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France ended its nearly decade-long military operation in Mali last week after the relationship between the two countries soured after a recent military coup in Bamako.
French troops, who have been in the country ostensibly to support the government’s fight against Islamic extremism, have been accused of carrying out “acts of aggression.” These allegations included killing civilians, espionage, and actually supporting terrorist groups to justify their presence.
The Trends Journal has noted that France has held a colonial-power relationship with Mali for 50 years to exploit the West African country’s natural resources, particularly uranium.
Paris’ relationship with the country took a substantial turn in 2020, when the military junta took over Bamako. (See “MALI JUNTA: DENMARK GO HOME” (1 Feb 2022), “FRANCE, ALLIED COUNTRIES ANNOUNCE WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS FROM MALI” (22 Feb 2022), “MALI: FRANCE WANTS ITS COLONY BACK” (12 Nov 2019), and “FRENCH AIR STRIKE IN MALI: MASS MURDER OF INNOCENTS” (13 Apr 2021).
While the relationship with France faltered, the new government has been getting cozier with Russia. There were reports of Russian mercenaries replacing the French forces due to the threat of terrorism from jihadists in the region.
France said most of its forces will be sent to Niger, Mali’s neighbor to the east. Paris said these soldiers will continue to fight terrorists in the Sahel region.
“The situation is worse than in 2013,” Alpha Alhadi Koina, a geopolitical analyst at the Research Institute Think Peace Sahel, told The New York Times. “The cancer has spread through Mali.”
The tension between France and Mali has gotten so bad, the African country’s foreign minister told the UN that Mali “reserves the right to use self-defense” if French troops continue to cause trouble in the country, France 24 reported.
Abdoulaye Diop, the foreign minister, accused French forces of violating his country’s airspace. He accused Paris of using these sorties for intelligence gathering and sharing information with jihadis, the report said.
The French embassy in Mali took to Twitter, and said, “France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, who remain its enemies everywhere on earth.”
The statement continued, “53 French soldiers died in Mali over the last nine years. Their mission was, above all, to fight terrorist groups and improve the safety of Malians by doing so.”
Politico noted that Germany also suspended its military operation on Friday in the country “until further notice.” Berlin said terrorists and Russian mercenaries continue to destabilize the embattled African country.
TRENDPOST: As Gerald Celente noted when the U.S. declared war against oil-rich Iraq in 2003, “Do you think America would have invaded the country if their main export was broccoli?”
So, too, with France, which was continuing its colonial strategy by forcibly stealing a natural resource it wants and needs from African countries that own it… such as Mali and Niger.
As with other invading sources, they will kill and destroy whatever and whoever they want to get what they want. For France, the essential natural resource they require is large quantities of uranium, since some 80 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated from 59 nuclear reactors.
Energy for France is all the more important after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions. Uranium prices have jumped over the past year, after Russia’s invasion. On 28 February 2021, Uranium was selling for $27.98 an ounce. In July 2022, the element was trading at around $47.00 an ounce.
For 50 years, France has held a colonial power relationship with Mali to exploit its resources, particularly uranium. Indeed, some of the world’s largest sources of uranium lie underneath the deserts in northern Mali and neighboring eastern Niger.
The situation in Mali has significantly worsened as a result of the U.S.-led destruction of Libya in 2011. With the fall of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi and the complete collapse of the government, the Tuareg fighters who had supported Gaddafi fled south and west to Mali loaded with Libyan weapons.
Within months, those fighters helped ignite an armed rebellion leading to the Islamist takeover of the government. Under the guise of defeating these “terrorists,” France reinforced its colonial intentions.
And similar to the U.S. justifying its Middle East wars on fighting terrorism rather than its lust for oil, France and its allies still claim their presence in Mali is to fight the infestation of terrorist violence by militant jihadists—not its lust for uranium.
Macron’s ‘Neo-Colonial’ Attitude
The government in Bamako has been critical of French President Emmanuel Macron and accused him of approaching the relationship with a “neo-colonial” attitude. Macron was also accused of attempting to stir ethnic resentment in the country that had coups in August 2020 and May 2021.
Gen. Didier Castres, a former French deputy chief of staff for military operations in the country, agreed that the forces could have tried harder to ingratiate themselves with Malians.
“We acted like a Big Brother who would turn to his little brother and tell him what to do and not do. We’ve been the know-it-all trying to apply templates that weren’t suited to them.” he said.
In 2013, The Trends Journal reported on French President François Hollande, with support from Nobel Piece of Crap Prize winner, U.S. President Barack Obama, launched air strikes in Mali and sent French ground troops into the nation under the familiar guise “to attack Al Qaeda-linked Islamists.”
However, only a handful of rebels were killed and that the main victims were women, children, and the elderly. “The hospital is overflowing. Both morgues in the city are filled with bodies,” a Malian official in Gao told the NYT.
Using their ongoing line of illegal intervention into foreign nations, under the auspices of the United Nations, the U.S., France, U.K., and other NATO members launched a broader intervention in Mali.
TRENDPOST: It is worth noting that China has included Mali as part of its “Belt and Road” initiative, also has nuclear ambitions, and can use the uranium. Beijing plans to build 150 new nuclear reactors between 2020 and 2035, according to Minning.com.
As Gerald Celente has continually noted, “The Business of China is Business. The business of America is War. The 20th century was the American century. The 21st century will be the Chinese century.”