There is not a great power in the world that does not seek to make friends in order to influence its own development as much as that of its friendly countries. France, like all the other powers, is in the same boat on this chapter. That France is criticized for hiding behind its commitment to the Sahel to protect a certain number of its own economic or geostrategic interests is not false or contradictory.
Vladimir Putin's Russia did just as much and Xi Jinping's China, and many others. No one can prevent Russia and China from seeking to maintain the best possible relations with African countries, if this benefits the populations. What we blame the pro-Russians for is the torrents of lies and hatred that they pour out against France, without ever daring to say that we do not blame the official Russian Army for maintaining cooperative relations with African Armies and the mercenaries of the Wagner group are not soldiers of the Russian Army. These are militiamen who obey the laws of Vladimir Putin and his crony, the late oligarch Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, and therefore the laws of a parallel economy.
Theoreticians in the pay of Vladimir Putin's Moscow, they bring with them all those disappointed against France, of course, but also those attracted by Russian temptation and who hope to take their revenge where they have failed politically or intellectually. And they are supported by politicians in need of popularity or who carry around problems like balls which they hope to take advantage of to get rid of them and bounce back. At the risk of even putting Burkina Faso into a dead end. Because Russia, which is already trying to find solutions to its own problems – and there are many of them – is not going to save Burkina Faso. No more than France has managed to save it since its independence. It is up to the Burkinabè and themselves alone to find for themselves the means to rebuild their country and lead it towards a better tomorrow. And it is not by inviting hostility or hatred of France that this will be done. This is a serious error that all leaders of Burkinabè society should correct before it is too late.
In the early hours of his coup d'Etat, the head of the military junta in power, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, displayed his pro-Russian tendency without ambiguity. By declaring on October 1, on Burkinabè Radio-Television (RTB), that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri SandaogoDamiba, whom he was in the process of overthrowing, would take refuge around thirty kilometers from the capital "within the base French of Kamboinsin”. And to specify: “He is able to plan a counter-offensive in order to sow disorder within our defense and security forces. This follows our firm desire to reach out to other partners ready to help us in our fight against terrorism. ". We cannot be clearer, even in veiled words.
In Jeune Afrique, the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo declared in his Interview of October 18, 2022 entitled: “Nana Akufo-Addo: “Russians or French, we must stop depending on Whites” to Jeune Afrique: “It’s It is up to us, Africans, to think about what we can do for ourselves. We must stop having this dependency syndrome that pushes us from the arms of a Frenchman to those of a Russian, in other words from one white man to another.” Who says better ! Like him or not, President Nana Akufo-Addo is clear and precise in his political commitment and his speech could not be more coherent as to what Africans have to do to win and deserve their independence.
Before Burkina Faso, Mali had also called on Russian mercenaries and after Burkina Faso, Niger is currently calling on Russian soldiers after the assassination of Evgueni Prigojine and the official integration of its mercenaries from the Wagner Group into the ranks of the Russian army.
Behind the mask of the fight against terrorism and the sovereignty of their countries, the military in power hide only one desire: to deprive their people of elections and the choice of their leaders under the fallacious pretexts that France is the cause of all their evils and that Russia is the country that will save them. In Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, it's the same thing. It is a question of putting under supervision the freedom of people to choose their own leaders and of a slow but sure return to the times of Dictatorship regimes after African Independence. Like the time when several African countries were under the influence of the Soviet regime, but even worse.
Instead of spending most of their time playing the puppets of France or Russia, young people who reduce the will of the people to their sole demonstrations in the streets against France would rather think for themselves about their actions. So they can decide what is good for their country, what to demand from France and Russia rather than letting themselves be manipulated by those who receive prebends from one side or the other. And, we must never stop reminding ourselves, they still have the freedom to demonstrate because they are against France. But the day when Russia establishes itself in all the levers of power in their country, they will no longer even have the right to go out into the streets to pretend to express any discontent other than to cheer all day long those who will be at the top. power, willy-nilly. And those that Russia finances to poison them are not yet telling them.
France has nothing to do with the problems that Africans have and that they do not want to take on, particularly in French-speaking Africa. And the countries of French-speaking Africa will begin to emancipate themselves from the moment the pro-Putin people who fuel their hatred against France stop masturbating about France to face their responsibilities.
By Jean Kebayo
