France’s President Emmanuel Macron claimed on Monday in a speech at the Ambassadors’ conference in Paris that France’s presence in Africa has not only contributed to countering terrorism, but also shaped the borders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso as we know them now. With French influence declining all across Africa, Macron added that France is now seeking new partners on the continent.
On Friday, just a month after its coup d’etat, Niger’s new junta ordered French Ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave the country within 48 hours, as relations between the West African country and the former colonial power had become more strained.
Macron asserted, however, that the French ambassador will remain at his post in Niger notwithstanding the putschists’ 48-hour ultimatum.
Niger’s junta had already declared in early August that it had decided to scrap security and defense cooperation agreements with France, and Niger is not alone.
Anti-France contagion reached Mali in 2021, precipitating the end in Mali of Operation Barkhane, a multi-country anti-insurgent operation led by France, in August 2022. The operation failed to stabilize Mali which continues to be plagued by security problems.
On Feb. 19 this year, one of the last pillars of France’s influence on the continent, the Burkinabe army, announced the official end of the French Sabre force’s presence in Burkina Faso.
Similarly, Rwanda, a country that survived an era of genocide in which colonial power France was not devoid of blame, broke finally with its colonizer, sidelining the French language by switching to English and joining the commonwealth in 2009.
Rwanda also inspired two other “Francophone” countries last year to abandon French and French policies and join the Commonwealth to reduce the French influence on the continent. Gabon and Togo have since exited the Francophone sphere of influence in favor of the Anglophone sphere.