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Qabil Ashirov

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Observing snobbish French foreign policy and its results redeemed by French business circles, some dare say that French government deliberately aims to finish off French businesses performing in foreign countries.

Due to its complacency, France loses its influence not over Africa, but all over the world. Actually, the process started long ago especially in Africa, but it has speeded up since the time when Macron ascended to the power. There are plenty of reasons behind the process, but political miscalculation, disrespect to local nations and large exploitation of natural resources stand forward. As if France is not aware that colonial period is over. It keeps considering other peoples as its subjects, looks down on them and thinks that it can do what it wants.

France keeps in museums hundreds of leaders’ skulls beheaded by French soldiers in its ex-colonies. Despite asking the skulls, the French government refuses to hand them over calling them trophies. Recall that right after the 44-day war, Azerbaijan built Victory Park and demonstrated helmets and the maquettes of Armenian soldiers. However, a reactionary country like France, which is proud of human skulls, immediately called the victory of Azerbaijan over the invading country and the display of their weapons in the museum as racism. Because the problem of the French authorities was being unable to see the truth and always being indifferent to the main problems. This is due to the fact that it was always prone to racism.

For example, due to ignorance of France, the most atrocious and heinous genocides in the nineteenth century happened in Rwanda. Over 800,000 Tutsis were cold-bloodedly killed en masse with machetes for three months in 1994 by Hutus. It is well known that the French government supported Hutu Juvenal Habyarimana's regimes prior the genocide. At that time, France deployed thousands of soldiers to protect local Tutsis, however they remained indifferent to all the troubles caused on population. Therefore, Tutsi activists sued the French government to court. Despite the case were dropped, Macron apologized for Rwandan genocide.

Every new step taken by France lives down previous opprobrium. France lost its face to such an extent that even local peoples in Africa reject their support to fight against terrorism. Last month, a convoy of French troops heading north to support the fight against Islamist militants was repeatedly blockaded by protesters as it crossed Burkina Faso and Niger. In 2021, French army that had came to fight against terrorism together with government unilaterally withdrew from the country. Then-Mali’s interim prime minister Choguel Maïga described occurrence as "a stab behind". Such kind of mistakes of France is endless.

Thus, looking at what happened, it can be concluded that the failed policy of France is also paralyzing its economic relations. Of course, at the end, the French business people pay the price of monkeyish policy of France’s statesmen. Many start hating them and reluctant to cooperate with them. Many African countries expelled French companies, and day-by-day the number of such countries increases. Francophone countries and peoples in Africa look for new allies such as Russia, China and Turkiye which are far from Africa, and they are eager to cooperate with these countries and the companies representing the said countries.

Cornered in Africa, France tries to lay hand on other regions, one of which is the South Caucasus that France is eying. However, France not only looks through its mistakes done in Africa, it insists to reiterate the same mistakes. Like in Rwanda, France persistently stands with Armenia that committed massacres against locals and ethnic cleansing against nations such as Azerbaijanis, Meskhetians, Muslim Kurds and so on. France acts more Armenian than Armenians themselves. Of course, it will have severe consequences.

Besides, France, which was once among the top five countries, has to lose an ally like Azerbaijan, which is famous for its Tiger economy in the region, by madly cherishing Armenia, a failed state of the South Caucasus. As usual, France has not taken a lesson from its mistakes and continues upholding the separatist regime in Karabakh and its main supporter – Armenia. As a result, through many discussions on social media Azerbaijan is urged to terminate the contract with Total Energy giving a support to the boycott campaign. Keeping France's embarrassing Africa policy in the mind, some could conclude that France has no intention to give up its biased foreign policy against Azerbaijan based on its blunders, and soon or late Azerbaijan is more likely to terminate the contract of Total Energy.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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