This colonial power is intent on striking back. Mali had to cancel this years Independence Celebrations after attacks by separatist rebels in the region of the country. So who is behind the current insurgency in mali . Hello, im kenya and this is africa today. In this weeks episode we are focusing on the situation in mali as the country marks 63 years of independence from france. The second segment of our program is on the. Recent decision by burkina faso to expel the defense atache of the embassy of france from the country, the expulsion came following Intelligence Reports that he was carrying out subversive activities. Mally resisting french imperialism. Mallys famous northern timbuktu city that once served as Major Intellectual hub of islamic civilization, once again the focal point for terrorist organizations operating in the sahel region. Due to the worsening security situation, the government of mali canceled festivities planned for the anniversary of the countrys independence celebrated on september 22. Many people in mari, like this activists here believe that france is still meddling in the countrys internal affairs by insiding terrorists and insents. Nous sommes pas contre la france, nous sommes pas contre les mais oui n contre la politique francaise au mali, nous sommes contre la politique francaise au sahel, les choses ont change, nous pensions le statuco, well on the situation davidin, he is the founder of the west african weekly, thanks lot for your time, sir today, thank you very much for having me, now timbuktu, the historic city situated in northern mali is under. From foreign back terrorist organizations, this comes just after french president Emmanuel Macron said mali, burkina faso or niger would have appeared if paris had not intervened militarily in the sahel. Now are we seeing a common pattern here of france creating a pretext for reoccupying mari after its ejection from this country . So yes, you would have to say that that is, that certainly looks to be the case, um, as is very. Well known um of all the colonial powers to have ever operated in africa, france historialy has always been the most unwilling to let go, and when when it is forced to let go, it has historically been the most vengeful when when it is letting go, so for example the the way it um basically trash entire country of when the country voted for its independence in 1958, i think thats that is still something that that is in the memory of most people within francaford africa. Intelligence agency, the dgsc, is actually one of the most active on the african continent, particularly in north africa and the sahel, they they have lot of resources in that region, so its actually not beyond the rams of possibility. The renewed military activity, allegedly by the tuarek separatists and terrorists in mali, came after the ejection of french troops from this country. The question that arises here is whether imperialist france is striking back following. Oster in mali by encouraging separatists pushing for the balcanization of mali. That is definitely a real possibility. Um, for those you may not know, france has actually done worse than that in the past, so in a few seconds ago, i alluded to what it did in guine before it was forced to leave the country. Basically, um, before leaving the country, the french um occupying colonialism made sure that the country was essentially sabotaged from day one, solted farmland, they poison water sources, they burnt down government buildings, Civil Service buildings, they they they destroyed hospitals, roads, you know, the the colonial. Famously made a comment that mustnt be a single functioning type writer in the tree of guiney by the time they leave, thats how vengeful the french have been, they are forced to leave a country that they are illegally occupying, so um its it you know france potentially being behind the resurgence of of of terrorist violence in in in ali is actually not the worst thing it has done, so it definitely is within the capability of france, it definitely is something. France can do and has done. Armed groups from northern mali claim that they captured some parts of this region. This has increased fears of the collapse of a peace deal between the exrebels and government forces. Meanwhile, United Nations mission in mali, minusma is gearing up for a significant milestone as it readies itself for its scheduled withdraw from mali on the 31st of december 2023. The head of minusma recently briefed the Un Security Council on the situation in mali. Lets take a listen. Parties have adopted diverging positions regard regarding the fate of camps to be uh left by the mission. Here the transitional authorities have signaled to the mission that they themselves intend to retake minusma camps following the missions withdrawal. Now maly councelled Independence Day celebration this year after attacks by sergans in the. The countrys interim president asimi goita say the anniversary will be celebrated in sobriety following attacks that have left dozens of people dead, whats your take on this decision . Well, i think its its a its a relatively sensible decision, i think its a its a pragmatic decision, and i think it signifies that the the regime currently in charge of mali at the very least understands the severity of the task that lies ahead of it, so instead of hiding. Sort empty triffalist signaling, the regime seems to understand that there is lot of hard work ahead, so basically it doesnt really make sense to waste time and energy on you know on necessary and signaling right now, so the message that he put out in my opinion was exactly right, its a time for sobriety and its a time for looking forward for looking to the task ahead, instead of pating yourself on the back for what those far has been a largely symbolic um series of events um the. Real revolution if you like is still is still ahead still lies ahead um the the majority of the hard work still lies ahead but the good news from an african review is that it seems as if the regime in mali at very least seems to realize that so thats definitely a good thing. Mally Needs International assistance in confronting the secure challenges it faces. Its quite clear that previous french intervention in mali did not end terrorism but actually led to increase. Attacks. Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited mali in february and was warmly welcomed in bamaco as the west african nation seats military help for its fight against armed groups. Lavrov said defense ties between the two countries are improving. Last year and the start of this year, cooperation in military and military technical areas was given new page in their development. A large consignment of Russian Aviation technology was sent. Thanks to which maris army was able to conduct successful operations against the terrorists who remain active on their territory. Well thats a laver of the speaking. Now mali has turned is in efforts to end insecurity in the country. Now is this a prudent decision . Violence is actually worse now than it has ever been, and clearly it means that at the very least um that partnership or whatever it is with france clearly hasnt worked, so its time to. Try something new, so even if even if its not the case that its actually france that is instigating violence and its not actually france is behind it, at the very least you have to say france, the part the the partnership that france has has has been completely useless from from imalian point of view, if the violence is actually higher is is more serious now than it has ever been, the the death toll now is higher than it has ever been then of what use is the socalled military partnership with france, so it definitely does make sense that. They would look to another option right, and its so happens that the only other option right now is you know the option that lies eastward be that russia or china, so i think thats the pragmatic thing to do, thats what i would do if i was in their shoes, i dont really see that they have any other option. Mally exported 69. 3 tons of gold last year, compared to 63. 9 tons in 2021. These statistics are an indicator that the. Term government in mali led by asimi goita is moving in the right direction. It appears that france is unhappy with this progres and therefore intent on sing up this country. I definitely do it. Agree that france definitely is not happy with that, and the reason is very simple, um, if for anyone who knows a thing or two about International Economics or geopolitics, um, you know that france position as a first world country, as as economically um advanced and economically developed country, is almost entirely dependent on this thing called freak right, the 14 nations across africa which france basically maintains a Colonial Group on the you know the pleava of lobsided agreements that he has with them and the the Economic Crime as the cfa frank for those dont know the cfa frank is essentially colonial money which 14 african countries including the likes of mali, have been forced to use, so if individual uh members of france africa are starting to break out of that toxic colonial. Relationship and are proving that when you break out of france of freak you will actually do better economically. Thats very bad news from a french point of view, because it means that the other nations within france of are going to you know get clued on very quickly, that there is life outside of france. Under maris new constitution passed overwhelmingly with 96 of the vote in june 18 referendum, french is no longer the official language. Now the movie is seen as a clear blow to. France a linguistic student says it is important to use the local language bambara. Vraiment important dans notre societe car tous les maliens, toute la population malienne a press que parle presque dans ce langue quoi, donc cest tres important dapprendre le bonmankan. Well, last question to you, now what opinion are the political and cultural . His decision 63 years after independence. Now whats the the potential, what the the act of dropping french as an official language potentially means is that Going Forward theres a possibility that mali and any other country in frank, which follows in its footsteps and dress french as an official language, can um explore the possibility of potentially adopting possibly english or another language which enables it have wider access. To the world, i think uh this is definitely the the a step in the right direction for mali and i think the rest of france of freak should be paying very close attention to the results that mali will post in the in the in the coming months and years as this effect of sort of um winning itself of toxic dependency on hands basically especially the the sapha rank and the use of the french language what results that this is going to have . On the French Economy and on french integration with other on on on the malian economy sorry and on malian integration with with other economies in africa. I think other countries in france should be paying very close attention. While indeed it appears mali is moving in the right direction by ending his toxic ties with france. Id like to thank our guest there, david handein, founder of the west african weekly for his incisive analysis and we now take a short break before our next topic on how france is yet again meddling. In Burkina Fasos internal affairs, stay with us, france meddling in Burkina Fasso, jacket, ready, im lemotopic on press tv, i want you to join me for cats and dogs, the heavy show that makes light work serious politics, thats press tv, cats and dogs, dont met it. Relations between burkina faso and his former colonizer france have continued to worst since a popular september 22 military takeoff. In the most recent incident, Burkina Fasos government ordered french embassys defense atache emmanuel paskier to leave the country due to subversive behavior. Many people in Burkina Fasso perceive france military presence in the country as a failure as it did not improve security in the insurgent hit west african country. Regular