Maria Rodriguez |
Dakar (EFE) Faso to revoke its military agreements with the old ex-metropolis.
The protests have not stopped happening: the blockade of a French military convoy by young people in Burkina Faso at the end of 2021, the looting of French companies in Senegal in March of that year or demonstrations with banners that read “France, get out”.
But these banners can also read “Long live Russia”, which causes fear in the West that these countries will look towards the Kremlin, as has already been demonstrated by the presence of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR) or mining concessions in favor of Russian companies in several States.
colonial past
To understand where this rejection of France comes from, it is necessary to look back.
“In the English colonies there was more autonomy, more respect for African cultures and a good level of economic and social development, which has not been the case in most of the former French colonies,” Chadian Josiane Djikoloum Darwatoye, from Chad, told EFE. analyst and author of the book “Conceptual analysis of anti-French sentiment in the Sahel: prevention of violent extremism” (2021).
After the independences, France maintained its influence in the so-called “Françafrique”, “an alliance that has greatly benefited the African political class, but not the populations that have always seen that these corrupt presidents and dictators were supported by France and many arrived to power with their help,” warns Darwatoye.
This analyst is 26 years old and has only known Marshal Idriss Déby Itno as presidents of Chad, and his son, General Mahamat Déby Itno, who succeeded his father.
“We cannot talk about democracy in that kind of context, and yet (French President Emmanuel) Macron was the first president to land in Chad when the marshal died (in 2021) and up to now he continues to support the transition led by his son”, warns the Chadian analyst.
military interventionism
For her, “the last straw is that France has been in Mali for several years to fight terrorism and violent extremism” and yet that threat continues to grow.
Atiana Serge Oulon, director of the Burkinabe newspaper L’Évenement and author of the research book “Understanding armed attacks in Burkina Faso” (2019), shares this opinion.
“There are French people who live in Burkina Faso and there are no problems. It is French politics that poses a problem for the Burkinabe and that has been complicated and exacerbated as a result of the security situation,” Oulon explained to EFE.
“France is one of the greatest military powers in the world, and it should at least stop the spread (of insecurity).
But, despite its presence, despite the means deployed, it does nothing but spread and deteriorate even more”, adds the journalist.
Darwatoye believes that some groups want to replace France with Russia because the population of the Sahel is facing many challenges “and wants an immediate solution.”
“When you’re desperate, all options are good,” he stresses.
anti-colonial discourse
France’s colonial past continues to inflate the discourses of both anti-neocolonialist activists and African politicians.
“The anti-colonial discourse has always existed. In addition, in history, every time governors have problems, they tend to say that it is the fault of colonization,” Senegalese journalist and writer El Hadj Souleymane Gassama, better known as Elgas, told EFE.
Elgas, who earlier this month published his book “Los buenos resentimientos. Essay on postcolonial malaise”, warns that some well-known activists use these easy, incomplete and sometimes conspiratorial discourses, but they work, especially among the population that has no education.
These ideas “were developed by thinkers highly respected by the intellectual world,” Elgas remarks, noting that it is “a beautiful basic idea that has completely distanced itself from reality because everything revolves around hatred against the foreign presence.” .
The place of France
Darwatoye believes that France should become a win-win partner and listen.
“France could have avoided this situation of rupture in Mali and other countries in the region if it had taken the time to listen and provide an adequate response to the concerns,” he stresses.
Oulon indicates that “what the population reproaches is that the French authorities always have this tendency to be paternalistic, to always think that we are in colonial times, and to treat people in a condescending manner.”
In Elgas’ opinion, “France must assume that it has always done very little, accept its colonial past and tell the truth (…), defend its interests, but respecting the codes of the market.”
“In Africa – concludes the Senegalese writer – France is not the solution, but it is not the problem either”.