mali is a historially renowned african country that gained independence in 1960 after years of struggle and against french colonial rule, now 63 years after independence, mali, just like many of its african neighbors, is still struggling to end french domination. since attaining independence, this west african country has been afflicted by several rebellions, insurrections and cools, some backed and instigated by former colonial power france. now the current government of mali came to power in may 2021, amid an anti-france wave in the country. the people of... mali have

had enough of french neocolonialism and now want true political and economic sovereignty, due to popular demand, french troops have been ejected from mali, but this colonial power is intent on striking back. mali had to cancel this year's independence celebrations after attacks by separatist rebels in the region of the country. so who is behind the current insurgency in mali? hello, i'm mubarak kenya. and this is africa today. in this episode we are focusing on the situation in mali as the country marks 63 years of independence from france. the second segment of our program is on the recent decision by burkina faso to expel the defense atache of the embassy of france from the country. the expulsion came following intelligence reports, he was carrying out subversive activities. existing french imperialism.

mally's famous northern timbuktu city that once served as major intellectual hub of islamic civilization is once again the focal point for terrorist organizations operating in the sahel region. due to the worsening security situation, the government of mali cancelled festivities planned for the anniversary of the country's independence celebrated on september 22. many people in mari like this activists here believe that france is still meddling in the country's internal affairs by insiding terrorists and sommes pas contre la france, nous sommes pas contre les français, mais oui nous sommes contre la politique française au mali, nous sont contre la politique française au sahel, les choses ont changé, nous pensons que la france maintient le statuco pour qu'il reste mettre de lieu, well on the situation we have

contacted david hundain, he is the founder of the west african weekly. thanks lot for your time sir today. thank you very much for having me. now, timbuktu, the historic city situated in northern mali, is under threat from foreign back terrorist organizations. this comes just after french president emmanuel macron said, mali, burkina faso or niger would have disappeared if paris had not intervened militarily in the sahil. now are we seeing a common pattern here of france creating a pretext for reoccupying mali after its ejection from this country? so yes, you would have to say that that is, that certainly looks to be the case, um, as is very well known, of all the colonial powers to have ever operated in africa, france of historically has always been the most unwilling to let go, and when it is forced to

let go, it has historically been the most vengeful when it is letting go, so for example, the the way it um basically trashed the entire country of guine when the country voted for its independence in 1958, i think that's that is still something that that is in the memory of most people within francaphone africa, secret intelligence agency, the dgsc is one, it's actually one of the most active on the african continent, particularly in north africa and this. hell, the they have lot of resources in that region, so it's actually not beyond the realms of possibility. the renewed military activity, allegedly by the tuarek separatis and terrorists in mali, after the ejection of french troops from this country. the question that arises here is whether imperialist france striking back following its auster in mali by encouraging separatists pushing for the balconization of mali. i think that is definitely a real possibility, um, for those

who may not know, france has actually done worse than that in the past, so in uh, few seconds ago, alluded to what it did in guine, before it was forced to leave the country. basically um before leaving the country, the french um occupy colonialist made sure that the country was essentially sabged from day one, they salted farm land, poison water sources, they burnt down government buildings, civil service buildings, they they they destroyed hospitals, roads, you know the the colonial administrator famously made a comments that there mustn't be a single functioning typewriter in the country of guine by the time the... leave, that's how vengeful historically the french have been when they are forced to leave a country that they are illegally occupying, so um it's you know france potentially being behind the resurgence of of terrorist violence in in in mali is actually not the worst thing it has

done, so it definitely is within the capability of france, it definitely is something france can do and has done, armed groups from northern mali claim that they'... captured some parts of this region. this has increased fears of the collapse of a peace deal between the ex-rebels and government forces. meanwhile, united nations mission in mali, minusma is gearing up for a significant milestone, as it readies itself for its scheduled withdraw from mali on the 31st of december 2023.assim, the head of minusma recently briefed the un security council on the situation in parties have adopted diverging positions regarted regarding the fate of camps to be uh left by the mission. here transitional authorities have signaled to them that they themselves intend to retake minusma camps following the missions withdrawal. now mali cancelled independence

day celebrations this year after deadly attacks by insurgents in the north. the country's interim president asi says the anniversary will be celebrated in sobriety. following attacks that have left dozens of people dead. now what's your take on this decision? well, i think it's it's a it's a relatively sensible decision, i think it's a it's a pragmatic decision, um, and i think it signifies that the the regime currently in of mali, at the very least understands the severity of the task that lies ahead of it, so instead of hiding behind sort of empty triumphalist signaling, the regime seems. to understand that there is lot of hard work ahead, so basically it doesn't really make sense to waste time and energy on you know unnecessary flippery and signaling right now, so the message that he put out in my opinion was exactly right, it's a time for sobriety and it's a time for looking forward, for

