France’s hypocrisy, Macron’s apology not acceptable to Africa Analysis by Opinion Nigeria

Opinion Nigeria has published an article by Uzoma Ahamefule in which the author criticizes France's colonial policy in Africa. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

The hypocritical apology by French President Emmanuel Macron to Africa for the “evil” and the atrocities he said France – like Britain and their other horrible allies – committed against humanity and the people of Africa during the colonial and slave trade era was provoking and unacceptable. Such high level of hypocrisy he demonstrated in that deceitful speech he called “apology” tells the mindset of many western leaders in their dealings with Africa.

Macron knows that the stealing and the exploitation his colonial forefathers forcefully ingrained in Africa as a system of governance for the growth of France were evil and against every known norm and ethics of bilateral relationships and nature. He knows that the injustice and the cruelties have not stopped, and under his leadership he has no plan of stopping what he called evil and apologized for. Therefore, the pomposity at which he delivered his shameless and remorseless apology to Africa was as evil as the evil he tried to condemn – a deception that carries venom that must be monitored closely. In all good conscience, how should one excuse the disrespect and mockery of Africa in that beautiful nonsense he called apology?

The recent military coup in Niger Republic widely stripped naked what could be the remaining cover of the treacherous, unethical and repugnant role of France in Africa that had been – before the coup in Niger – unearthed and exposed by the interviews of the former African Union (AU) Ambassador to the US Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, and by the Prime Minister of Italy Georgia Meloni who lent her voice against the “evil”. Meloni publicly shamed France and Macron’s double standard game in Africa when she told Macron to stop the ongoing exploitation in Africa and free the people to profit from their God’s given natural resources for the development of their countries. She indeed spoke truth to power. While we applaud her for her boldness and frankness, we urge her to put her words into action by helping Africa to pressurize France – and also Britain etc. – to end extended colonial rule in Africa through manipulation of African leaders and show decency and uprightness in dealing with Africa. However, it will be pleasantly surprising if her concerns for the freedom of Africa from the grip of France were out of sincerity and not connected to the struggle of who amongst them outsmarts each other in the second scramble for the control of Africa and her resources by the western world.

The mission of the white man invading Africa 1000s of years ago was to conquer, steal, exploit and occupy the continent for his own development. All his deeds were centred only on what he could get from Africa and how to drain the continent for his sustenance. Everything he brought to Africa was evil and for his selfish interest. Sadly, his mission of exploitation centuries ago still remains the same today. The only change he altered was his strategy.

While we all must condemn military coups, we must as Africans embrace the reality that the gathering of imperialists and the threat of military attack in Niger Republic by France, the US, Britain and their conspiring allies are not for the interest of Africa. These countries have a history of what Macron called “evil” that is still going on in Africa, and wherever they gather on issues concerning Africa like it is currently in Niger Republic is equalled to the Berlin Conference of 1884 where they came together and cruelly Balkanized African territories for their interests. The leaders of these countries have no record of being fair to Africa or showing respect to African leaders – though African leaders have not respected themselves enough. They have never risked their soldiers before for the cause of Africa and there is no evidence that they will gamble that now or waste their resources to fight a war just for the benefit of Africa. No matter how such deception was cooked and presented, believe such illusion to your peril.

As acclaimed lovers of peace, and defenders of democracy and sovereignty in the world, one wonders why they have not attacked Russia in support of Ukraine. Consequently, if they know what justice, freedom of association, democracy and sovereignty means they should allow Niger Republic to freely sort their problems out like they are allowing Russian and Ukraine sort out theirs and genuinely help where and when necessary and if called to do so. There is no controversy that military is not an option for governance in Africa. But, irrespective of how we view it Niger remains a sovereign state and the unfortunate coup d’etat in that country is an internal affair that requires no external intruder for war. Therefore, the US, France, Germany and others should evacuate their military men in Niger as ordered by the junta until normalcy and democratic rule are restored through peaceful negotiations with the help of only African leaders. ECOWAS should resist the pressure and temptation of military action in Niger and should not be deceived by France and the US to risk jeopardizing the security and the peace of the region that are already too precarious. They should be dogmatic and focused. Options of negotiating out the military junta in Niger only lie in dialogue and diplomacy that are applied with wisdom.

