In yet another diplomatic misstep, French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that African nations have failed to say "thank you" for France's military interventions in the Sahel, a region largely comprising its former colonies.
"It's no big deal; gratitude will come with time", Macron said with an air of faux nonchalance, addressing French ambassadors in Paris on 6 January.
The president didn't stop there. He asserted that without France's counterterrorism operations, "none of them" would be functioning as sovereign nations, labelling the situation an act of "ingratitude" by Sahelian leaders.
The remarks, which came off as tone-deaf at best and patronising at worst, sparked a quick backlash throughout Africa.
'He's stuck in the wrong era'
In Chad, President Mahamat Déby Itno expressed "indignation" at what he called "borderline contemptuous" comments about Africa and its leaders.
"I think he's stuck in the wrong era", Déby said during a New Year's address, cutting through Macron's narrative with a sharp rebuttal.
Just two months earlier, Chad had unilaterally ended its decades-long defence agreement with France and demanded the withdrawal of all French troops by the end of January, marking the end of 60 years of military cooperation.
France, once a dominant military presence in the Sahel, had already scaled down its deployment, with just 1,000 troops remaining in Chad—a fraction of the 5,000 stationed across the region during the peak of "Operation Barkhane".
Macron, however, framed the military drawdown as a 'collaborative' decision.
"We proposed to African heads of state that we reorganise our presence. Being polite, we let them take the lead in announcing it," he said.
This claim was refuted by Senegal and Chad, which both denied any coordination with French authorities regarding the troop withdrawals.
"The decision to end the military cooperation agreement with France is entirely a sovereign decision by Chad. There's no ambiguity about that," Déby affirmed.
Meanwhile, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has deemed Macron's assertions "completely erroneous" and accused France of lacking both the "capacity and legitimacy"to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty.
Sonko also invoked the sacrifices of African soldiers during World War II—many of whom were forcibly conscripted to defend France.
"If African soldiers, often mistreated and ultimately betrayed, had not fought to defend France, it would perhaps still be German today," he added.
Senegal's press quickly seized on the controversy, with private daily L'Observateur lauding Sonko for having "brought Macron back into line."
On social media, African users lambasted Macron's 'paternalistic and neocolonialist' discourse.
"[...] France uses the CFA Franc as a tool of neocolonialism, and tested nuclear weapons on Algeria," one user on X. "France doesn't deserve thanks, but accountability."
Others invoked former French President Jacques Chirac's candid admission. "A large part of the money in our wallets comes from the exploitation of Africa. We owe them not generosity, but justice," said Chirac before he left L'Elysée in 2007.
In France, the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) denounced Macron's comments as "totally irresponsible," warning that they would further erode relations with African nations.
As French embassies in Niger and Mali remain shuttered, and its influence in Africa continues to wane, Macron appears unwilling to concede that the era of French dominance is over.
Instead, he persists in reframing his government's retreat from the Sahel as a calculated pivot.
"We chose to shift our approach in Africa [...] because it was necessary," Macron argued.
Macron's history of racism and slurs
The French president's infamous rhetorical vocabulary—a mix of start-up jargon and old-school idioms—often confounds and makes Francophone listeners cringe, but sometimes it does worse.
Since the past year, Macron—often dubbed an aspiring Napoleon by the French press – has embarked on what seems a racially charged tour. Whether intentional or not, his comments have managed to offend all of Africa.
Leaked reports published by daily Le Monde quoted Macron last December as , "The problem with hospital emergencies in this country is that it is full of Mamadous"–a derogatory term used to refer to Africans.
Further leaks claimed Macron had used the term "rabzouz" to refer to French people of Maghrebi origin, on the sidelines of an interview with Valeurs Actuelles in 2019.
While the Elysée has dismissed these leaks as "unverified," it's hard to argue Macron's infamous on-camera remark to cyclone-hit Mayotte islanders last December.
After they lost dozens of lives, Macron told them to be grateful "to be in France, because if it wasn't France, you'd be 10,000 times even more in the shit."
Mayotte's two main islands are part of the Comoro Islands chain, which France colonised in the 19th century.
In the 1970s, most of the islands voted to form the independent country of the Comoros, with Mayotte voting to remain part of France. Despite opposition from the United Nations, France claimed the right to keep Mayotte.
Paris is revoking automatic citizenship through birthplace on the island, arguing it would significantly "reduce the attractiveness" for prospective immigrants.