Abdurakhman Chiani, former Brigadier General and Commander of the Presidential Guard
Photo: REUTERS
“He did not go to the Russia-Africa summit and lost his position.” Such a joke was left out of the recent St. Petersburg forum after President Mohamed Bazum was overthrown in the state of Niger on July 26, the day before the event.
His successor was Abdurakhman Chiani (in another transcription – “Tchiani”), previously a brigadier general and commander of the presidential guard. The reasons for the coup are clear: the previous government failed to provide security: from the depths of the Sahara, across the “transparent” borders with Libya and other countries, militants from various terrorist organizations have been attacking civilians for years.
Furthermore, Niger is very rich in natural resources and is a major supplier of uranium for the nuclear power plants of its former metropolis, France. But the economic situation is close to disaster: Niger is the poorest (“not one of the poorest” – literally the poorest) among all the countries in the world, 45% of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. At the beginning of this century, 80% of the national budget was formed from the assistance of donors from Western countries. It is profitable for Paris, London, Washington. You can get resources cheaply, taking advantage of the weakness of the former colony… In general, Niger is somewhat reminiscent of Russia in the 90s, adjusted to African realities, of course.
And so far the situation is standard: a patriotic military man (the exact date of Chiani’s birth is not even known, he is believed to be between 61 and 62 years old), desperate for justice, took power into his own hands. The street clearly favors it: in Niamey, the capital of the republic, popular demonstrations continue, many of whose participants… come out with Russian flags, believing that Moscow is a “defender of justice”.
But suddenly, the political scientist Sergei Markov blew up the Russian telegram, who wrote that Chiani is… Orthodox. Supposedly, some domestic singer, a relative of the Soviet ambassador in Niger, 40 years ago introduced the future leader to Eastern-rite Christianity. There is no one to consult – our embassy in the republic was closed in the wake of Yeltsin’s reforms in 1992 and is not yet operational.
Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” called Sergei Markov, but there was no clarity:
– There is such information. [о якобы православии Чиани — ред.]. You’re not the first person to ask me this. Although this information is not public. When we receive it publicly, we will say so. Here it is necessary to understand that Christianity is highly developed in Africa, there are [в некоторых местностях] there are fights between Christians and jihadists,” Sergei Markov reported rather vaguely on Radio KP.
The author of these lines, who was in the neighboring country of Niger, Mali, asked our diplomats working in the region unofficially and, as expected, no one knew anything about “Chiani crypto-orthodoxy” either.
Other sources do not confirm this news… although they do not deny it either. Well, Christianity in Africa, including Orthodox Christianity, is widespread, but still in other countries, for example, Ethiopia. But in Niger, 99.3% of the believers are Muslims. Even if we assume that one of the republic’s military leaders is really “secret Orthodox”, it is unlikely that he would admit it publicly. People won’t understand.
In general, there are so many events, secrets and economic prospects in Niger that one can only wish: that the Russian embassy finally returns to this country of 25 million people at least now. In addition, the neighbors take to the streets with our tricolores, making it clear that they are willing to be friends against the United States, France and other neocolonialists.
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