French president’s speech stirs anger across Africa

Francophone West Africa is regularly shaken by surprising facts or utterances and the most recent event was a statement in the speech that the French President Emmanuel Macron delivered on January 6, 2025 in front of ambassadors from Africa and ministers, military and civilian French citizen who participated, in diverse ways, in missions led by France in Africa.

In that speech, the French president started with a general picture of the achievements of his country in the world during the last 5 to 10 years. He praised the hard work of his compatriots in Asia, the French Overseas territories, and the praise-worthy international agreements that France had signed, highlighting the future key actions his country intends posing, in terms of partnership with other nations. He did not omit the main international projects that will be the focus of his country in the years to come.

That first part of the speech appeared normal, nothing was said that raised eyebrows. But, in the second part, Macron’s words shocked all politically conscious Africans, and several leaders openly reacted to what they saw as an insult directed by the French president at Africa. Indeed, Macron said the following, in a nutshell, “our armies were not chased away by Africans, we decided to leave or change the form of our military cooperation. When Africans told us that their main concern was to counter coups d’état, we told them that we could assist in anti-terrorist fights but not anti-coup operations. Africans are ungrateful because none of the French-speaking African countries would be standing as a sovereign nation today if the French army did not intervene there in one way or another, at a certain stage of their history. In certain cases, we had to urge or encourage African leaders to inform their populations about our decision to end the military cooperation”. He ended with the terrible phrase, “..well, ingratitude is not a transmissible disease”, meaning that it is not passed from one individual to another. Maybe Macron meant that there was no way he could contract ingratitude, others go to the extent of saying that Macron expressed the non-human nature of Africans, unlike he or the French who are human beings. Anyway, a plethora of interpretations and explanations were provided.

In my opinion, Macron’s phrases captured the essence of the politico-economic reality of France, a country which is agitated by complaints of a displeased population that refuses almost all the major decisions of their president. President Macron had to appoint three prime ministers, one after another in 2024, because the term of each prime minister was affected by events that tarnished the image and negatively impacted daily life in France. So, the President, in the search of a solution had a to appoint a prime minister whom he thought could stop the calamity. One of the last cases was the bitter surprise that Chad had for France, weeks ago.  Just after the visit of the French minister for foreign affairs in that country in November 2024, the Chad authorities declared the end of defense accords with France. It is not a secret that many other countries followed suit in regard to the French military bases.

Declining French influence in Africa

The commercial agreements and interactions between France and more than half of her former colonies had shrunk drastically, and all those new developments have had an important effect on France. Her economy is feeling the pinch of the new policy of autonomy surrounding the exploitation of the uranium of Niger for instance. The control that the French military bases in Africa had come to an end; that unleashed a cascade of socio-economic as well as political repercussions that are not easily detected and only careful and critical political analysts can pinpoint these things.

The general impression, both in France and in Africa is that Macron’s rule coincided with the decline of the French “empire” in the world. One could wonder whether this decline was caused by the geopolitical situation in Francophone Africa these last few years or if Macron’s policy had played a role in the dissolution of the French hegemony. I severally stated that recent developments in social media and the mentality and large population of the African youth had played a pivotal role in these occurrences. One easily notices one or two faux pas that the French president made and that could have been either one of the triggers or one of the consequences of the loss that France experienced in her former colonies.

One case that comes to mind is a point made by Macron in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in November 2017 while he was on a tour. The President said, among other things, that the period when France imposed or determined the major political decisions in Africa is over. In other words, he was saying that the time had come for Africans to think and act for themselves. That statement and the visit itself generated several poignant questions that the young Burkinabè audience asked President Macron. The straightforwardness of these questions showed to the whole world that France had just provided the right opportunity for the Burkinabè youth and the young population in Africa to express their resentment against the kind of relations that had existed for decades between France and Francophone Africa. If the era of the political sovereignty of Africa had arrived, the involvement of France in the military and political life of Africa should have ceased but that had not happened. So, France did not walk the talk and that simply eroded the image of that country in the eyes of observers, especially her new crop of leaders and decision makers, the new strength of Africa.

African leaders – “ingrates”?

This speech of January 6 is the most important determiner of France’s policy in Africa, in several years. The French President called African leaders “ingrates” who were supposed to be thankful to France. The President of Chad expressed total surprise and disappointment at the statement and reiterated that the decision of his country to get rid of French troops is a sovereign one that they do not regret and would not rescind in any way.  He added that France’s main concern should be the malaise that the French population was going through, not the situation in Africa or behaviour of Africans. Several presidents and political figures on the continent felt that it was France that should be grateful to Francophone Africa for the invaluable support that Africans had provided to France during the wars in which the French were involved.

Traore’s take on Macron’s speech

President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso found many points in the statement that should be taken seriously by the Burkinabè and Africans in general. He stressed the fact that this statement meant that France is going to change her strategy in her efforts to maintain her grip over Africa. Military advisors are the most dangerous elements that France used in controlling Africa, he stated and added that the work of those advisors could be summed up in one single thing – to weaken African armies so that they would need to call on France for assistance. One example that he mentioned was the weakness and fragmented state of the Burkinabè army during the rule of the former president, Compaoré. That period was so bad for the Burkinabè army that some troops could not afford any weapons for their basic duties and had to use sticks, instead. That era was the peak of Françafrique days in Burkina. The new colour or attribute that the French neocolonization will adopt in Africa, in the words of the Burkinabè president is the presence of the French military in Africa, despite the French stating that they had left Africa. The French military will linger in Africa, disguised as civilians, working to ensure and protect the businesses and other interests of France.

Sonko’s take on Macron’s speech

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko of Senegal saw an accumulation of fallacies Macron’s words. He added that France has neither the capacity nor the right to protect Africa’s security and sovereignty. To him, they rather contributed to destabilize African countries like Libya and that came with severe consequences in terms of stability and security in the Sahel area. He concluded that France would have been a German territory today if African troops had not lent their support to them during World War Two.

This decade is, therefore, not a pleasant one for France, both inside the country and in her relations with the world, especially French-speaking Africa. It is their right to ponder over the path that France is supposed to follow in order to end this succession of defeats.

Moussa Traoré is Professor at the Department of English of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.