French President admits, Africa has changed

While France has lost many of its military bases in Africa, now the country's president, Emmanuel Macron, on a quiet trip to the country's last base of operations in Djibouti, has admitted that: Africa is changing because public opinion and the Government are in a state of flux, so our position in Africa will also change.

Dec 23, 2024 - 12:30
French President admits, Africa has changed

While France has lost many of its military bases in Africa, now the country's president, Emmanuel Macron, on a quiet trip to the country's last base of operations in Djibouti, has admitted that: Africa is changing because public opinion and the Government are in a state of flux, so our position in Africa will also change.

During the trip, Macron acknowledged that the French military base in Djibouti could play a more important role and acknowledged that: France must change its old logic of having many military bases in Africa. Macron also announced that the functions of the French military base in Djibouti would be redefined and said that these bases should be used as a force base in some of France's missions in Africa.

Macron's trip to Djibouti comes after France lost many of its military bases in various African countries, especially in the Sahel region and West Africa. In fact, various African countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and recently Chad are among the African countries that have closed French military bases and expelled the country's troops from their lands. 

French soldiers in Africa

The expulsion of French military forces from various African countries is taking place despite the fact that various countries on the continent were under French control for many years. Indeed, the crimes committed by France when it occupied and colonized Algeria and then killed Algerians, and its involvement in the genocides in Rwanda and Cameroon can never be erased from the historical memory of the people of the African continent.

Despite the fact that Paris was forced to recognize the independence of its former colonies such as Algeria in recent decades due to the awakening and struggle of African nations, it never completely withdrew from Africa. Paris has been present in many countries on the continent within the framework of neo-colonialism using various pretexts such as restoring security, fighting terrorism and helping to improve the economic situation.

The African continent is of particular importance to France in various economic and military fields. For example, in the economic field, until 2020, French companies almost monopolized the production of mineral resources in the country's former colonies such as Niger and Mali, to the extent that a large part of the uranium needed to fuel France's nuclear reactors was supplied in countries such as Niger.

Nigeriens protesting against France

In the military sector, French forces have been present in various African countries and have often been in charge of military commands. In this context, we can mention the presence of the French army in countries such as Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast and Chad under the pretext of helping to strengthen security and peace and fight terrorism in the last 10 years, and France had official military bases in some of these countries.

Although in the past decade, France in the neo-colonial system, which tried to keep the country in Africa indirectly through pretexts such as contributing financial aid, implementing economic and commercial projects, providing loans, building factories and military bases, but the colonial nature and crimes of the country were not forgotten by the African public, to the extent that in the past few years, many African countries have officially demanded the end of the French military presence in their continent and the expulsion of the country's military forces. Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad are among the countries that have officially expelled French troops and taken control of their own affairs. This issue has greatly angered French leaders and even other European colonial countries. Despite this, the former colonizers must accept the reality of the current world. It is on this basis that Catherine Colonna, former French Foreign Minister, has officially admitted that the era of the country's colonialism in Africa is over and that a wave of hatred against France has spread in Africa.

Despite this, the French and other colonialists should realize that Africans do not hate the French as the French, but rather they hate colonialism, tyranny, the plundering of their property and resources, being despised and degraded and viewed as second-class and perhaps third- and fourth-class people...