776 Nigerian troops are expected to arrive in Mali today to support the attacks by French forces in the north of Mali. They are expected to be joined by 124 more, and another 2,000 troops from other West African countries. This action confirms Nigeria’s imperialist role across West Africa and gives backing to the French attacks which have already killed hundreds with bombing raids on the three main towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.
Aid agencies expect the number of refugees from the fighting to increase to 70,000 and the level of malnutrition, which doubled last year, will also increase. As the people of Iraq and Afghanistan have found out, Western imperialism never comes to bring democracy but to defend its own crude interests.
The north of Mali has suffered great poverty and little investment by the central government for decades. Early last year Tuareg separatists took over most of the region and declared an independent state of Azawad.
The action by the Nigerian government just supports the right of French and other imperialist powers to intervene at will across the world. French troops are being supported by both the US and UK.
The French government claims that the attacks are needed to prevent the spread of Islamic terrorism as part of the US war on terror. However, the real terror in the world today is poverty which kills an estimated 3,000 people every day. This is the equivalent of an al-Qaeda attack on the scale of the 2001 World Trade Centre every single day.
We demand the Nigerian Government immediately withdraws its troops from Mali.
sgd
Baba Aye
National Chairperson
Socialist Workers Bulletin 
Dear Madam, I don’t understand your position on this issues, are you for the bandits or for peace and democracy on the continent. Going into Mali is one important interception the Western nation France and its friends have done in their whole life. There is not much the can get from Mali and this tells us their intervention is very positive. The AU somewhere last week called on NATO to come in and help them liberate Mali and it’s a step in the right direction.
The continent of Africa has see too many wars, disease and poverty because any group of persons can pick up arms and take over a nation. This needs to stop immediately, and so i will entreat you and you organization to support peace and democracy instead bandits.
Abdul-Razak Yakubu (President- Youth Movement for African Unity)
Posted by Abdul-Razak Yakubu | January 16, 2013, 12:59 pmDear brother Abdul-Razak, thank you for your comment. I would however want to point out a fact: the greatest of the bandits in Mali right now is France. France and other imperialist countries set the stage for the dilemma in Mali as with many in the world, by placing profit over people. Exploiting the resources and people of countries such as Mali was facilitated with divide and rule tactics and support for earlier military regimes which oppressed the peoples of the areas now in revolt there, amongst others.
of course we do not support the “rebels” either.we do not support their destruction of historical heritage or their limited view of the enemies of the people as being western civilization etc. but obviously, it is not the entry of France or Nigeria that will resolve the problem. it is for the Malian working people to win their emancipation through struggle i.e. their own self-activity which will make things clearer to them and also bring about lasting peace. We saw the results of earlier interventions in Liberia (and Sierra Leone) by ECOMOG. These only helped to bring those countries to greater ruin. further,
in calling for Nigerian troops to come back home, we point out the fact that the Nigerian elite who cannot put their own house in order, in a manner of speaking, clearly lack any moral credibility for such an interventionist action…the same goes for the governments of France and the other African countries, which are more of burdens on the masses in their different countries.
Warm regards,
Baba Aye
Posted by socialistworkersbulletin | January 16, 2013, 2:54 pmAstonished !!! The struggle continues!!!!!!
Posted by lynda shekina barau | January 16, 2013, 3:23 pmthumbs up Lynda!
Posted by socialistworkersbulletin | February 12, 2013, 6:51 amThe nation has reversed its role from leadership to followership under this leadership. Pure support for modern day colonialism by a countr wch once opposed apartheid
Posted by shood | January 21, 2013, 3:44 pmhi shood, “leadership”, is a rather contentious matter with regards to neo-colonial sattes like that of Nigeria….even when they pursue progressive positions like that against the apartheid regime then in SA. the Nigerian elite and consequently the state which they control HAS ALWAYS BEEN a junior partner of imperialist powers…our bosses have always FOLLOWED, or more properly put, been the arrowhead for the collective gang rape of Africa and particularly the working people INSIDE Nigeria. the challenge is to fight to overthrow the international exploitative system of capitalist which these bosses ALONG WITH BOSSES ACROSS THE WORLD, collectively represent and in its place build a socialist society rooted in solidarty and cooperation. warm regards,BA
Posted by socialistworkersbulletin | February 12, 2013, 6:48 amI agree very much with the anti-imperialist statement by Baba Aye of the Socialist Workers League (Nigeria).
However, I am sorry to say that poverty actually kills more than 3,000 people each day. Poverty kills at least 30,000(!) children each day (about 11 million each year). I don’t know the figure for adults killed by poverty.
(I am a member of the Socialist Aliance in Australia, and I first saw Baba Aye’s statement on the Links website)
Posted by Simon Ashworth Wood | February 8, 2013, 4:21 pmthank you very much Simon, we did miss out a zero…but even that as you rightly pointed out only adds up the painful figure as regards children and not the paupaerised mass of working people as a whole. we look forward to exchanging ideas and maintaining relations. In solidarity, Baba Aye
Posted by socialistworkersbulletin | February 12, 2013, 6:41 amDear comrade Baba Aye, thankyou for your kind reply. 🙂 I praise you for your modesty, your kind words and commitment to building socialism.
Please keep up the great work, and more and more people will join us in the socialist movement and socialism will succeed in Africa and the world! 😀
Posted by Simon Ashworth Wood | February 12, 2013, 7:32 am