La France insoumise denounces “a blindness which borders on madness” of the President of the Republic, after he deplored the “ingratitude” of African leaders vis-à-vis the French military commitment in the Sahel.
Emmanuel Macron's remarks on the “ingratitude” of African leaders with regard to the French military commitment in the Sahel provoked the indignation of La France insoumise on Tuesday, January 7, which castigated the “blindness” and the “paternalism” of the head of state.
These comments by the president “reflect a blindness that borders on madness” and reveal “a neocolonial paternalism that is simply intolerable,” LFI denounced in a press release.
“Such comments are politically inconsistent and diplomatically totally irresponsible and further weaken our relations with the nations of West Africa,” added the radical left party.
“Ingratitude”
The day before, Emmanuel Macron estimated that France had been “right” to intervene militarily in the Sahel “against terrorism since 2013”, but that African leaders had “forgotten” to “say thank you”, deploring their “ingratitude”.
“We have proposed to African heads of state to reorganize our military presence,” he added, speaking at the annual meeting of French ambassadors. “As we are very polite, we let them have priority over the announcement.”
But “President Macron's remarks about the allegedly negotiated departure of the French army to Senegal and Chad are denied by the two countries”, noted rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X.
“Once again, casualness and uncontrolled words worsen our country's international relations,” he added.
The secretary general of the Socialist Party Pierre Jouvet, for his part, joked about X: “Here is the return of OSS Macron 117…”
Chad deplored on Monday a “contemptuous attitude towards Africa”. Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko described as “totally erroneous” the assertion that the announced departure of hundreds of French soldiers would follow a proposal from France.
