Chad and Senegal have rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent remarks, with one prime minister characterizing them as disrespectful.
Several African nations have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for his comments suggesting a lack of gratitude from African nations for French military interventions. Macron asserted on Monday that Sahel states hadn’t adequately thanked France for protecting them from militant attacks.
Addressing a conference of French ambassadors, Macron defended France’s intervention in the Sahel region, a vast area south of the Sahara Desert encompassing many former French colonies.
“I think they forgot to thank us, but that’s alright, it will come in time,” Macron stated.
Macron further claimed that without French military support, none of the African nations supposedly assisted during France’s 2013 military campaign could have withstood extremist groups.
“None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region,” he declared.
France initially deployed troops to Mali in 2013 to counter an Islamic insurgency threatening Bamako. In 2014, Operation Barkhane, a counterinsurgency campaign in the Sahel involving a 3,000-strong French force, commenced.
Following military coups, France has recently been expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Chad terminated its defense agreement with France in November, and Senegal announced the closure of all French military bases by the end of 2025.
Ivory Coast, another former French colony, also demanded the withdrawal of French troops by January 1st, reflecting a broader regional trend of reassessing military ties with former colonial powers.
Macron refuted claims that France was being forced out, stating that the changes represented a reorganization. “No, France is not on the back foot in Africa, it is simply being realistic and reorganizing itself,” he explained.
Macron’s statements drew strong criticism. Chad’s foreign minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, responded that Macron’s words displayed contempt.
The remarks “reflect a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans,” he stated in a televised address, according to AFP. Koulamallah added that the French government “must learn to respect Africans,” and asserted that France’s presence in Chad “has often been limited to its own strategic interests, without any real lasting impact for the development of the Chadian people.”
Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, also criticized Macron, arguing that “France lacks the capacity and legitimacy to ensure Africa’s security or sovereignty.” He dismissed Macron’s claims of military reorganization as “completely false.”
Sonko stated that Senegal’s decision to expel French troops “stems from its own determination as an independent and sovereign country.”