That the people of Niger are celebrating the military coup on the streets is solitarily an expression that demonstrates the ugly state of leadership failure in a republic that is the sixth highest producer of uranium in the world but yet ranked the seventh poorest country. France has caused too much havoc in Africa, and the atrocities she committed in Niger made people embrace that coup and see the military as an alternative to democratic rule and a route of escape to liberation and freedom. Succinctly, it does not mean that they do not want democracy, but they are tired of exploitation and rape of their economy by France who takes their resources to develop their own country leaving them in abject poverty without resistance to the evil policies from their leaders. The situation is provocatively unacceptable and the people seem to have reached their limits.

The intruders threatening military attack are simply scared of losing grip of Africa and want to guard all evil interest they have entrenched in a continent that developed them and is sustaining them by every means possible. And for them to be successful in doing this for their maximal benefits, they must hide under a coded name and acceptable phrase like they are trying to do now in Niger Republic under “restoration of peace and protection of democracy in Africa” to lynch the African economy and crucify African nations that say no to them. Meanwhile, the uranium in Niger Republic is their target. Aptly, their threat of attack is factually not only for the protection of the oil, uranium, cobalt, platinum, diamonds or gold etc. they have stolen and are still stealing in Congo, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Libya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger Republic or in Tanzania etc., and the land they forcefully took in Zimbabwe and South Africa etc., but also for their vampire and draconian military bases in Africa, and the oil pipe lines they are laying from Nigeria through Niger Republic, Uganda through Tanzania and other African countries to their continents.

As soon as events forced the white man to end slave trade and physical colonization also got outdated and overwhelmed by the growing demand for fairness, justice and freedom, he ended apartheid unwillingly. As an imperialist whose greed for African land, human and natural resources was unquenchable, he craftily re-strategized and switched to neocolonialism. With the help of his puppets and kleptocrats as African leaders he sustained his luxury at the expense of Africans and maintained his grip of evil while Africa bleeds.

By hook or by crook the white man must continue to control Africa. His orchestrated neocolonialism policies and manipulation are deceitfully channeled through a well-accepted form of government, democracy. But during elections in any African country he never allows Africans to freely choose who leads them. He supports election riggings, condones brutality and intimidation of voters. So far the end results of elections foist his choice of candidates who will bid his commands the elections are fair enough and acceptable. But when candidates with independent minds who will liberate Africans win, he creates problems. And when the trouble he instigated erupts, he feigns to be innocent and pretends to be a mediator, but he is actually selling his weapons secretly to all factions. He then stays aside and watches them kill each other while he steals their resources.

Africans must understand that France has no plan of setting any African country free, because without Africa and her stolen wealth France will nosedive to a state of mockery. The earlier we accept this fact and brace up for the battle ahead for total emancipation of our people the better for all of us. If Africans had not been united in fighting Britain and their minds alike, and if Nelson Mandela had not made the historical sacrifices he made, perhaps South Africa would still have been under apartheid today. We must always be united in our efforts to completely break the wall of Babylon built against Africans and destroy the chains of mental slavery by imperialists.

Sometime in 2008, former French President Jacques Chirac emphasized on how the evil his forefathers established in Africa was the oxygen sustaining the high-profile life of France. “Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third power,” Chirac was quoted to have said. That is a fact. In the contemporary world, France is still holding the economy of 14 African countries to ransom – Cameroon, Niger Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Gabon, Senegal,

Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic. One cannot understand the kind of apology Macron is giving to Africa on behalf of his forefathers when he is fraudulently taking 500 billion dollars every year from African countries claimed to be poor.

