Annoyed by the rise of anti-French sentiment in the countries of the Sahel, French President, Emmanuel Macron had announced, on December 4, a meeting in the city of Pau with his Sahel counterparts to “clarify” their position as for the French military presence in the region.
The summit, which had been postponed, finally opened on Monday January 13, 2020.
“I expect them to clarify and formalize their request with regard to France and the international community. Do they want us there? Do they need us? I want them to clearly and strongly answer these questions,” the French president firmly launched on December 4 at the NATO Summit in London.
The main objective of the Pau meeting is to “redefine more clearly the military, political and development objectives” of the common struggle against jihadist groups, according to Mr. Macron.
On January 10, a demonstration against the presence of foreign forces, particularly French troops in Mali gathered, according to organizers, at least a thousand people at Bamako Independence Square.
“Despite this massive presence of the largest armies in the world, terrorist groups are still on the loose and are even gaining strength. We must therefore be wary of these night arsonists who, at daybreak, suddenly turn into firefighters. These foreign powers use terrorism to control the huge riches of the region,” Gabin Korbeogo, a spokesman for the demonstrators was quoted as saying by AFP.
This mindset of Korbeogo is widely shared among the demonstrators, as evidenced by the signs they held up and which read: “The French government is an obstacle to our development.” Down with France, Barkhane must leave.” “France Go Away, the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) can secure Mali.”
Social networks, the main field of expression for opponents of foreign forces
Faced with the resurgence of terrorist attacks, opinions involving France are flooding the web, notably Facebook and WhatsApp, where videos showing assaults by jihadists or the damage caused make millions of views.
But for President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, speaking to Radio France International (RFI), those who express themselves on social networks or in the street do not constitute the popular base. “They constitute a tiny minority. I don’t see crowds challenging the alliances that we want to put in place to fight the terrorist threat, which is a global threat,” he said.
For Mali’s Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the engagement of foreign forces alongside those of the Sahel “cannot be confused with a minority of activists, snipers or centrifugal forces who will use any means available to them, including the terrorists’ game.”
Feeling “convinced” that the majority of Malians have a “feeling of gratitude” towards the Allied countries, he described as “decisive”, in his Address to the Nation on December 31, the “Pau Meeting”, arguing that it will be an opportunity “to discuss all the issues, grievances and solutions.”
According to Niger’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kalla Ankourao, questioned by RFI, “There will be (in Pau), a joint declaration between the heads of state of the G5 Sahel and France to reaffirm the need to continue the fight together and even to enlarge forces, which should take part in this fight against terrorism ”.
“From everything we have done for the past four weeks, things have been clarified. We now know the decisions we are going to make in Pau and, believe me; things will not remain the same as before. The difficulties will be behind us, especially since there are benchmarks and a clear agenda. There is a dashboard to implement all of this,” Kalla Ankourao added.
ARD/te/fss/abj/APA