Macron suggests Sahel countries are ungrateful towards France

French president Emmanuel Macron has caused a stir by suggesting that the Sahel countries that France military intervened in have been ungrateful towards their former colonial rulers, and that those states owe their continued existence to France.

“I think that they forgot to thank us, but that’s ok, it will come in time,” Macron stated ironically. “None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region,” he added, according to Reuters on January 6th.

French troops have in recent years pulled out of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso after military coups and are in the process of withdrawing from Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast,. France says its troops presence was in order to combat Islamist groups in the region.

He also rejected the idea that France had been forced out of Africa. “No, France is not on the back foot in Africa, it is just lucid and reorganising itself,” he said.

The comments have caused controversy in the Sahel region. Chad’s foreign minister Abderaman Koulamallah accused Macron of displaying a disdainful attitude towards Africa

Speaking on state television, he emphasis that France needs to learn to respect Africans, and highlighted Africa’s and Chad’s role in France’s struggle during the second world war, which France has never recognised.

He also accused France of prioritising its own strategic interests in Chad, without attempting to foster long-term development for the Chadian people.

Reuters, News Central

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