Macron’s forefathers forced 14 African countries to sign a colonial pact that they will put 85% of their foreign reserve into the France Central Bank, and allow them only 15% access to the money, and if they need more they have to borrow it. Put your country’s money into another country’s central bank as a policy, and borrow it! What happened to your own central bank? It was also made to be compulsory that only France will train the military of these 14 African countries, and they cannot buy any military equipment from another country except from France. They equally imposed French on them as their official language. These chains of slavery and many other despicable agreements were what Africans were forced to sign as treaties by France. Where is the African Union (AU)? Is one surprised why Africans and their leaders are not respected in the world?

We have not forgotten the role France played not long ago in the killing of Muammar Gadhafi – a man who despite all sanctions, odds and gang-ups from the western world against him built the strongest economy in Africa. His crime and sins were his refusal to allow the western world to influence and control him and to steal the natural resources of the Libyan people like they are doing now.

What crime did Charles Tailor of Liberia commit that was bigger than the atrocities of Tony Blair and George Bush in Iraq? Why was Tailor imprisoned? And why were Bush and Blair who are supposed to be chained in prison move freely on the streets of Washington and London? The answer is simple. Tailor is an African. What was the role of France here?

We have also not forgotten the sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe by the western world. What crime did Zimbabwe commit to attract sanctions? British people went to Zimbabwe colonized, slaved and killed some of the people who resisted them and forcefully took their land. Robert Mugabe came and said no, that was not fair. You cannot come from thousands of miles away and take the ancestral land of Zimbabweans from them. He justly introduced the policy of land retribution. He took some portions of the land and gave them to Zimbabweans and heavens were let loose. How dare him stand up against the command and the evil policy of the British colonist? What was and is still the position of France?

Patriotic Africans reject France and Macron’s apology because it was insincere and treacherous. It is immoral and hypocritical for him to apologize for the evil he claimed his forefathers committed when he is equally not only committing the same evil in various African countries, but he is currently the one navigating the affairs of the same established evil policies from his forefathers that yield the bloody proceeds he is enjoying. If he wants us to accord his apology the respect it is supposed to deserve, he should frankly free African countries and their leaders from the shackles of his forefathers’ colonial policies and stop the instigation of war and killings between Anglophone and Francophone in Cameroon.

Countries like France, Britain, Germany, the US, Portugal and Italy etc. can never genuinely go to war for the benefit of Africa. Consequently, their gathering in Niger Republic now is centred only on what they could get out of the brouhaha, advance their courses of evil and protect their established conduit pipes of exploitation and oppression in Africa. Apart from these, any other reason as why they are so much interested in the coup in Niger cannot stand scrutiny.

ECOWAS and AU leaders should know that we do not want any war in Africa. So, France, Germany and the US must be made by ECOWAS and AU to leave Niger as ordered by the military leaders so that the conflict does not get escalated. We cannot afford to allow countries that have companies that manufacture bombs, guns and bullets etc. to come and help us avoid war. If they stop the war, how will their businesses be able to make profits, pay salaries and taxes in their respective countries? It is an undeniable fact that if they are given any room for intervention, war in Niger will be unavoidable because they will negotiate with both factions on how to sell their weapons unless the status quo of colonial evil and stealing of uranium are maintained. These people are oppressors and they have no good plan for Africa and their presence and help are not needed here. And it so sad and unfortunate that African leaders condone heinous crimes and evil perpetrate in Africa against Africans. It is tragic.

The iniquities of slave trade by colonists, their cruelties of forceful taken Africans away from their homes to strange lands for forceful labour, the stealing of their natural resources, the destruction of their religion and culture, and the apartheid in South Africa sums up the thousands of years of black history of tragedy, torture, brutality, murder, injustice and exploitation etc., that cannot be wiped away by a mere deceitful statement of “sorry” by Macron and France.