:surprised-pika:

It all started so positively. Where have things gone wrong? Why does France now appear so unpopular in Africa?

Was it ever popular?

He [Emmanuel Macron] has kept French troops in the Sahel to fight the jihadist militants that kill so many local civilians, police and soldiers and supported the regional bloc Ecowas as it tries to defend electoral politics against military takeovers.

Maybe keeping troops around is not well received by the locals, I dunno, how would it feel if Mali sent troops to "secure an airbase" near Lyon? Are they fighting the Jihadists or are they also occupying land?

This year he [Emmanuel Macron] flew to Rwanda to publicly acknowledge French failures during the 1994 genocide.

Now we are getting somewhere...

After 13 French troops died in a helicopter crash in Mali in November 2019 he [Emmanuel Macron] demanded that West African leaders fly to France for an emergency summit, an outburst perceived as neo-colonial arrogance, particularly as Mali and Niger had suffered far heavier recent military losses.

Maybe because it is a neo-colonial relationship between the countries...

And as always: :france-cool: