In a scathing response to Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on the “ingratitude” of certain African countries, diplomatic tensions between Burkina Faso and France have reached a new level.
Ibrahim Traore, called his French counterpart’s statements an “insult to all Africans.”
In a speech given on Monday during the first flag-raising ceremony of the year at the Koulouba Palace, he turned the accusation of ingratitude around: “It is thanks to our ancestors that there is France. He should pray to Africans every morning.”
This verbal confrontation follows Emmanuel Macron’s statements at the Ambassadors’ Conference in Paris on January 6 in which the French leader defended his Africa policy, rejecting the idea of a French retreat on
the continent.
“France is not retreating in Africa, it is simply lucid, it is reorganising itself he said.
He had notably mentioned a lack of recognition concerning the French military commitment against
terrorism since 2013.
Faced with multiple requests for the withdrawal of French forces, notably in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), as well as in Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast, Macron maintained that “France is not the auxiliary of putschists.”
Captain Traoré for his part called for a “decolonisation of mentalities” and the real independence of African nations.
“Africa must wake up. The fight against imperialism is permanent,” he said, paradoxically describing the situation as a “necessary evil” for continental awareness.
“We must work to be truly independent, self-sufficient and develop ourselves,” concluded the Burkinabe
president, who called for collective mobilisation for an autonomous continent.
DS/ac/Sf/fss/as/APA