“I think we forgot to say thank you,” Emmanuel Macron said on Monday about African leaders and France’s military intervention in the Sahel “against terrorism since 2013.” “None of them would be with a sovereign country if the French army had not been deployed in this region,” he added during the conference of ambassadors in Paris, creating strong reactions in France and Africa.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno said he was “outraged” by his comments, judging his attitude “contemptuous towards Africa and Africans”. Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister of Senegal, reacted in a long publication on X, replying: “Let us note that France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty. »
Beyond the form, is the French head of state “right”? What is the outcome of ten years of military operation in this territory? How can these statements be received? 20 Minutes takes stock.
Serval, Barkhane… More than ten years of military operations in the Sahel
As Oxfam recalls, France intervened in these territories to fight against “international terrorism” and against “the emergence of jihadism”. From January 2013, via Operation Serval, it sent 1,700 soldiers to stop the advance of armed groups towards Bamako and succeeded in three months. It continues with Operation Barkhane to “control this progression” in the Sahel region. Chad was France's last anchor point in the Sahel, where it had more than 5,000 soldiers as part of this anti-jihadist operation, stopped at the end of November 2022.
A mixed assessment of the French intervention
“Concretely, we could think that there is a failure of Operation Barkhane because there has not been an end to terrorism,” observes Caroline Roussy, research director at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) and head of the Africa/s program. Moreover, when France intervened in Mali, the terrorists took refuge in neighboring countries and this is how the networks were reconstituted. »
“But since the end of this military presence, insecurity has also increased,” adds the Iris research director. We can only draw a mixed and disappointing assessment for the populations who expected a lot from France. »
According to Oxfam, the French intervention did not put an end to the growing insecurity in the Sahel region. On the contrary. “The situation has deteriorated: initially limited to Mali, insecurity has spread and now affects Burkina Faso, Niger but also Benin, and threatens other West African countries, such as Ivory Coast. Three accompanied countries were the subject of military coups in one year,” the NGO took stock in December 2022, one month after Emmanuel Macron’s official announcement on the end of Operation Barkhane. .
Is Macron right on the question of sovereignty?
“It is not by posing a simplistic hypothesis that we can have an automatic response,” believes Caroline Roussy. According to her, this is not how we “write history”. “History is a bundle of causalities, we must restore rhythms, logics,” she continues. In these African sovereignties, there is perhaps a large endogenous part as well. So, I find this reflection, through its absurdity, to be completely contemptuous. »
The specialist adds that it is even “abusive” to speak of “sovereignty” for certain States. “We did not see that the authorities of the ten countries had been able to regain a foothold on all of the territories in which France intervened,” she notes.
Has France, on the contrary, destabilized certain territories, as Ousmane Sonko claims?
“France contributed to the destabilization of the Sahel by not listening to the local authorities at the time, on the intervention in Libya, yes,” affirms Caroline Roussy. More than ten years later, the Sahel is destabilized and is gradually affecting the countries of the Gulf of Guinea. »
“But as soon as we touch on History, it’s complex. We can also say, to another extent, that it destabilized the African continent by participating in colonization,” underlines Caroline Roussy.
Should France receive thanks for its actions in the Sahel?
For Caroline Roussy, it’s “complicated”. “To say thank you, you have to be in a common memory and we can clearly see that we are in the middle of a memory conflict with a total incomprehension,” she notes. For commemorations, we need a story that we want to write together. Currently, between France and African countries, the sequence is not one of thanks. »
She points out, however, that by making this type of statement, Emmanuel Macron “completely brushes aside any intervention by the countries' defense and security forces.” “It’s as if there had been no commitment from the countries concerned,” she says. This is yet another insult for African countries. The anger will only grow. » Already two years ago, Oxfam noted in its report that the French military presence was “the subject of growing contestation” with the multiplication of “anti-French” demonstrations.
What effect is Emmanuel Macron looking for with this kind of declaration?
“No idea,” replies the specialist. Before adding: “Perhaps he is a little disappointed with the investment he wanted to make in this French-speaking Africa and the results which do not live up to what he could have hoped for…”
Our file on the Sahel
“But it can only create tension and animosity and above all, be poorly received. Especially since this is not the first time that Emmanuel Macron has made this type of reflection. Why repeat, why persist? We have the impression that he does not understand that his attitude towards African countries must change,” she concludes.
