Guillaume Muhoza
Anti-french sentiment continues to increase as France loses economic grip on West Africa while Putin accuses Ukraine of Crimea bridge blast ‘terrorism’. Al Jazeera publish an article where experts analyse the past six months and predict how the conflict may evolve. They mostly expect Russia to loose.
“Anti-French sentiment in Mali has spread to Burkina Faso where opinion leaders accuse the former colonial power of profiteering. In fact, the French economic presence is in decline”, tells the RFI.
“China began eating into France’s market share in the early 2000s, and overtook it in 2007. China now has 17 percent of the African market, three times more than France. Five years ago, Germany overtook France as Europe’s leading supplier to Africa. In terms of investment in the continent, the Netherlands is now in pole position, partly because many multinationals choose to register their headquarters there to benefit from lower corporate tax rates. A closer look at France’s foreign trade figures reveals that its main African partners no longer come from the favoured French-speaking West African nations.Those countries account for less than 1 percent of France’s market share.France’s top African trading partners are Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, followed by English-speaking Nigeria and South Africa.”, do we read in the article.
So why is anti-French sentiment growing in parts of West Africa when the French economic presence on the continent overall is slipping?
Although the west African region accounts for little of France’s foreign trade, France is still its leading European supplier. “More generally, accusations that France has too much control reflect multiple grievances that are not always related to the economy.”, says the author of the article as he mentions that according to the annual AfricaLeads survey of African leaders conducted by the French employers’ association (Cian), France’s image is deteriorating year on year; France ranks sixth in the list of most appreciated non-African countries, far behind the top three – the United States, Germany and Canada. In the ranking of countries deemed most beneficial to Africa, France is ninth, just behind Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Once again the US, Canada and Germany are the top three.”
France is by now in a serious test of creativity to put in place political initiatives to climb back up the rankings and correct the deficit. Understands the author.
Putin accuses Ukraine of Crimea bridge blast ‘terrorism’
This is the headline of a news written by Al Jazeera as the bridge has been partially destroyed in a truck explosion last Saturday.
The bridge is key becase it links Crimea to the Russian mainland. The Russian media reported that destruction put at risk Russian economy for tha bridge was an important point of that supply route.
The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, called it “an act of war” as the country’s investigative committee said on Saturday it had “initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge,” adding that “a truck was blown up”.
It’s understood that Russian president is to convene security council amid calls for reprisals over attack that Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia
Six months since Russia invaded Ukraine: What’s next?
The question that tries to answer Al Jazeera in an article found on its website this morning. Experts analyse the past six months and predict how the conflict may evolve.
One of those experts, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces says Russia will loose the battle because it overestimated its power:
“Putin wanted to destroy our state, remove or kill our president, and conduct a ‘de-Nazification,’ i.e. destroy our nationhood. All of these strategic goals have not been achieved – and won’t be. The nation exists, the supreme commander [President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] is in place, he didn’t fly or run away, he is leading the resistance, and the armed forces are fulfilling duties quite professionally.”
“Their plans were to take Kyiv in three days and in seven all of Ukraine. They really pinned their hopes on the agents they bribed here, spent billions, according to international estimates.
“Firstly, [the Russians mistakenly] overestimated their armed forces. Secondly, they underestimated the power of the Ukrainian armed forces, the power of defence and the popular support. And thirdly, they didn’t calculate that the West would consolidate around Ukraine.”
Other expects also are mostly expecting Russia to loose.
