Either, despite the claims that they had, they asked the people in gaza to move to what they called safe areas and they started actually bombing those socalled safe areas as well, so again we have this seminar scene, blooms of smoke going up into the air in gaza, and these really crimes going on of unabated, told now, more than 20, 700, and it definitely will go higher cuz there are thousands that are trapped under the rubble, and there are so many 50, more than 50 thousand people who have been wounded, and they are being treated in hospitals where they dont have adequate medical facilities to give them the property. Treatments and in just one day, the past day we had to reports 200 50 palestinians getting killed, every single day, women and children, especially are losing their lives to the israeli aggression, be it. In the forms of attacking hospitals like the nasa hospital and khanus that was attacked just recently or residential buildings, refugee camps, schools, un centers where people displace people and idps take shelter, every location is a target for the Occupation Forces in gaza. Okay, well keep an eye on developments of in the gaza strip and bring you updates as soon as we can. Lets go back to normal programming. Antifrance alliance of sahel states the people of several countries in west africa are mobilizing to defend their countries from us and french imperialist interference. These dramatic developments were triggered after Popular Military officers took powers in burkina faso, mali and niger. These countries have formed a grouping known as the alliance of sahel states. Over the past few months. Senior officials from these alliance have held several rounds of talks on these alliance. In one such meeting they agree to unite in the face of any external aggression. Any attack on the sovereignity and territorial integrity of one or more of the of contracted parties will be considered as an aggression against the other parties and will entail a duty of assistance and relief on the part of all parties. Now to discuss the new antiimperialism Alliance Taking shape in africa, we have contacted justice adoboy, hes a journalist based in acra, gana. Thanks for your time saturday. Thank you very much. Im also very glad to be speaking with you um on these various topics about my region and then africa as a whole. Its its its great to be talking to you. Now the foreign minister. Of burkina faso, mali and niger have recommended the creation of a confederation as part of a longterm goal of uniting within a federation. Now, mr. Adowe, are we seeing the. Beginning of the end of western imperialism in this part of africa, france has remained the last barrier to real independence in africa and the last barrier to real unity in the subregional groupings and then the regional grouping. France always remains behind the scenes with its long hand directing its former colony. As to what to do when it comes to their relationships with these regional and subregional bodies to bring a Monetary Union to west africa and unify all the currencies so west africa will have a strong currency. Then suddenly a meeting took place in code divoir and then the avorian president Alasan Watara issued a statement and said that the west African Leaders had agreed that, the cfa france should become the new echoas currency. The finance ministers of the alliance of sahel states held a meeting in bamako recently to discuss ways of establishing economic union. The Burkina Fasso finance minister elaborates. We are three states, each with its own realities, but we have lot in common. Its important that in our discussions we think in terms of the. Es and not in terms of mali, bukina or niger. This is an important element that our experts need to take into account in their discussions. The second element is the assertion of economic independence. Our Senior Executives are dedicated to ensuring economic sovereinity, and all actions we must take leaders towards achieving this goal. Our Senior Executives are dedicated to ensuring economic sovereinity, and all actions we take must lead us towards achieving. Goal. The finance ministers from the three countries also discussed themes including food and Energy Security and industrial transformation, financing, and economic integration. The alliance of sahil states is gradually transforming into a powerful military, political and economic force. France has had, you know, very strong stance in its former colonies and even dictated the pace as to who rules these countries. You remember that in the 60s when guiny decided to pathways with france completely after independence, france responded in a ruthless manner by going to demolish every infrastructure they had built in that country. France. Has remained until the recent you know or maybe couritas in some these colonies, france has remained the last barrier to real independence in africa and the last barrier to real unity in the subregional groupings and then the regional grouping. Burkina faso and nigers Transitional Governments announced they decided to withdraw from the. France back west african Multinational Military force known as g5 sahel siting its failure to meet its objectives. Now mr. What do you make of these decision . France is only using its presence in these regions especially the sahel region for his own benefit because the terrorism terrorist activities have been in these regions for quite some time after the liby an situation and then the terrorists have moved down, the tarek rebels have moved down towards the sahel region, they have remained there, and france has put soldiers in these places for over 10 years. What is the result . The result has been an expansion the move of these terrorists, and so then if we are trying to establish new order, then that instrument that france has also used. As a pretext to remain in the region, to control our mineral resources, to dictate the pace for us, when it comes to you know our military activities, then we are ready to break that as well, then it also means that these countries are beginning to see that militarily france has not been of help, then it is better they establish a stronger military regime, when i said im talking about a military system that can contain and then what off the terrorist activities rather than depending on france which has been here for more. More than 10 years without any resource. West African Leaders met in abuja recently and agreed to set up a commission to engage with newgers Transitional Government on progress towards transition and other conditions for lifting sanctions. The authority will progressively is the sanctions imposed on niger. Failure by the cnsp to comply with the outcomes of the engagement. The committee, echows shall maintain all sanctions, including the use of force and shall will request African Union and all other partners to enforce the targeted sanctions on members of the cnst and their associates. This is a climb down from earlier french back threats of military force to aust the Popular Military government in niger. This is seen by many and is indicative of the total failure of french policies in west africa. It is a failure on the part of echoas to actually understand what is happening in these countries. You see, one of the first things the military government did was to abrogate or to attempt to abrogate the agreement it has had with france over certain mineral resources, because france. Uses uranium from niger to power electricity, but you go to niger and electricity coverage is a minute percentage of the country, so you ask yourself, what are the nigeirians gained from all the uranium that france exports from their country, then you see economic agreement that they have had with france, and you will see that, clearly equals was only doing the beading of france in trying to remove the military genter. We wish that they had gone and then they will meet the full force of the military regime and whoever was backing them, but perhaps they were advised later not to attempt it because it would have caused bloodshed in west africa. The Nigerian Army announced that all french soldiers will. Have left niger before the end of december 2023. French president Emmanuel Macron in september announced a gradual pull out of the french troops deployed in niger by the end of this year following weeks of regular protests against their presence in the west african country. This is a far cry from the earlier arrogant stances by macron who had said his troops will not withdraw from niger. This decision came after the people of niger hel several protest. Notre determination, notre engagement et notre devotion a faire partir la force Militaire Francaise et toutes les bases militaires qui siegent notre territoire national. The people of prevailed in their demands and france was forced to withdraw its troops. Now mr. Whats your take on this move by france . In my area we say that when you strike a snake and the snake sees that its life is under threat, it begins to bite whatever things it sees around. That was the way france started behaving when the nigerian crisis came be. Of course lot of frances economy depends on resources from niger and so in the beginning macron to that arrogan stance, but as things stand now, their stance rather infuriated the people of niger whom you will see clearly support this military you know um action by the soldiers over throwing bazoo. Government, they support it, and so you realize that then macron is beginning to see that perhaps the game is up, and what we can do is to recoil, take our soldiers out and readopt a new strategy, well there you have it, the arrogance of macron infuriated the people of niger who are eager to end french neocolonialism in their country, i like to thank our guest today, justice for his. Decisive analysis. Lets not take a short break before we move to our next topic on the Boycott Israel Campaign in africa. Boycott Israel Campaign in africa. The israeli regimes genocidal war on. The gaza strip has ignited protests across the world in solidarity with oppressed palestinians. Now millions across the world are taking tangible action to punish israel by boycotting companies associated with his apartide regime. Boycott Israel Campaign in africa. Inspired by the south african antiapartite movement, the Us Civil Rights Movement and the indian anticolonial struggle. The boycott Israeli Campaign is targeting companies and products that have a direct role in the israeli regimes policies against palestinians. Young people across africa are leading efforts to boycott the israeli apartide regime and make it free, because if we all work together, palestine will be free. Today we um, canyons for palestine and voluntary organization organized a candle vigil and um sort of a protest candle light vigil and. People getting together for to protest the ongoing genocide on the gaza strip and on occupied palestine as a whole. For more on the Boycott Israel Campaign in africa, we have contacted abida adams. Shes a promisal secretary of the General IndustriesWorkers Union of south africa and shes also member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in cape town. Thank you madam for your time today. Thank you for having me. Now we have seen young people in african countries such as morocco, kenya and south africa leading the campaign to boycott the companies associated with the israeli regime. Now uh, what is the importance uh of these involvement of the youth at this point in time . I mean even in our campaign in cape town weve targeted specifically a one entity at the moment in part of the in terms of the bds boycott which is cape union malt. And predominantly the people who has been leading and supporting us has been young people, so i think this is a worldwide phenomena, because of course they have got a very, i think theyve got a great a big role to play, but i think its also their concern in terms of what is the world that they are going to inherit from us, so the this is of importance to them, but also solidarity with the people of palestine is important and from a south african point of view and i think also of africa, we know what happened during apartted years, we use similar tactics to for example isolate aparted south africa, so this kind of solidarity on the african continent, but also internationally is very important, because i think it also boost the moral of the people of palestine and in gaza in for them to continue and for them not to give up the fight to fight against the oppressor and occupies of the land. In south africa, propalestinian demonstrators gathered in santan city outside zara, a Clothing Brand linked to the israely regimes far right faction. They called for the boycott of zara over its links to the israeli apartide regime and its utterly in sensitive Promotional Campaign that evoked images of war resembling scenes of destruction in gaza. How many children have died . Can we sit every day . Theres a lady here whos crying continuously, a south african woman who says that shes she doesnt want to go on holiday, she doesnt want anybody to be happy, she doesnt want to be smiling, she is so affected, here you have zara, who has probably a wealth of people behind them, creative themes, thinkers, people who can say, oh my goodness, this is offensive, we should not put it out, and they didnt do that, how does that happen, you and i are creative people, we are storytellers, we make narrative, that is narrative, when you do that, you are buying into a system that is blaring all over on. Television everywhere, you cant pretend that you have not seen it, and then you put it out as an advert. Its subliminal. I like to ask miss adams about thisese wellorganized boycott campaign, what impact can it have . Probably the biggest mold in south africa, if not africa instan, protest has managed to shut down zara as well, but also as as part of bds we put specific. And most of our emphasis at the moment is a sports good store Cape Union Mart and we know that its actually getting to them some of the shop because weve been targeting different walls where they are, um some of the management and the staff of these molds have complaint that you know the business is you know this is key time for them because its during the Christmas Period in south africa so that is like normally boom period for companies in terms of sales but we know that um our efforts is dampening their sales here in south africa and we are putting pressure on them because we can also see in terms of their responses you know the owners and the employees of this company and how they have been responding to us and and even trying to get the trade unions involved whos organized the so definitely becoming effective but we just need to keep up the pressure. Police in several african countries have disrupted vigils, workshops and demonstrations sensitizing the masses on the importance of boycotting the israeli apart regime. Now miss adams, what are some of the challenges faced in the Boycott Israel Campaign in african countries . I think. Think one of the the one of the Biggest Challenges is that actually every day we see list going around especially here and i think also on the rest of africa its there are more products or more entities added to that list so that when becomes a very a long list Shopping List actually that you we then have to use for people to boycott so that is one the challenges and i think one of the other challenges is that we i know that there is lot of attempts for africa to be united in this, but i am not sure that we are getting it right, because also also the conditions are different in in a lot of the african countries, so what is a big challenge for us in africa is to have um the same targets in terms of the same companies, but also so to make sure that we have kind of that solidarity that we can say, okay on this day, if its for example mcdonalds on. Saturday, the next saturday, saturday the 23rd, we are going to protest across africa, because that is one of the entities that is, i think across africa that we are all going to protest at these mcdonalds, but so there isnt a lot of coordination, i think so. In efforts to further isolate and boycott the israeli regime, south african foreign minister, naledy podor announced that her country is in the process of submitting pitition to the International Court of justice demanding that israel be classified as apartide regime. This classification will be critical in boosting the Boycott Israel Campaign globally. Well, i think its important for the people of palestine, because we definitely then once israel is classified as an apart state, it will definitely make it easier for for the international community, i think to intervene, and we hope that they would also be able to assist the people so that. we can get that cease fire sooner rather than later, too many lives has already been lost, so and we know what happened with south africa when we were classified as aparted state, we were completely isolated you culturally with sports, consumer boycots, arms embargo and all these kind of things, we also understand and appreciate the limitations of these kind of Multilateral International institutions, but we do feel that we should use all these institutions whether is the international criminal. Court, the icc or the International Court of juris, whatever it is, and the United Nations general assembly, we must use all these multilateral institutions for to get to achieve a lasting and sustainable peace, but also to stop the unfolding genocide in in palestine. People across africa continue to hold protests calling for the total boycott and isolation of the israeli apart regime. We will not allow it, we can stop them. all over the world, millions, millions and millions are coming out and saying, no, no, stop it, we will boycot and isolate israel until it hurts them, and we stand by the Palestinian People, groups leading the Boycott Israel Campaign in africa are also engaged in efforts to raise awareness. On the palestinian cause. Now, mr. Adams, how successful have these groups been in raising these awareness . Yeah, i think look, i mean, for us in south africa, i can definitely see, because ive been very involved in terms of the protest at the stores that weve been targeting of cape union mord, so we see it in the shoppers walking pause, because we dont just stand there with our posters, we also tr slogans, but we also issue our pamplets, and lot of the time, even if we dont. Show the pamplet you now the shoppers would ask us okay but why the boycott why must we support the boycot and it gives us an opportunity to talk to them about what is currently happening in palestine so it is as a good its one of the tactics that we use, one to world solidarity and support for the palestinian, but also to highlight whats currently happening in palestine and how the International World to a large extent is complicity in supporting the state of israel, so and we can also link it with in terms of international solidarity, for example when we have the International Days of actions, it also gives hope and courageed, i think to the people of israel, so consumer boycots and boycots and and demands for boycots. Divestments and sanctions always works, it always works, its worked in the case of south africa and i think it has also worked with other issues that around the globe that we have and definitely its helping to raise the plight and the issue the plight of the Palestinian People and they demand for Self Determination and the right to exist. Well there you have it, efforts to boycot and isolate the israel regime will definitely work and lead to the end of these apart regime. I like to thank our guest abid adam. For her incisive analysis today, and that brings us to the end of this weeks edition of africa today, its always great having you watch the show and you can watch this episode and all our previous shows on our website pressv. Ir. Thanks lot for watching and goodbye for now. The us is really genocide leaves a bloody trail of civilian death and destruction in gaza. Overall fatalities, nearing 21. The iraki government slams the us strike on the. Is antiterror Popular Mobilization forces south of baghdad, israel assassinates a senior irani militer advisor in syria and reaction to its failure to counter resistance groups operations