By Mazhun Idris
Africa's battle to free itself from the stranglehold of neocolonialism is far from over, but 2025 could yet sing a dirge to French imperialism, as Francophone countries of West Africa make a decisive shift away from Paris.
Nothing accentuates France's discomfiture at this development than President Emmanuel Macron's apparent diplomatic nervous breakdown while responding to Sahelian states turning their backs on the erstwhile coloniser.
"Awaiting thanks for stopping Islamists in the Sahel," Macron reportedly declared on January 6, alluding to French troops that for years laid siege to different Sahelian countries on the pretext of bolstering these countries' defence against insurgents.
"None of them would have a sovereign state had French troops not been deployed in this region," he said.
Macron's disparaging remarks have drawn outrage and condemnation around the continent, with Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko of Senegal lambasting France for its long history of what he calls the "destabilisation of African countries".
Prof Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, the Kenyan lawyer-activist, labels President Macron as representing "the worst of the neocolonisers".
Imperialism's slow decay
The strain on France's military-cum-economic partnerships with various African countries is marked by rising anti-French sentiment and the termination of the former European coloniser's military bases in the region.
Macron's temerity to rile the region with self-defeating salvos has clearly made it worse for France.
The French President did not stop at a slight on the African Sahel for purportedly "forgetting" to return the French military's favours. He went on to lay bare France's insecurity in the face of Africa's strategic policy choice.
The trend of African countries, particularly in the Sahel, booting out French troops shows no sign of stopping.
French troops have had to pull out of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso following successive military coups there. In Chad, Senegal, and now Ivory Coast, French forces are in the process of withdrawing.
Several Sahelian countries have opted to build positive partnerships with other global powers who are willing to engage them with equity, respect and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Türkiye, Russia, and China have since upended France in the diplomatic stakes. In most cases, the new partners empower Africa's military capabilities against domestic enemies, while pitching development programmes geared towards economic independence and optimal resource control.
"The Sahelian revolution is a kick in the teeth that France did not anticipate," Prof Lumumba tells TRT Afrika, adding that the decay of imperialist France started under Macron.
Seeing through subterfuge
In an official statement on January 7, Senegalese PM Sonko made a strong argument about why Macron's claims of helping ensure the security and stability of African countries are a travesty.
Citing Libya as a case in point, Sonko said France lacked the "ability and legitimacy" to ensure Africa's security or sovereignty.
While President Macron projects otherwise, France is indeed on the back foot in West Africa as its neocolonial military machine loses steam and goodwill.
Since ousting foreign military bases from their borders, Mali and Burkina Faso have announced military gains against terrorists who had spent years undermining their security.
Arikana Chihombori, the African Union's former ambassador to the US, recalls how French presence in the region has created more problems than solving them.
"I was in Burkina Faso when a general told me, 'Ambassador, for every three soldiers, we had one gun. And that gun was borrowed. From time to time, the soldiers had to turn over those guns. For equipment, they would have to put in writing a request to France. Nine times out of 10, that request would be denied. But guess who had no problems being fully armed? The terrorists."
According to Chihombori, the reason transitional President Ibrahim Traoré succeeded in eliminating terrorism in Burkina Faso was because he got rid of the French. "The French were funding and equipping the terrorists," she says.
At the height of French military presence in countries like Niger, violent conflicts did not abate for years as armed militants and terrorists challenged these countries' statehood.
The ongoing disengagement from French military and economic shackles in the West African region is a testament to the speed at which Paris is losing neocolonial influence in Africa.
Ivory Coast's decision to set a deadline of just under a month for French troops to leave the country starting January 25 is a blow in more ways than one.
Analysts describe the move as both unanticipated and a masterstroke by President Alassane Ouattara, more so because he was once supported by Francophone forces to assume the reins after a post-election dispute.
President Ouattara used his year-end address to the nation to announce his government's decision to force the French troops to withdraw from the country.
France currently looks too weakened to sail against the African winds of change, although it has been trying to break new ground elsewhere on the continent by currying favour with countries like Benin, Togo, Nigeria, and even faraway Kenya.
Sahel flexes unity
Ibrahima Hamidou, special communications advisor to the Nigerien PM, feels the French President went too far this time.
"Macron uses the dehumanising 'slave' ideology to prove himself right despite the failure of neocolonialism in the Sahel. If he were ashamed, he wouldn't bring up the nonsense he bombarded his ambassadors with."
Chad's foreign minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, went on national TV to say that Macron's remarks reflect "a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans".
"French leaders must learn to respect the African people and recognise the value of their sacrifices."
An unlikely frontier
For the first time since the inception of the Africa-France Summit in 1973, the collaborative gathering of African Presidents is about to take place outside France or any Francophone African country.
Kenya and France announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last September that they would jointly organise the 2026 summit in Nairobi.
This is evidence of France practically scrambling for an alternative base outside its former turf.
Macron hasn't made a secret of it either, embarking on a diplomatic charm offensive to keep Kenyan President William Ruto on his side.
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