence France-Presse reported.
Other Latin American countries, such as Peru, Chile and Argentina, questioned the results, with 12 member states of the Organization of American States to discuss the election on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The United States and the EU also called for detailed vote counting and access to voting records to ensure transparency.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s allies – including China, Cuba, Russia and Bolivia – congratulated Maduro, who will mark his third consecutive term as the country’s president.
Under Maduro, Venezuela’s oil-rich economy has cratered, resulting in unprecedented levels of poverty and shortages of basic goods, as well as forcing more than seven million Venezuelans to flee the country.
The president has blamed foreign sanctions on his regime for the country’s woes, claiming that Venezuela has been a victim of an “economic war.”
Amid fears of potential destabilization, the opposition called for supporters to remain calm and urged the government to refrain from stoking violence.
Keeping Up Appearances
ITALY
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni began a five-day visit to China this week, aimed at revitalizing ties between Rome and Beijing, months after Italy withdrew from China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Politico reported.
The visit marks Meloni’s first visit to Beijing since taking office, with the Italian leader vowing to “relaunch” bilateral relations between both nations.
On Sunday, she and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang announced six new agreements covering different sectors, including electric vehicles and renewable energies. The Italian leader described the three-year “action plan” as an important step toward improving access to the Chinese market and enhancing intellectual property protection for Italian businesses.
On Monday, Meloni met with President Xi Jinping, who called for more cooperation between the two nations, the Associated Press added.
The official visit comes after Meloni’s cabinet withdrew Italy from the BRI in December.
Italy’s previous government joined China’s $1 trillion global infrastructure initiative in 2019, which sparked concerns among the United States and the European Union that the BRI could lead to Beijing taking control of critical infrastructure and technology.
Meloni had called then-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s decision to join the BRI a “mistake,” and began talks to withdraw last year.
She has previously criticized China’s human rights record and expressed concerns over Europe’s dependency on Chinese supply chains.
Despite the withdrawal, Meloni emphasized Italy’s determination to maintain “mutually beneficial” relations to mitigate potential economic retaliation from China.
Analysts told the Financial Times that the visit underscores Meloni’s efforts to minimize the fallout of withdrawing from the BRI, as well as Italy’s dependence on good relations with China for export sustainability.
Italy is China’s fourth-largest trading partner.
Observers also noted that China will downplay Italy’s exit, adding that Beijing’s primary goal is to stabilize ties with Rome amid geopolitical uncertainties, including those related to the US election and frictions with the EU that some say is leading to a trade war with China.
Still, others questioned the outcomes of the meetings, citing Beijing’s belief that Meloni is not keen on deepening business ties with China.
DISCOVERIES
Dark Elements
In 2013, an international team of scientists studying a remote area of the Pacific Ocean came across a bizarre phenomenon that defied long-held beliefs about oxygen production: Oxygen was being generated thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface in depths where sunlight cannot penetrate.
Researcher Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science initially thought they were dealing with faulty equipment.
But subsequent trips to the area – known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – confirmed that potato-shaped metallic nodules were producing oxygen.
Dubbed “dark oxygen,” Sweetman’s team explained in their paper that the element is produced about 13,000 feet below the surface in complete darkness.
Generally, photosynthetic organisms – such as plants, algae and plankton – use sunlight to produce oxygen, which then cycles into the ocean depths. However, previous deep-sea studies have shown that organisms there only consume oxygen, not produce it, Sweetman told CNN.
However, the study showed that “dark oxygen” production was linked to the polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor.
These nodules – rich in valuable minerals such as cobalt and manganese – carry a high electric charge that can lead to the splitting of seawater into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called seawater electrolysis.
“It appears that we discovered a natural ‘geobattery,’” suggested co-author Franz Geiger in a statement.
The researchers explained that the findings challenge the conventional view that life on the planet began billions of years ago when photosynthetic organisms began producing oxygen.
“I think we therefore need to revisit questions like: where could aerobic life have begun?” said Sweetman.
The findings also raise questions about companies and nations exploiting resources on the ocean floor through deep-sea mining.
The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is an area rich in nodules carrying metals integral to energy production, such as electric car batteries and solar panels.
Sweetman said more research is needed to understand how “dark oxygen” production will be affected by deep-sea mining. Meanwhile, other scientists and environmentalists are calling for a moratorium on such mining until more is understood about the environmental impacts.
Even so, Canadian deep-sea mining firm The Metals Co. – which partially funded the study – criticized the findings and plans to publish a rebuttal, CNBC added.
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