President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia and Turkey of seeking to promote anti-French sentiment in Africa by funding people who whip up resentment against France in the media, in an interview published Friday.
"We
must not be naive on this subject: many of those who speak, who make videos,
who are present in the French-speaking media are funded by Russia or
Turkey," he told Jeune Afrique magazine, accusing Moscow and Ankara of
trying "to play on post-colonial resentment."
Macron
also said Turkey was contributing to misunderstandings over his defence of the
right to caricature in the wake of last month's beheading outside Paris of a
teacher who had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
"When
I decided to attack radical Islam... my words were distorted. By the Muslim
Brotherhood -- quite widely -- but also by Turkey, which has the ability to
influence a lot of public opinion, including in sub-Saharan Africa," he
said.
Reiterating
a position that has caused immense controversy in France and beyond over the
last months, he added: "I am not attacking Islam, I am attacking Islamist
terrorism."
Tensions
between France and Turkey have risen to new levels over a range of disputes in
recent months, including Syria, Libya, the eastern Mediterranean and now
France's crackdown on radical Islam.
France
has called for a total rethink of the European Union's relations with Turkey,
which under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the last years has significantly
built up its presence and influence in Africa.
Russia
has also played an increasingly active role in Africa, with analysts pointing
to the presence in several countries of the pro-Kremlin mercenary group Wagner.
'We
don't talk with terrorists'
In a
wide-ranging interview, Macron also ruled out negotiating with jihadist groups
in the Sahel region of Africa, where France has a thousand-strong force
deployed.
"We
don't talk with terrorists. We fight," Macron said, as debates intensify
in France and Africa over the long-term strategy of its Barkhane force.
He said
that France could talk to different political and other groups, but not
terrorist entities "which continue to kill civilians and soldiers,
including our soldiers."
And
Macron accused Guinea's President Alpha Conde of organising a referendum on
constitutional changes "solely to be able to keep power," adding that
the situation in the country was "serious" following post-election
unrest.
"It
is for this reason that I have still not sent him a letter of
congratulations," Macron said.
Macron
added he hoped to visit Rwanda in 2021 despite continued tensions with the
country and its President Paul Kagame over the 1994 genocide.
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