Afrasianet - Atta Al , Mannan Bakhit - The International Center for Political Science Research and its partners recently released a controversial scientific study entitled: Why Africans Reject France? This is an important question that has been strongly raised for years after the growing wave of popular anger against France in the Sahel region in particular, and in French-speaking West Africa in general. In this article, we review the highlights of this worthwhile study.
The study surveyed more than five hundred people in different disciplines, belonging to five Francophone countries: Chad, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon. It is noted that these countries are considered moderate in their rejection of France's policies in the region, and their position is less strict than the countries facing French policies, such as Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal, which adopt very strict popular and official positions, and completely reject France's policies in the region.
Anti-French sentiment
The study tried to investigate the causes and motives of what it called the general anti-French sentiment, and whether this feeling is the product of an external media incitement campaign in order to psychologically influence Africans, or is it a feeling fueled by internal national power centers to serve their own purposes, or is it motivated by other internal motives?
Most of the subjects rejected the use of the term anti-French sentiment, explaining that the term is the product of the French media machine that tries to simplify public sentiment against France as a reckless emotional attitude, not based on any logic.
Respondents stressed that the popular trend rejecting France is not due to media smear campaigns to brainwash, but is based on irrefutable arguments and a strong and solid logic.
The respondents agreed that the African rejection is not against France in general, or against the French citizen, but rather the rejection of France's unjust policies in the region that extends from the French colonial period to the present time.
The study clearly indicated that Africans are not hostile to French citizens, as there are a large number of French citizens residing in various West African countries without feeling any threat or discrimination against them.
The respondents unanimously agreed that Africans are more tolerant than the French, confirming that there is no African political party hostile to foreigners in general or the French in particular, while there is a wide political current of political, popular and academic parties and blocs in France that are openly hostile to Africans and demand their expulsion from France.
The study pointed out that the collective memory of Africa constantly evokes the statements and attitudes of many French politicians from different colors of the French political spectrum who criticize Africans and mock the way they dress, behave and smell their food.
The study said that active campaigns against migrants to Europe in general have fostered a spirit of rejection of the West among young Africans who have suffered greatly from illegal immigration.
What about Russia?
The study dealt with the Russian role in Francophone Africa, which began to expand strongly and significantly in the African Sahel region, where the official French presence declined militarily and economically in important countries, such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, while Russia began to manage in the region.
Asked whether the Russian propaganda campaign is the driver of the current of African rejection of Paris, respondents denounced this question, noting that France has become obsessed with the growing Russian role in the region, to the point that it has lost logic in seeing and evaluating things.
The study confirmed that there is known international competition about Africa, and that there is an international race to obtain the largest amount of African natural and mineral resources, but this does not mean that Africans do not have the ability to determine their interests without the intervention of the other. Africans' sense of disrespect for France's choices and their interpretation as the product of influence from the other reinforced anti-French sentiment.
President Macron's behavior
The study tried to look for the features of French policies that reinforced the feeling of African rejection of Paris, and stood at a number of important indicators:
The first is what the respondents called the arrogant and condescending behavior of President Macron, and explained that President Macron is not only superior to the simple African citizen, but even to African heads of state.
They referred in particular to the Franco-African counter-terrorism summit held in the French city of Pau in 2020, where Macron treated the African presidents gathered around him as if they were students, asking each of them for specific duties to perform.
Another indicator is the feeling of the African citizen that France is no longer a reliable military ally, and that it has failed to meet all the requirements of its military partners, which has reinforced the state of insecurity and instability in the region.
African public opinion notes that since its intervention in Mali in 2012, France has not been able to establish security in this country, but rather believes that the state of public security in the region is constantly deteriorating despite the multiplicity of French military bases in the region.
For example, France helped create the G5 Sahel as a means of collective security sponsored and supported by Paris, but the group was completely unable to play its role until it realized its natural annihilation, and armed movements, such as Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and others, continued to expand comfortably in the region and gain vast territory despite the huge French military presence.
The bottom line is that neither the French forces have been able to establish security in the region themselves, nor have they trained and qualified national armies to play this role.
As a result, African public opinion has come to compare France's timid military support with Russia's active military support, circulating like others saying that France gives us what it wants, while Russia gives us what we want.
The study also examined another indicator: Africans' view of the slogan of democracy that Paris has been pushing African leaders to do since the Biarrz summit under former French President François Mitterrand.
Africans believe that France adopts democracy of interests, meaning that France supports democracy if it serves its interests in Africa.
The respondents gave an example of what is happening in the Republic of Chad, where Paris lobbied for the installation of Mohamed Kaka to succeed his father, President Idriss Déby, who was assassinated in 2021, and Macron was personally keen to come to N'Djamena to support the installation of Kaka, without the slightest interest in Chadian public opinion, because Chad represents an important strategic space for Paris.
There are other examples, where Paris hardened against the Niger military after the coup against elected President Mohamed Bazoum, one of Paris' main allies, while tolerating the military in their coup against elected President Ali Bongo in Gabon. Thus, African public opinion believes that Paris applies a policy of double standards, and that every president who serves its interests and follows its directives is a printed democrat.
Finally, the study dealt with the economic aspect, and surveyed the attitudes of African public opinion regarding dealing with the CFA franc. France has imposed on all its former colonies the CFA franc, which has been covered by the French Central Bank since 1945, before the independence of these countries.
The study confirmed that there is a consensus that dealing with the CFA franc is unfair, which is a major reason behind the weakness and fragility of the economies of Francophone countries. More than 95% of respondents believe that their countries should leave the CFA franc system, which is the biggest proof that France does not care about the sovereignty of African countries over their resources and economies.
The importance of this study comes from the fact that it was concerned with surveying the opinions of a wide segment of citizens in a group of countries that were all former French colonies, so it reflects the opinion and vision of peoples, unlike the many other writings that carried the opinions of analysts and scholars interested in the subject and the region.
It is also noted that the study reviewed the views of citizens from countries whose governments remain closely related to France, such as Gabon, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire. However, respondents' views were decisive in rejecting France's policies in their countries.
Since Other Francophone countries, such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which I called "confrontation states", officially and popularly stand on the front line with France, the conclusion of this important study confirms that the rising wave of rejection of France's policies is not an emotional emotion, but rather the result of real popular faith and conviction fueled by France's unjust colonial policies in the region. And on herself she reaped Baraqish.
Former Sudanese diplomat and researcher in African affairs