Libya: Macron recognizes the "debt" of France after the Western intervention of 2011
Mohammed el-Menfi, the president of the Presidential Council of Libya, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Musa al-Koni, the vice-president of the Presidential Council of Libya, at the Elysee Palace on March 23, 2021. AP - Thibault Camus
Text by: RFI Follow
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“
We owe a debt to Libya, very clear: a decade of disorder.
"These words of Emmanuel Macron, addressed to the new Libyan leaders on Tuesday March 23 at the Elysee Palace, sound like an admission of an error: the intervention of 2011 against Muammar Gaddafi, encouraged at the time by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and which had repercussions in the Sahel.
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In a laconic sentence, six seconds long, Emmanuel Macron for the first time officially recognized the responsibility of France in the disorders that have agitated Libya and part of Africa for ten years.
The heads of state of the Sahel regularly complain about the consequences of
the intervention of the West
against
Muammar Gaddafi
in 2011: his fall not only deprived them of the financial manna of Tripoli, but also dispersed armed fighters throughout the region. and caused "the
massive arrival of mercenaries of all nationalities
", as Idriss Déby, the Chadian president, denounced it again
at the microphone of RFI
in August 2020.
A gesture to regain a foothold in Libya?
Certain actors of the coalition of the time had already made their mea culpa.
Former US President Barack Obama even considered that the intervention in Libya, at the call of Nicolas Sarkozy, was his biggest mistake.
According to analyst Antoine Glaser, Emmanuel Macron realizes this admission of French guilt less to underline the responsibility of his predecessor, than to try to regain a foothold in Libya, while Turkey, Russia and Italy have regained ground .
Libya, in addition to its oil wealth, is a key country for the control of the Mediterranean and the flow of migrants.
In Mali, the hope of a renewal in the Sahel
From Bamako,
Serge Daniel
reports that Emmanuel Macron's exit on Libya is seen in Mali as an indirect recognition of the role of France and the West in the chaos that has settled in the Sahel.
Sory Ibrahim Diarra, president of the Malian Association for Citizen Watch, explains:
“
We are really happy with this statement by President Macron.
All the disorders that have happened in Libya, Mali, Chad, Niger ... Every country in the Sahel has been destabilized.
If Libya becomes stable again, the entire Sahel will be stable.
"
But for Ramata Ndaou, the vice-president of the same association, the French head of state must, with his allies, take concrete action: “
He must put his words into action.
He must go further and ensure that the Sahel can have tranquility and peace.
"
The members of the Malian Association for Citizen Watch want the establishment of a genuine international military coalition to effectively fight terrorism in the Sahel.
“
We still don't understand.
The terrorists have no planes, no armored vehicles, and we still cannot defeat them on the ground,
”they confide.
“Whether it is the Americans or the English, all now say that they were trained by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011. We have seen for years how Muammar Gaddafi (...) managed a precarious balance between the heads of state of the region.
"
Antoine Glaser, journalist specializing in Africa, on the Western intervention in Libya in 2011
Claire Fages
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Libya
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Sahel
Emmanuel Macron
Muammar Gaddafi
Idriss Deby Itno
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