African governments have criticized a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that some leaders showed “ingratitude” for the deployment of his nation’s troops in the Sahel region in battling Islamist extremism.
Macron told French ambassadors at a conference in Paris on Monday that Sahel nations – beset by civil conflicts and violent extremism – only remained sovereign because of the deployment of French forces.
Macron also dismissed the notion that French troops had been expelled from the Sahel, an area that sits just below the Sahara Desert, as Paris’ influence on its former colonies wanes.
“We had a security relationship. It was in two folds: One was our commitment against terrorism since 2013. I think someone forgot to say thank you. It does not matter, it will come with time,” Macron said at the conference.
“Ingratitude, I am well placed to know, is a disease not transmissible to man.”
Macron’s comments were denounced by Chad’s foreign affairs minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, who accused the French leader of showing “a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans.”
The French leader blamed the exit of his country’s forces from the region on successive coups.
“We left because there were coups d’état. We were there at the request of sovereign states that had asked France to come. From the moment there were coups d’état, and when people said ‘our priority is no longer the fight against terrorism’… France no longer had a place there because we are not the auxiliaries of putschists. So, we left.”
In recent years, French troops have withdrawn from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali following coups in the West African nations where anti-French sentiment has become rife. They are also preparing their exit from Chad, Ivory Coast and Senegal. French forces similarly left the Central African Republic in 2022 after deploying there in 2013 following a coup that sparked a civil war.
“None of them would be a sovereign country today if the French army had not deployed in the region,” Macron said, adding: “My heart goes out to all our soldiers who sometimes gave their lives and fought for years. We did well.”
Koulamallah said in a statement that, “France has never endowed the Chadian army in a significant way nor contributed to its structural development.” The Chadian minister added: “In 60 years of existence, marked by civil wars, rebellions and prolonged political instability, French contribution has often been limited to its own strategic interests, with no real lasting impact on the development of the Chadian people.”
Chad announced in November it was ending its defense cooperation with France to reassert its sovereignty.
Macron insisted in his address on Monday that France’s influence was not in decline in Africa but that the nation was only “reorganizing itself” on the continent.
His stance was rejected by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko who explained in a statement Monday that Senegal’s decision to close all foreign military bases, including those of the French, “stems from its sole will, as a free, independent and sovereign country,” adding there were “no discussions or negotiations” with the French.
“Let us note that France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa’s security and sovereignty,” Sonko stated.
Activists in Africa were also outraged over Macron’s comments.
“Macron’s statement that African leaders should be grateful for France’s military interventions, claiming that West Africa’s sovereignty owes its existence to the French army, reeks of revisionism and intellectual dishonesty and moral bankruptcy,” Togolese writer and social activist Farida Bemba Nabourema wrote in a lengthy post on X.
“This paternalistic rhetoric, which infantilizes African nations as incapable of self-governance, is deeply rooted in the racism that justified colonization in the first place and continues to nourish neo-colonialism today,” Nabourema added.
Sahel aligns with Russia
Russian military support has become an increasingly sought-after alternative by some Sahel nations who have moved on from their former Western partners.
Junta-led Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have since signed military partnerships with Moscow, receiving contingents of Russian military instructors from the shadowy mercenary group, Wagner.
Wagner forces have also reportedly arrived in Equatorial Guinea where they are tasked with protecting its authoritarian leader President Teodoro Obiang, mirroring the activities of the Russian mercenaries in the neighboring Central African Republic where they have evolved into the dominant foreign force.