President Emmanuel Macron remarked on Monday that he was still awaiting acknowledgment from Sahelian nations for France’s role in preventing the region from falling under the control of Islamist militants, while rejecting claims that France had been forced out of the area.
In an address to French ambassadors during the annual foreign policy conference for 2025, Macron defended France’s 2013 intervention against Islamist groups, despite the region’s gradual shift away from French military support.
“I believe they’ve forgotten to thank us, but that’s alright—it will come in time,” Macron quipped.
French forces have recently withdrawn from Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso following a series of military coups, and are now pulling out of Chad, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.
Macron emphasized that these countries would not have sovereign states today without France’s military presence, stating, “None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region.”
He also dismissed the idea that France was being expelled, describing the country’s actions as part of a broader strategic reorganization. “France is not retreating in Africa; it is simply being pragmatic and restructuring its approach,” he said.