protests take place in the country where citizens express their sentiments against france. Immediatement immediatement nous volons pas ambassadeur francais au burkina comme lick alard represente comme satan au burkina il represente comme tiroman comme terroriste nous voulons pas ces et ambassadeur dun ambassadeur terroriste cetait dun terroriste, nous voulons pas ce ambassadeur, il nest pas autorite au burgina, to discuss the escalation of tensions between france and burkina faso, we have contacted abdul latif ahmad, hes a senior nigerian journalist, thanks lot for your time sir today, thank you for having me, now burkina faso has ordered uh the French Defense official to leave the country for. Engaging in subversive activities, do we have indicators of exactly what acts of subversion this French Defense that she was engaging in there in bukina faso . The indicators are not clear, they are not in public view, most times they are based on Intelligence Reports that have been actioned upon and been sent to uh the government. Dont forget that burkina faso like other french speaking african countries uh. Continually escalating their antifrench sentiments and apart from ordering their french representatives to leave their countries, there is a chance that from what the signals weve gotten, from the conversations theyve had from the interactions that the ambassador has with people within the country and outside the country, there is a chance that burkina faso feels that the mr. Manuel has to leave the country, so there may not not be indicators that are in public view, but i suspect strongly that there are Intelligence Report or signals to the to the government of bukina faso that suggest that emmanuel pasca needs to leave the country. During frances military presence, burkina faso turned into one of the poorest countries in the world, amit a growing presence of terrorist groups affiliated to alqaeda. And daesh, which killed thousands of people and triggered humanitarian crisis in the country. The government of burkina faso now says it will collaborate with new partners to restore security. This might have been informed by the activities of of french uh troops across the region. It is expected that considering the heightened terror attacks insurgency in the in the sahil, the. Support from the french troops was meant to subdue the terrorists, reduced their impact and their activities across the region, however what we have seen over time is that there has been rising and worsening security situation in the sahel, so while we may not be sure of friends of frances obstrusive or diversionary activities within the region, whats the argument . Is that the presence of france or the french troops in you the region has not improved the security situation. Burkina faso is rich in mineral resources, in fact it is one of the leading producers of gold in africa. French companies have looted these resources for decades and kept the economy of france alive while the people of Burkina Fasso languish in poverty. Masses in this country came out strongly to express support for the new leader Ibrahim Traore after he out france back paul henry sandago damiba. Damiba is pro french, he has destroyed Burkina Fasso. But thanks to god, we have a great, strong man like rahim trayaurue to save us all. Now next question to mr. Ahmed, now willkinabes benefit from their countrys wealth under the current. Government which is popular due to its antifrance sentiments, the fact that you know the french have been uh, theyve given a Cold Shoulder to the french and they are seeking alternative partner uh suggest that there can be better negotiations of you know Bilateral Agreements or trade agreements to ensure that they have better pricing for their product and not the prices that the you know the french uh were used to uh before now again just uh the fact that the french presence you know in these countries have continue to impovelish you know the citizenry uh it its not just about the french but the quality of leaders that engage the french because again as it is said in africa nobody can cut your hair without your approval so where are the leaders in these countries when the you know when french uh uh investors for example uh give them the short hand of of you know the negotiations. Burkina fasso is among african nations that have recently turned to other foreign powers such as russia and china to combat terrorism on their soil an effort to find a longlasting solution to security challenges. The people have declared support for the countrys collaboration with russia to restore security. Demande le soutien de la russie pour laccompagner dans cette lute acharnee qui nous a ete imposee. On besoin de tous les collaborateurs, si la russie peut faire notre affaire, elle est la bienvenue. There are Great Expectations that such move will provide solution to security challenges. There is new direction towards the east, that is china and russia, it is expected that the russians and chinese uh troops that coming in for example will look at alternative ways of dealing with the security problem. What it means is there has been solutions or ideas that were being used in the past that has not been as effective as it is expected, those strategy. Be reviewed, hopefully, those strategies will be looked at and an alternative strategy will be brought about, that is my expectation, beyond that you will have realized that the french, sorry, the the russians and the the chinese do not interfere in the governance process, they do not interfere in the politics of the nation as compared to western powers that would want to dictate certain things to you know the. Considering the fact that they are the colonial masters of of burkina faso and other francophone countries. Burkinafaso, mali and niger recently announced the formation of a military alliance to counter external aggression. Malis foreign minister. Territorial integrity, one or more of the signaturies will be considered aggression against the others and it will. Now last question to