Macron explains why France decided to withdraw from African countries

The French army is leaving African countries because it does not want to help the juntas that came to power with the support of Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron said this on Monday, January 6, Ukrinform writes.

He explained that for many years his country has helped sovereign African states by conducting anti-terrorism operations against jihadists. In particular, it has participated in military operations in the Sahel to fight jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group. During this period, 58 French soldiers died there.

“We were there at the request of sovereign states who asked France to come. However, France has no place there because we are not helpers of the putschists,” he said.

The French president recalled that his country was forced to withdraw its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2022 and 2023 after military juntas aligned with Russia came to power in these three countries.

In addition, the first group of French soldiers left Chad at the end of December. The French army is about to withdraw from Senegal, with the president saying the presence of foreign troops in the country is incompatible with its sovereignty.

“We have proposed to the heads of state of Africa to reorganize our presence. And this is good, because the world is changing and we must accept the new cooperation on the continent,” added Macron.

At the same time, he stressed that African leaders have “forgotten to be grateful” for everything France has done for them since 2013.

“None of them can govern a sovereign country without this intervention, so it is not serious, it will come in time,” the French leader emphasized.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran is the “main strategic and security challenge” in the Middle East and will be a priority issue in his talks with the new administration of US President Donald Trump.