Mr. Sonko described on social networks as “totally erroneous” the assertion according to which the announced departure of a few hundred French soldiers would follow a proposal from France which would have left the countries concerned with a reorganization of the French military presence the first to announce such withdrawals.
“No discussion or negotiation has taken place to date and the decision taken by Senegal stems from its sole will, as a free, independent and sovereign country,” said Mr. Sonko, whose country announced the latest weeks the end in 2025 of all French and foreign military presence on national soil.
“We forgot to say thank you”
France was “right” to intervene militarily in Africa “against terrorism since 2013”, but African leaders “forgot to say thank you”, declared Monday January 6, Emmanuel Macron, estimating that “no d ‘among them’ would not manage a sovereign country without this intervention. “It doesn’t matter, it will come with time,” quipped the French president during the annual Conference of Ambassadors. “No, France is not in decline in Africa, it is simply lucid, it is reorganizing itself,” he argued. “We chose to move to Africa […] because we had to move. »
“We proposed to African heads of state to reorganize our presence. As we are very polite, we gave them the primacy of the announcement,” declared Mr. Macron on Monday during the conference of ambassadors, referring to the French military withdrawal, generally forced, from a certain number of African countries. in recent years.
Mr. Sonko, a great critic of the French presence in his country before his accession to power in 2024, also provided a scathing contradiction to Mr. Macron’s statements castigating the “ingratefulness” of African leaders who would no longer be at the head of sovereign countries without the deployment of the French army.
France has also “destabilized” certain countries
“France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa’s security and sovereignty. On the contrary, it has often contributed to destabilizing certain African countries such as Libya with disastrous consequences noted on the stability and security of the Sahel,” replied Mr. Sonko.
After independence, Senegal remained one of the most secure African allies of the former dominant colonial power in West Africa. But the new leaders who came to power in Dakar in 2024 with an agenda of rupture have promised to henceforth treat France as equal to other foreign partners in the name of regained sovereignty.
This new approach was manifested in December during the commemorations of the massacre of Senegalese riflemen by French colonial forces in 1944.
