Landlocked Chad, a West African country, announced that it is breaking off its military and security ties with its former colonial master, France. Chad’s Foreign Minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, in making the surprise announcement on 28 November, declared that France should consider that “Chad has grown up, matured and is a sovereign state” and it is “very jealous” about being sovereign and independent.
A few hours earlier, visiting French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barro, met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby, but no mention of the policy change was made. It is unclear if the President and his guest discussed the issue. The announcement would mean that an estimated 1,000 French troops stationed in the capital, N’Djamena, plus a couple of fighter jets have to leave, too. While the troops’ departure was not mentioned in the announcement, it does not make sense to keep them while defense ties have ended.
Chad, with this announcement, joins three other African Sahel countries which have kicked out French troops from their territories as they seek a new framework of foreign policies that tend to lean towards Russia. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have already severed military ties with Paris over the last couple of years after change of governments in all those countries.
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A few days after the Chadian announcement, Senegal, another country of the African Sahel on the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, declared that it is sending the French troops on its soil packing. On 29 November, the newly elected President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, said the presence of French troops on Senegal’s soil is “incompatible” with Senegal’s national sovereignty. President Faye, who was elected last March, is resetting his country’s foreign policy by seeking to end its dependence on foreign powers as has been the case for decades, with France dominating defence and securities of its former colonies. Mr. Faye, in making the shocking announcement, said “Senegal is an independent country; it is a sovereign country and sovereignty rejects the presence of foreign militaries.”
He appeared to be seeking a new foreign policy approach favouring his country’s interests and being an equal partner with other world powers, while reassuring France that the new policy does not mean cutting of all ties. He compared China’ presence to that of France saying “today, China is our largest trading partner in terms of investment and trade” but it does not have any military presence in Senegal. This, he said, does not mean ties with China are ending.
China and Russia have been making headway in their African ventures, reaching out to an increasing number of African countries through investment, trade and political coordination on international issues. While Beijing focused its African policy on trade and economics, Russia is doing the same but with increasing emphasis on security and military cooperation. Moscow has already replaced Paris as favoured security and military partner in Mali, Niger and Central African Republic.
French influence has been on the decline across Africa, as more and more African countries seek to diversify their security and military options away from the West, in general, and France, in particular. In Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and now, Senegal, the change of military and security orientations towards Moscow have been associated with change of government or leadership in all those countries as a new blend of military leaders took over power in military coups, with the exception of Senegal. The common denominator of all new leaders is that all of them were born after their respective countries’ independence from French occupation. Yet, to them, France never left their countries and never stopped taking their nations’ natural resources in a trade exchange that is far from fair and equal partnerships.
The younger generation of leaders believed that their former leaders were heavily influenced by Paris and kept in power by French troops, ready to take action to sustain such corrupt governments as long as they serve Paris’ interests, regardless of their popularity at home where their legitimacy is questioned and loyalty is suspected.
This young breed of leaders believed that Russia could well be an alternative to France in security and military terms, while China can be a trusted economic partner. China offers them donations, investments, easy loans and funding for infrastructure projects without any political strings attached, unlike Western similar economic ties which usually come with preconditions and requirements, usually political in nature, which lead to exercise of influence by France or any other donor country, like the United States, for example.
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China’s economic volume with Africa rose by 1.5 per cent last year, to hit an estimated $282 billion with 20 per cent of African exports going to China while 16 per cent of African imports come from China. Beijing is now the biggest trade partner to all of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Moscow’s trade exchange with Africa also jumped by 35 per cent, to reach some $24.6 billion in 2023 is doing the same in the economic and scientific cooperation with African countries. More important to African countries, is Moscow’s generous decision to write off over $20 billion of African debt. Russia has also supplied many African countries with free or almost free grains, along with shipments of anti-Covid vaccine during the global pandemic in 2019-2020.
Militarily, Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries spearheaded Moscow’s African military activities in a quasi-official capacity, as Moscow claimed that the group is not under its control. When Moscow decided to dismantle the Wagner Group following the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash in the summer of 2023, the Russian Defence Ministry took over the group’s assets. It also owned its activities in Africa, while offering its personnel the option of joining the newly launched Russian African Corps.
While Paris once controlled almost the entire African Sahel and had wider influence across its former colonies, today Paris is fleeing the continent both militarily and economically. It has been locked in a complicated row with Niger over the production and export of Uranium. In early December, Nigerien authorities took operational control of one of the Somaïr mines in the Sahara Desert which is operated by France’s state-owned Orano Company. The timing of the measure is pretty awkward for the company and experts think Orano could go bankrupt.
As more African younger leader come to power through elections or otherwise, the French presence and influence is disappearing rather chaotically. For the French army, Chad has been functioning as a virtual carrier for decades and no one believed that it could end. Just as Paris never contemplated the fact that, one day, it could leave Africa to be replaced by Moscow as preferred security and military partner.
What is happening to France is also being repeated with other Western countries, including the US, which was forced to evacuate its troops from Niger where it has been operating a large air base, while the base is being handed over to the Russians.
African grievances against France and other former colonial powers have become a focal point of debate and discussion among Africans who are seeking apologies and reparations. This means we would see less of France in Africa and more of Russia and China in the years ahead.
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