“The real agenda, in my opinion, is economic,” said Sébastien Lecornu this Wednesday on CNews/Europe 1 after being questioned about the recent comments of President Emmanuel Macron, which sparked controversy in Africa and France.
“French influence in Africa” is not limited to the military bases that it is in the process of handing over to the countries where they are located, argued Wednesday the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, in the media CNews/Europe 1 . “French influence in Africa is not just military, if it comes down to a base, quite frankly, it is completely a 19th century vision? century. The real agenda, in my opinion, is economic”he said, after being questioned about the recent comments of President Emmanuel Macron which sparked a controversy in Africa and in France.
“How good is our presence in Africa? President Macron responded by saying we have bases, we sometimes stayed there too long and we took the place of political leaders in the fight against terrorism, believing we were doing the right thing by doing the work for them.indicated the minister. On Monday, Macron declared before French ambassadors that France had had «raison» to intervene militarily in the Sahel “against terrorism since 2013”but that African leaders had “forgot to say thank you” and that“none of them” would not manage a sovereign country without this intervention.
The real question is: what if tomorrow after leaving, a new regime asks us to return, what will we have to do?
Sébastien Lecornu
The current Chadian president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in particular expressed his «indignation» in the face of comments that “border on contempt for Africa and Africans”. Paris has at this stage left one of its three military positions in Chad, with the other two expected to follow in the coming weeks. “The base in Chad is 300 million euros per year for the French taxpayer, so in my opinion it also deserves a debate between political forces” French, argued Sébastien Lecornu, recalling that France had already “left” Chad four times in recent “four decades or five decades”. “The real question is: what if tomorrow, after leaving, a new regime asks us to return, what will we have to do? Well, I don't have the answer to that question.”he added.
France
