A few days apart, two immediate contexts point to France’s loss of influence in Africa, which is more in its former “precinct”. In the Central African Republic, the rise in power of Russia noticeable since 2016 has just pushed Paris to freeze its military cooperation. A rare decision usually taken as a consequence of highly antidemocratic or liberticidal contexts. This was the case in the early 1990s with regard to Togo after the bloody violence that accompanied the opening of this country to pluralism.
Officially, this freeze echoes the atmosphere deemed increasingly anti-French in Bangui, a campaign directly controlled by Moscow, according to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. The Central African authorities are thus deemed to be complicit in these denigrations expressed mainly in the media and on social networks. “On several occasions, the Central African authorities have made commitments that they have not kept both politically towards the opposition and with regard to behavior vis-à-vis France, which is the target of a campaign. of massive disinformation ”, explains the ministry, on June 7, in a press release. This freeze, which also affects budget aid, immediately resulted in the recall of five French military aid workers working in the Central African Ministry of Defense. The training sessions of the Central African Armed Forces (Faca) from the tricolor devices pre-positioned in Gabon will also be interrupted.
Beyond this brutal decision, France especially manifests its dissatisfaction with a country, once the epicenter of its militarism on the African continent, where it no longer weighs. Upon coming to power in February 2016, President Faustin Archange Touadera turned to Moscow to try to provide an appropriate response to the fight against the multiple armed groups swarming in the country. Very early on, Russia, which is firmly established in neighboring Sudan where it is building a naval military base, signed defense agreements with the Central African Republic while delivering equipment and weapons.
In addition, the men of the paramilitary company Wagner, near the Kremlin, were sent into the field to train the Central African soldiers. This company now ensures the protection and security of the Head of State but also of several institutions in exchange for access to strategic resources, particularly mining. During the last presidential election, these Russian soldiers lent a hand to the Touadera regime in fighting the rebellion of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) now led by former President François Bozizé. This activism has been accompanied for months by violent attacks on Paris.
To this Central African snub is added the one that France is experiencing in Mali. In this country, Paris also suspended, on June 3, its military cooperation “on a precautionary and temporary basis” following the putsch perpetrated by Colonel Assimi Goïta. In disagreement with the turn taken by the transition to lead to the organization of democratic and transparent elections, the depositary of President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita “IBK”, in August 2020, overthrew, last May, the president of the transition Bah N’Daw and his Prime Minister Moctar Ouane before being inducted as Head of State on June 7. “A coup d’etat in the coup d’etat” to use the expression used by Emmanuel Macron, particularly critical of the takeover of power by the junta.
Although the new authorities have assured the smooth running of this transition, Paris, which has never ceased to take offense at the anti-French resentment in this country, a member of the G5 Sahel, has sharpened retaliatory measures. The operations that the Barkhane force is carrying out jointly with the Malian Armed Forces (Fama) are de facto stopped. However, the suspension of military cooperation with Mali comes as emissaries from the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS), present in Bamako on June 9 for a working visit, met said “reassured” by the new strongman of the country as to a return to civilians during the next presidential election scheduled for early 2022.
This context nevertheless justifies real mistrust on the part of France. During a defense council held on the same day of June 9 in Paris, Emmanuel Macron decided to reduce the staff of Barkhane, an anti-terrorism force deployed since 2014 in the Sahel to fight, alongside the G5 Sahel (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad), against the jihadist threat. A resolution tending to put threats for a return of President Bah N’Daw to business, but which should only weaken the situation locally. At a time when the European Task Force Takuba (TF Takuba) is not fully operational, the downsizing of Barkhane is taking place against a backdrop of increasing terrorist attacks. In early June, an attack in the town of Solhan, in northeastern Burkina Faso, left more than 160 civilians dead
