France 'Pulls Wool Over Ivorians' Eyes,' Reorganizing Military Force in Cote d'Ivoire, Writer Says
18:06 22.02.2025 (Updated: 12:49 23.02.2025)
© Sputnik
Subscribe
France and Cote d'Ivoire will continue military cooperation in the area of equipment and training, despite Paris' troop withdrawal from an Ivorian base in Port-Bouët, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu stated on Thursday.
The fact that France recently announced its withdrawal from the Ivorian base in Port-Bouët does not change the situation, and Cote d'Ivoire still remains a "department of an occupying country," Ivorian writer Tape Groubera told Sputnik Africa.
The 1961 Franco-Ivorian colonial treaties, which allowed Paris to "intervene in Cote d'Ivoire, even to go into its subsoil and extract what they wanted", are still in force, the speaker emphasized.
"So, fundamentally, the removal of the base, while maintaining the agreements, leaves the problem unchanged. That's what you call pulling the wool over people's eyes," the writer noted.
🇫🇷🇨🇮 The fact that France recently announced its withdrawal from the Ivorian base in Port-Bouët does not change the situation, and Cote d'Ivoire still remains a "department of an occupying country," Ivorian writer Tape Groubera told Sputnik Africa. pic.twitter.com/TgJADICWX8
— Sputnik Africa (@sputnik_africa) February 22, 2025
According to Groubera, it is wrong "to say that military bases exist to provide security; on the contrary, they exist to provide insecurity in Africa."
"Therefore, Western military bases, not to mention all bases foreign to the territory, to Africa, must leave the African continent. All foreign bases that are not African bases, in our opinion, in our vision, must leave African territory," he argued.
While the West uses Africa to serve its interests, Russia has helped some nations gain independence, Groubera pointed out.
"If Russia had perhaps not been there [on the Africans' side], maybe we wouldn't be talking about independence for some African countries," he said.
Ivorians are "fed up" with former colonial power military presence, which was established "to serve French interests," the speaker emphasized.
"When we were occupied, that's right, we need to tell the truth as well. When what we call the independences happened, who came to the aid of the Africans? It was Russia, the USSR, and Cuba. Against whom? Against whom? Not against some aliens, it was against the West," he noted.
Moreover, there have never been "cooperative relations" between the West and Africa, the writer added, citing Russia as a counter-example.
"Russia has always been on our side, as has the USSR, from which Russia emerged. They have all stood by us. They even had soldiers who came and died for us. That is a reality," Groubera pointed also out.
