Senegal denies any negotiations with France for the withdrawal of military bases from its territory

MADRID Jan. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, denied this Monday that the withdrawal of French military bases from its territory announced last week occurred after a negotiation with the French Government, as stated by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

“In the case of Senegal, this statement is totally erroneous. To date no discussion or negotiation has taken place, and the decision taken by Senegal derives solely from its will as a free, independent and sovereign country,” he noted in his Facebook social network account.

In it, Sonko has rejected that the withdrawal of the French military bases has been “negotiated between the African countries that have announced it and France” and has denied that the French authorities gave “these countries the opportunity to make the announcement (… .) for convenience and courtesy”, as Macron stated.

The Senegalese has thus responded to the annual speech that the Frenchman gave this Monday before his ambassadors and in which he criticized the countries of the Sahel for not thanking Paris for its efforts in the fight against terrorism in the region, words that also has criticized the Government of Chad.

“Ingratitude, I am in a position to know, is a disease that cannot be transmitted to humans. I say this on behalf of all African leaders who have not had the courage to carry it out in front of their public opinion: none of them would be with a sovereign country today if the French Army had not been deployed in this region,” Macron declared.

In this sense, the head of the Senegalese Executive has responded that “France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to guarantee the security and sovereignty of Africa”, accusing its authorities of having “contributed to destabilize” some countries such as Libya.

“This is a good opportunity to remind Macron that if African soldiers, sometimes forcibly mobilized, mistreated and ultimately betrayed, had not been deployed during World War II to defend France, France would perhaps still be German today. day,” he concluded.

Sonko announced at the end of December 2024 the closure of all foreign military bases in Senegal, where France has 350 soldiers deployed, alluding to the need for the African country to “manage its own defense and its territory, without external influences.”