Macron explains why French army leaving African countries

He emphasized that the French state helped sovereign African countries by conducting anti-terrorist operations against jihadists.

Macron said they went because there were coups and because they were there at the request of sovereign states that had asked France to come. However, there was no longer any place for France because they were not the coupists' helpers.

He added that he believes that France is not retreating in Africa, but is seeing the light and reorganizing.

For ten years, the French state has been actively involved in military operations in the Sahel region, seeking to counter jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. During this period, 58 French soldiers were killed in the conflict zone.

However, in 2022-2023, France was forced to end its military presence in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. This happened after power in these countries passed to military juntas that became closer to Russia.

At the end of December, French troops began to leave Chad, and in the near future, the contingent is expected to withdraw from Senegal. Earlier, the President of Senegal said that the deployment of foreign armed forces is incompatible with the country's sovereignty.

The French president said that they had proposed to African heads of state to reorganize their presence and that this was good because the world was changing and they must embrace this new partnership with the continent.

At the same time, Macron noted that African leaders forgot to thank France for everything the country has done for them since 2013.

He summarized that none of them would have been able to run a sovereign country without this intervention and that it was not serious, as it would come with time.

Last February, the National Security Center reported that Russia had recruited tens of thousands of African and Asian citizens to fight against Ukraine.

Read more about how Russia is doing this in RBC-Ukraine's article.