looking to the task ahead, instead of patting yourself on the back for what those far has been a largely symbolic um series of events, um, the real revolution if you like, is still is still ahead, still lies ahead, um, the the majority of the hard work still lies ahead, but the good news from an african point of view is that it seems as if the regime in mali at the very least seems to realize that, so that's definitely a good thing. mally needs international assistance in confronting the security challenges it faces. it's quite clear that previous french intervention in mali did not end terrorism, but actually led to increasing. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov mali in february and was warmly welcomed in bamako as the west africa nation seeks military help for its fight against armed groups. lavrov said defense ties between the two countries are improving. last

year and the start of this year cooperation in military and military technical areas was given new page in their development. a large consignment of russian aviation technology was sent thanks to which army. was able to conduct successful operations against the terrorists who remain active on their territory? well that's a lava of the speaking. now mari has turned in efforts to end insecurity in the country. now is this a prudent decision? violence is actually worse now than it has ever been, then clearly it means that at the very least um that partnership or whatever it is with france clearly hasn't worked, so it's time to try something new, so even if even if it's not the case that it's actually france that is instigating violence and it's not actually france is behind it, at the very least you have to say france, the part the the partnership that france has has has been completely useless from from imalian point of view, if the violence is actually higher is is more serious now than it been, the the

death toll now is higher than it has ever been, then of what use is the so-called military partnership with france, so it definitely does make sense that they would look to another option. right and it's so happens that the only other option right now is you know the option lies eastward be that russia or china so i think that's the pragmatic thing to do that's what i would do if i was in the shoes. i really see that they have another option. mali exported 69.3 tons of gold last year, compared to 63.9 tons in 2021. these statistics are an indicator that the interim government led by asimi goita is moving in the right direction. it appears that france is unhappy with this progress and therefore intent on messing up this country. i definitely do agree that france definitely is not happy with that, and the reason. is very simple, um, if for anyone who knows a thing or two about international economics or

geopolitics, um, you know that france's position as a first world country, as as economically um, advanced and economically developed country, is almost entirely dependent on this thing called france of freak, right? the 14 nations across africa which france basically maintains a colonial group on. the have you know the pleava of lubsided agreements that he has with them and the the economic crime known as a cfa frank for those don't know the cfa frank is essentially colonial money which 14 african countries including the likes of mali you having force to use, so if individual uh members of france africa are starting to break out of that toxic colonial relationship and are proving. that when you break out of france a freak, you will actually do better economically, that's very bad news from a

french point of view, because it means that the other nations within france, freak are going to you know get clued on very quickly that there is life outside of france, undermari's new constitution passed overwhelmingly with 96% of the vote in a june 18 referendum, french is no longer the official language, now the movie is seen as a clear blow to france. a linguistic students says it is important to use the local language bambara. important dans notre société car tous les maliens, toute la population malienne a press que parle presque dans ce langue quoi, donc c'est très important de d'apprendre le babanankan. last question to you, now what in your opinion are the political and cultural implications of these? 63 eas after independence. now what's the the potential, what the the um act of

dropping french as an official language potentially means that going forward possibility that mali and any other country in france or free which follows in its first steps and french as an official language can um explore the possibility of potentially adopting possibly english or you know another language which enables it have wider access to the world, i think um, this is really the the a step in the right direction for mali, and i think the rest of france should be paying very close attention to the results that mali um will post in the in the in the coming months and years as this effect of sort of um wing itself of that toxic dependency on france basically, especially the the safa frank and the use of the french language, what results that this is going to have on the french. economy and on french integration with other on on on the malian economy sorry and on malian integration with

with other economies in africa, i think other countries in france should be paying very close attention. while indeed, it appears mali is moving in the right direction by ending his toxic ties with france. i like to thank our guest there, david handein, founder the west african weekly for his incisive analysis and you now take a short break before our next topic on how france is yet again meddling in burg far's internal affairs, stay with us, france medaling in burkina faso, the maximum strategy of the zionist lobby has seen the misnamed anti-deformation league or adl, finding itself in the crosshairs of the world's richest man. elon musk has rightly taken exception to adl's accusation that he's an anti-semite and their pressure campaign and companies just advertising on the social media platform known as x that he purchased in 2022. so this is an organization which uh

is dedicated to criticizing uh supporters of the palistinians and uh that's it's main function. the adl is racist organization. there's no question about that. its entire existence is to serve as an agent for for the designs in the united states. relations between burkina fasso and his former colonizer france have continued to wars since a popular september 2022 military takeover. in the most recent incident, burkina faso's government ordered french embassy's defense atache emmanuel paskier to

leave the country due to subversive behavior. many people in burkina fasso perceive. military presence in the country as a failure as it did not improve security in the insurgent hit west african country. regular protests take place in the country where citizens express their sentiments against france. immédiatement nous voulons pas ambassadeur français au burkina comme lick alard représente comme satan au burkina. il représente comme o comme terroriste. nous voulons. ambassadeur d'un ambassadeur tel ambassadeur, il n'est pas autorité au burgina à to discuss the escalation of tensions between france and burkina faso, we have contacted abdullatif ahmad, he's a senior nigerian journalist, thanks lot for your time sir today, thank you for having me, now

