Western Africa is deeply resentful over France’s self-serving and paternalistic commitment, said French paper Le Point on Tuesday.
This came in an editorial entitled «Why Africa is Pushing France Away», which highlighted the growing gap between France and Africa due to the absence of a French policy oriented towards Africa.
Le Point stated that France took advantage of its intervention in the Sahel to improve its image on the international scene, strengthen its military, and picture itself as a hero of counterterrorism to earn the respect of Americans.
The former colonial power still believes that it is as powerful as it used to be, and continue taking decisions that are not favorable to Africa, it added.
The double standards of France clearly appeared in 2013 when Francois Hollande led the military operation Serval in Mali that pushed forcibly the Islamists to the north. By doing that, Hollande considered himself the fighter of Jihadism.
Emmanuel Macron followed in the footsteps of his predecessor. He forgot that terrorism draws its strength from local problems that foreign armed forces can’t solve.
After Mali and the Central African Republic last year, France pulled all its troops out of Burkina Faso. “The more insurgents the military killed, the more the phenomenon escalated, in Mali and in neighboring countries like Niger and Burkina Faso. Jihadist violence has increased by 300% in a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Defense,” Le Point recalled.
Le Point stated that the powerlessness of the French troops fueled the frustration of the population, making them turn against the liberators and perceive them as invaders, explaining that the slogan AFRICA BELONGS TO AFRICANS brought together all Africans across the Sahel.
The editorial concluded by saying that crucial issues such as migration or combating climate change cannot be tackled without strong cooperation with African countries.