Macron insults Africa with an impudent statement… and African leaders respond to him

French President Emmanuel Macron said that some countries in the African Sahel “wouldnطt have become sovereign states without the deployment of the French army in this region”.

Macron added in a speech on Monday before the annual conference of French ambassadors on France’s foreign policy in 2025, that his country “was right to intervene in 2013 to fight extremists, even if these countries have now distanced themselves from French military support”.

“I think they forgot to thank us, but that’s okay, it will come in due time,” Macron added sarcastically, denying that “France is retreating in Africa, but is only reorganizing itself”.

Macron stressed that France left the region “because there were coups, and because we were there at the request of sovereign states. From the moment the coups happened, when people said that our priority was no longer the fight against terrorism, France no longer had a place”.

The French president denied that French forces had been expelled from Africa, adding that Paris had proposed to African heads of state to reorganize the French military presence and “since we are very polite, we allowed them priority in the announcement”.

Macron’s statements come after several African presidents issued statements rejecting the continued French military presence on their territories, the latest of which were Ivory Coast, Chad and Senegal.

Chad considered the statements of French President as “a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans”.

Chad explained in a statement signed by Foreign Minister and government spokesman Abdourahmane Kalamallah, that “history bears witness that Africa, including Chad, played a decisive role in the liberation of France during the two world wars, a fact that France has never acknowledged”.

The statement added that “the enormous sacrifices made by African soldiers in defense of freedom have been underestimated, and no meaningful thanks have been expressed,” noting that “French leaders must learn to respect the African people and recognize the value of their sacrifices”.

The statement stressed that “France has never significantly equipped the Chadian army, nor contributed to its structural development… During the 60 years of French presence, which witnessed civil wars, rebellions and long-term political instability, the French contribution was often limited to its own strategic interests, without any real lasting impact on development for the benefit of the Chadian people”.

For his part, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said that “if African soldiers had not been deployed during World War II to defend France, it might have been German today”.

According to what was published by the Senegalese Prime Minister, Sonko stated that “Senegal’s sovereignty is non-negotiable, and the decision regarding military bases is our independent sovereign will”.

Sonko denied that his country had entered into “any previous discussions or negotiations with France regarding the withdrawal of French military bases,” stressing that saying that “no African country would have enjoyed sovereignty without France isn’t only wrong, but also deeply disrespectful of history” .

The Senegalese official stressed that “if France has gained its freedom, it is also due to the thousands of African soldiers, who were often forcibly recruited, and whose blood was shed to defend a nation that today underestimates their contribution”.

Sonko considered that France “hasn’t always been a factor of stability in Africa… The destabilization of Libya, among other things, had disastrous repercussions on the Sahel region and West Africa,” stressing Senegal’s renewed “commitment to charting its own path, without any interference, to ensure its security and development”.