CNN
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African governments have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech in which he said some leaders had shown “ungratefulness” for sending their troops to the Sahel to fight Islamic extremists. criticizing.
President Macron told the French ambassador at a conference in Paris on Monday that the Sahel countries, which have been plagued by civil war and violent extremism, only maintain their sovereignty thanks to the deployment of French troops.
Macron also rejected the notion that French troops had been expelled from the Sahel region, which lies beneath the Sahara Desert, as Paris’s influence over the former colony weakens.
“We had a security relationship. It was two-fold. One was our efforts against terrorism since 2013. Someone forgot to say thank you. I think it doesn’t matter, it will come with time,” Macron said at a press conference.
“I am well aware that ingratitude is a disease that is not contagious to humans.”
Chad’s Foreign Minister Abderrahmane Kouramala condemned Mr Macron’s comments, accusing the French leader of displaying a “contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans”.
The French leader blamed the withdrawal of his troops from the region on a series of coups.
“We left because there was a coup. We were there at the behest of a sovereign nation that asked France to come. There was a coup and people said, ‘Our priority is no longer the fight against terrorism. ‘From the moment we said…we were no longer auxiliaries of the Pousists, and there was no longer a place for us in France. So off we went. ”
French troops have been withdrawn from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali following coups in West African countries where anti-French sentiment has increased in recent years. They are also preparing to withdraw from Chad, Ivory Coast and Senegal. French troops similarly withdrew from the Central African Republic in 2022 after deploying there in 2013 following a coup that sparked a civil war.
“If the French army had not been deployed in this region, no country would be a sovereign state today,” President Macron said, adding: “I would like to thank all the soldiers who have fought for years, sometimes laying down their lives. I would like to express my heartfelt condolences.” we did well. ”
“France has never made large donations to the Chadian army or contributed to its structural development,” Kouramala said in a statement. The Chadian Minister further stated that “in the 60th year of the country’s founding, marked by civil war, rebellion and prolonged political instability, France’s contribution has often been limited to its own strategic interests, with no real and lasting contribution to the development of the Chadian people.” “There was no significant impact,” he added.
Chad announced in November that it would end defense cooperation with France in a bid to reassert its sovereignty.
In his speech on Monday, President Macron insisted that France’s influence in Africa was not declining, but that states were simply being “reorganized” on the continent.
His position was rejected by Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who said in a statement on Monday that Senegal’s decision to close all foreign military bases, including French military bases, was “the only “It was a voluntary decision,” he said, adding that “there were no discussions or negotiations” with the French side.
“Let us note that France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure security and sovereignty in Africa,” Sonko said.
Activists in Africa were also outraged by Macron’s comments.
Farida Bemba Nabrema, a Togolese writer and social activist, said: “President Macron’s statement that West Africa owes its sovereignty to the French military and that African leaders should be grateful for France’s military intervention” “reeks of revisionism, intellectual dishonesty, and moral bankruptcy,” he wrote at length. Post to X.
“This paternalistic rhetoric that infantilizes African countries as incapable of self-governance is deeply rooted in the racism that justified colonization in the first place and continues to fuel neocolonialism today.” added Nabrema.
Russian military assistance has become an increasingly sought-after alternative for some Sahel countries that have drifted away from their former Western powers.
Junta-led Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have since entered into military alliances with Moscow and hosted a contingent of Russian military instructors from the shadowy mercenary group Wagner.
Wagner’s unit has also arrived in Equatorial Guinea, reportedly tasked with protecting authoritarian leader President Teodoro Obiang, but this is due to Russian mercenary forces in the neighboring Central African Republic, which has developed into a dominant foreign power. reflects the activities of
