Burkina Faso junta chief: Macron insulted all Africans

The head of Burkina Faso’s military junta, Captain Ibrahim Traore, said Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron had insulted all Africans in a speech he gave a week ago, in which he denounced in particular the ingratitude of leaders of some countries on the continent for not thanking his country for its military intervention to combat terrorism in the Sahel region.

“I think they forgot to thank us,” Macron said in his speech that day… It doesn’t matter, it will happen with time… Ingratitude, as I know very well, is a disease that isn’t transmitted to humans”.

In response to the French president’s statement, Captain Traoré said on Monday that Macron “insulted all Africans… This is how this man sees Africa, this is how he sees Africans… We’re not human beings in his eyes”.

Relations between Burkina Faso and France have continued to deteriorate since the 36-year-old captain took power by force in September 2022.

Burkina Faso, along with Mali and Niger, are the three African countries from which French forces withdrew in 2023.

France decided to reorganize its military presence in Africa, but some countries such as Chad and Senegal took the initiative in November and asked the French to withdraw their forces from their territories.

Chad cancelled the military cooperation agreement between the two countries and requested the departure of French forces by the end of January, while Senegal requested the closure of French military bases and the end of any foreign military presence on its territory, according to a timetable to be determined later.

In his speech on Monday, Captain Traoré said, “If we want to break relations with these imperialist powers, its simple: we have to cancel the agreements… If we don’t cancel the agreements and just ask them to leave the military bases, we have done nothing”.

France must also gradually withdraw its forces from Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon, two countries with which it still has good relations.