In a new statement, French President Emmanuel Macron rejects Mali's request to withdraw soldiers from Operation Barkhane "without delay". This proves, once again, the colonialist attitude of the French head of state vis-à-vis Africa, and Mali in particular.
“We have announced the reorganization of the system (Barkhane, editor's note) and it will apply in good order to ensure the security of the United Nations mission and all the forces deployed in Mali. I will not compromise for a second on their safety”. When discussing Operation Barkhane, French President Emmanuel Macron once again sought to have the last word.
This declaration comes in response to that, previously, of the spokesman of the Malian government Abdoulaye Maïga, who denounced the "repeated breaches of the defense agreements" of France in Mali. "The government invites the French authorities to withdraw, without delay, the Barkhane and Takuba forces from the national territory, under the supervision of the Malian authorities", urged Maïga.
A pass of arms that never ends. Because the spokesperson for the Malian government was responding to the decision of France and its European allies to withdraw their soldiers from Mali.
For several weeks, Malian and French authorities have been passing the buck. Franco-Malian relations have continued to deteriorate. The French authorities take pleasure in recalling that Mali, now governed by the military power that put an end to the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), is the main cause of the hasty departure of Barkhane's forces.
But the lack of tact of Macron and his ministers — Jean-Yves Le Drian in the lead —, and the arrogant attitude of Paris vis-à-vis Africa and Mali, prove the soldiers in Bamako right.
sovereignty for dummies
At the Africa-France summit last October, an exchange between Emmanuel Macron and a Malian activist, Adam Dicko, had challenged African Internet users. Adam Dicko described Macron's speech as "paternalistic" and reminded him that "without Africa, France would not exist".
The Malian activist had also castigated the intervention of France in Libya, which gave rise, according to her, to an extension of the French presence in the Sahel. “France ignored the African Union, (…) you are in the Sahel to correct the mistake you made in Libya. And by correcting this error, you are in the process of making other errors”, denounced very rightly Adam Dicko.
Emmanuel Macron then admitted that France "did not respect the sovereignty of the Libyan people". But five months after this response, which took the form of a mea culpa, the French president is going back to his old habits, simply refusing to withdraw his soldiers from Mali. However, a few weeks earlier, the French president had himself decided to withdraw his soldiers. But Macron seems to want to keep control of the schedule he has set for himself.
A blatant lack of respect for Malian sovereignty. How did the French head of state come to commit so many gross mistakes vis-à-vis Mali and Africa in general?
The record of Barkhane in Mali
The failure of Barkhane in Mali is however obvious. Emmanuel Macron says, however, "completely reject this term". He assures, not without shame, that Barkhane would have "very strongly consolidated the African armies of the region" whose "situation is very different from that of nine years ago".
In a note from the French Chief of Staff Thierry Burkhard, announcing the withdrawal of French forces from Mali, the soldier emphasizes this observation. “We have strengthened our combat partnership for the benefit of the Malian armed forces (FAMa). With these Malian soldiers who, every day in the field, show courage and commitment, we have forged bonds of trust and mutual respect, of these bonds which are born from fighting fought side by side and blood shed together. , assures the French general.
Read: Withdrawal of Barkhane from Mali: these lessons that France has not retained
The historian and former French soldier, Michel Goya, drew up the true assessment of Barkhane in an analysis published on February 6th. He assures us that the purely mathematical assessment of the losses in the ranks of terrorist groups, in nine years of Barkhane, only slightly exceeds that drawn up in January 2013, during Operation Serval.
The ranks of Aqmi and EIGS lost all their strongholds during the first French intervention, and more than 700 fighters – at the cost of dozens of lives of Chadian soldiers and four French soldiers. On the other hand, Operation Barkhane was distinguished by a flagrant lack of military efficiency, in addition to an unsuitable strategy.
“French general strategy has changed little, except in the direction of greater military pressure. At the end of 2018, the monthly enemy casualty rate increased to almost 20, without fundamentally changing the situation. 2019 was a dark year. The violence doubled compared to the previous year. The local armies suffered very strong blows from the jihadist groups and found themselves on the verge of collapse. At the same time, the image of France, simultaneously accused of impotence, of protecting the separatists of Azawad, of supporting corrupt governments and of having associated itself with vigilante groups or armies guilty of abuses, has deteriorated," writes Michel Goya.
The CFA Franc, a screen for “Françafrique”
These errors that the Elysée will probably never admit are far from the only ones. Many analysts accuse Emmanuel Macron of having deployed a “misguided” African strategy. French blunders are multiplying on all fronts, not just on the military side.
It is enough to recall the announcement made by Macron, with the "President Françafrique" par excellence, Alassane Ouattara, to trumpet the end of the CFA franc and its replacement by the Eco currency. The goal? Put other African countries with their own currency under the yoke of French financial supervision. The Eco has nothing to envy to the CFA: the parity between the euro and the Eco will be imposed by Paris and the quota of currencies of African countries passing through the French Treasury will have increased instead of falling.
A project that aroused the anger of an overwhelming majority of West African populations, who were opposed to this make-up of the CFA franc. Moreover, WAEMU's adoption of the Eco has angered the central banks of Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The governors of these central banks and the finance ministers of the six countries denounced the scope of the project and gave up adopting the new common currency, preferring to keep their own national currencies.
Emmanuel Macron, too badly advised
A West African ambassador, contacted by Le Journal de l'Afrique, believes that “Paris' African policy today is limited to distributing 'good points' to Africans. It may work with Françafrique presidents like Ouattara, Sall or Bazoum, but the interest of Africans is rarely taken into account”. For our source, Emmanuel Macron could well be "the one who will break France with Africa", for four reasons.
First of all, because of Emmanuel Macron's "lack of African experience". The French president is badly advised - Franck Paris, the “Mister Africa” of the Elysée, is a technician pure and hard, far from the realities of the field. An observation shared by Antoine Glaser, former editorial director of Africa Intelligence, in his book "The African trap of Macron". The journalist believes that "the Macron generation" has failed in its African policy by seeking to dust it off.
In addition, there is, for Emmanuel Macron, a concern for interlocutors. The French president only relies on relations with "the last of the Mohicans to defend French interests in Africa and internationally" according to the expressions of Antoine Glaser. Even when he tried, like the Montpelier summit, to discuss with "young Africans" - excluding heads of state -, these members of civil society first had to be screened by the French embassies. And despite everything, Macron did not manage to pass between the drops.
Read: What is France the name of in the world… and in Africa?
There is also a rift between the French Ministry — not the Minister — of Foreign Affairs and the French Presidency. A context that manifests itself as the French "diplomats", Jean-Yves Le Drian in the lead, harden the tone with the African authorities. Macron's chief diplomat, Le Drian, with the help of his Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly, continues to openly attack the transitional authorities in countries that have suffered coups since last year.
Finally, the last problem of the Elysée: the colonialist speeches of Emmanuel Macron. Already in 2017, he declared at the G20 podium that "the challenge of Africa is much deeper, it is civilizational today". And to continue: “When countries still have 7 to 8 children per woman today, you can decide to spend billions of euros there, you will not stabilize anything”.
It is clear that five years later, the speech of the one his ministers call "Jupiter" has not changed. And that its African record boils down to outings that make the buzz, far from the realities of the continent, while African youth is increasingly dissociating itself from the former colonial empire.