Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has ordered France to take away its navy bases, signaling the top of a decades-long protection pact. This choice aligns with Faye’s nationalist marketing campaign guarantees and rising anti-France sentiments in West Africa. On the eightieth anniversary of the Thiaroye bloodbath, during which a whole lot of Senegalese troopers had been killed by French colonial forces, Faye emphasised that navy bases undermine Senegal’s sovereignty. Though he has severed navy ties, Faye clarified that financial relations with France, Senegal’s key enterprise accomplice, would proceed. Paris, grappling with waning affect in its former colonies, faces related rejections from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad, pushed by anti-colonial sentiments and perceptions of political interference. As France pivots to financial partnerships with international locations like Nigeria, Senegal’s authorities, led by Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, stays dedicated to reforms that problem historic ties with Paris whereas searching for reparations for colonial injustices.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA