“How to restore trust when for decades propaganda has been used to maintain the idea of a poor Africa,” Lamine Zeine Ali Mahaman, Prime Minister of Niger, asked the world leaders, recalling that the theme of this year’s session is “Restoring trust, managing transformation”.

He rejected the narrative in which the African continent survives on international assistance, pointing to its wealth being taken for the benefit of others.  How can trust be restored, he continued, when Africa, with more than 1.4 billion of inhabitants and its 54 States, still does not have a single permanent seat on the Security Council.

“Our Sahel is at war.  It is in a war of liberation against a conspiracy aimed at recolonizing it,” he declared, stressing that what some call terrorism in the region is “the cynical machinery of recolonization” motivated by covetousness for Niger’s uranium and other natural resources.

“They want to make us believe that we are incapable of governing ourselves,” he said, accusing France and its proxies of attempting to destabilize the central Sahel and planning attacks on military positions and oil installations.

“The Sahel sees.  The Sahel hears,” he said underscoring Sahel’s determination to defend its liberty, its resources and its dignity at any cost.

Describing the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as the result of a long historical struggle against colonization and neocolonialism, he called it “an irreversible process towards our countries’ sovereignty”.

Niger’s refoundation is not directed against anyone, he underscored, but reflects the country’s determination to rely on itself, exercise full control over its resources and assume responsibility for its choices and alliances.

“The sovereignty of our States is not negotiable.  Our resources belong to our peoples. Our future will no longer be decided elsewhere,” he declared.