By Godwin James
Sanctions-sapped Niger junta has run to an equally struggling Mali junta for financial assistance to pay salaries, metrowatchonline.com has learnt.
An impeccable source to this newspaper that “Malians recently granted the Nigerien junta a substantial financial assistance of about 60 millions FCFA, to help the Conseil Naional de la Suveguard de la Patrie (CNSP) to pay Nigerien civil servants.”
metrowatchonline.com further learnt that the Malian Foreign Minister, Abdoulaye Diop and Minister of Finance Alousseni Sanou, allegedly handed over all or part of that amount during their visit to Niamey, on 24th of August 2023.
“Additional payments from Bamako could be made during the month of September 2023.”
The source further said: “At the same time, Mali’s financial situation continues to worsen.
“The Malian State is suffering from more and more difficulties in collecting money to build up its budget, mainly used to pay civil servants and military personnel, who are angry being paid one or two weeks late.
“Except the fact that banks no longer provide consumer credit to people regarding the financial crisis, the Malian junta is forced to sell treasury bonds, bought few months ago by 15 Malian business outfits; indeed, banks and other countries in the region no longer wanted to buy such bonds.”
Besides, metrowatchonline.com also gathered that Captain Traore of Burkina Faso could imitate his Malian neighbour, under the pressure of Moscow which supports the Nigerien coup plotters, and provide similar funding to the CNSP, to the detriment of the Burkinabe people.
The military juntas are all the same, preferring their personal, financial and political privileges, rather than the stability of their country, the well-being and security of their fellow citizens.
“Be what it may, they don’t like their countries, fleeing to Dubai as soon as they have the possibility, in order to waste public money”, the source lamented.
