On a visit to Abidjan on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 December, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, denounced on Saturday on France 24 the "anti-French discourse" and "the lies" conveyed by Russia in West Africa and condemned the important role of Russia in the development of anti-French sentiment in the region. 

“Anti-French sentiment is only the result of actions of disinformation, untruths, manipulation propaganda,” added the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who sent a message to the younger generation.

"I appeal to the responsibility of young people not to let themselves be carried away and not to become prisoners of those who want to manipulate them. It must not succeed because the key is stability, security and therefore progress and prosperity for these countries", she said during her first visit to Côte d'Ivoire since the beginning of her mandate.

France recently decided to equip itself with a strategy of influence to promote its action and counter these hostile narratives, in a region where it is also thinking about resizing and reducing its military footprint, while continuing to collaborate with several countries in the region in their fight against jihadist groups.

Catherine Colonna thus addressed the question of Russian influence in West Africa, returning to the last coup in Burkina Faso.

A few days after the putsch, demonstrators had, in fact, waved Russian flags and shouted slogans to the glory of Moscow in rallies.

"What happened in Burkina with the appearance of Russian flags should concern us," said the minister.

France must "help Côte d'Ivoire to continue its progress"

"We don't want this same pattern [that of Mali] to happen again in Burkina Faso," she also said, particularly about the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner, accused of committing abuses against civilians. .

"We have a junta that locks itself in on itself and becomes a prisoner of a group of foreign mercenaries," she concluded on this point. 

On the other hand, Catherine Colonna hailed the "emergence trajectory" of Côte d'Ivoire, which seems, for the time being, less permeable to the risk of political instability.

"Côte d'Ivoire is doing better. The challenge is to maintain this momentum of progress and to better disseminate throughout the country [...] this dynamic of development. We are here to help Côte d'Ivoire to continue its remarkable progress,” she said. 

With AFP

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