burkinafaso has ordered the french defense official to leave the country for engaging in subversive. activities, do we have indicators of exactly what acts of subversion this french defense atacher was engaged in there in burkina faso? the indicators are not clear, they are not in public view, most times they are based on intelligence reports that have been actioned upon and been sent to the government. don't forget that kina like other french speaking african countries are continually escalating their and the french sentiments and apart from ordering their french representatives to leave their countries, there is a chance that from what the signals they've gotten, from the conversations they've had, from the interactions that the ambassador has with people within the country and outside the country, there is a chance that burkina faso

feels that the mr emmanuel has to leave the country, so there may not not be indicators that are in public view, but i suspect strongly that there are intelligence reports or signals to the to the government of burkina faso that suggests that emmanuel needs to leave the country. during france's military presence, burkina faso turned into one of the poorest countries in the world, amit a growing presence of terrorist groups affiliated to al-qaeda and daesh, which killed thousands of people and a humanitarian of french crisis in the country. the government of burkina faso now says it will collaborate with new partners to restore security. this might have been informed by the activities of troops across the region it is expected considering the heightened terror attacks,

insurgency in the in the sahel, the support from the french troops was meant to subdue the... reduced their impact and their activities across the region, however what we have seen over time is that has been rising and worsening security situation in the sahil, so while we may not be sure of friends france's obstrusive or diversionary activities within the region, what's the argument is that the presence of france, the french troops in in the region has not improved. the the security situation. burkina faso is rich in mineral resources. in fact it is one of the leading producers of gold in africa. french companies have looted these resources for decades and kept the economy of france alive while the people of burkina fasso languish in poverty. masses in this

country came out strongly to express support for the new leader ibrahim traore after he housed france back. call hentago damiba. damiba, un pro-français. damiba is pro-french. he has destroyed burkina fasso. but, thanks to god, we have a great, strong man like ibrahim traya to save us all. now next question to mr. ahmed, now willkinabes benefit from their country's wealth under the current government, which is popular due to its anti-france sentiment. the fact that you know french have been uh, they've given a cold shoulder to the french and they are seeking alternative partner, suggest that there can be better... negotiations of you know bilateral agreements or trade agreements ensure that they have better pricing for their products and not the prices that the

you know the french uh were used to before now again just the fact that the french presence in you know in these countries have continue to impovelish you know the citizenry uh it it's not just about the french but of leaders that engage the french, because again as it is said in you in africa, nobody can cut your hair without your approval, so where are the leaders in these countries when the you know when french uh investors for example uh give them the short hand of you know the negotiations. burkina faso is among african nations that have recently turned to other foreign powers such as russia and china to combat terrorism on their soil an effort to find a long-lasting solution.

new direction towards the east, that is china and russia, expected that the russians and the china chinese uh troops that are coming in for example will look at alternative way of dealing with the security problem. what it means is there has been solutions or ideas that we're being used in the past that has not been as effective as it is expected. those strategies will be reviewed, hopefully, those strategy looked at and an alternative strategy will be brought about. that is my expectation, beyond that. you would have realized that the french, sorry, the the russians and the the chinese do not interfere in the governance process, they do not

interfere in the politics of the nation as compared to western powers that would want to dictate certain things to you know the country, considering the that they are the colonial masters of of of burkina faso and other francophone countries. niger recently announced the formation of a military alliance to counter extra aggression, malay's foreign minister elaborates here. tote atteinte a la souveraine, any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity, one or more of the signaturies will be considered aggression against the others and it will entail a duty of assistance and relief on the part of all signatories et de secours de toutes les parties. now a last question to mr. ahmed. are we going to see a bigger and trans alliance in the united, can it be transformed into a formidable economic and political block? um, that alliance is welcome, as i said, and is expected to forge

a common understanding, why is france seen as the enemy of the region? it is because of france's obstrusive activities in the region, it's because of france's you know, inordinate political you know interferences within the region, if you are coming to offer security. uh protection and help, stick to that and leave country to run its own, so uh yes, you know, the alliances are fine, but simply having anti-france retorics does not solve problem, simply complaining about you know a problem doesn't fix it, so there has to be inpendent alternative thinking to how to fix the problem, because again france is only offering help, if france cannot help then, you know, those within the region should be able to help themselves. well there you have it, alternative thinking is the key word. former french colonies in africa such as burkina faso, are charting their own independent path. i'd like to thank our guest

the abdul latif ahmad for his insight. and that brings us to the end of yet another edition of africa. it's always great having you watch the show. you can watch this episode on all our previous shows on our website press tv. ir thanks lot for watching and goodbye for now,

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