Curtain falls on France in Africa as fake video bears hint of truth

Contrary to a popular viral clip, newly elected Senegalese president did not tell Paris to go away, but he may as well have with PM appointment

Aviral video clip that claims to show Senegal’s newly elected president Bassirou Diomaye Faye telling France to stuff it has delighted many and collected more than 52,000 likes from 1.3 million views on YouTube.

“It is time for France to lift its knees from our necks … It’s time for France to let go of us.”

However, it turned out to be an AI-manipulated fake. French commentators and politicians collectively heaved a sigh of relief. They cheered too early, though.

The politician who made the actual speech – in both French and Wolof in 2021 rather than English, as in the clip – is Ousmane Sonko. Faye has just named him prime minister.

Both men are leaders of the main opposition party, Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour le Travail, l’Éthique et la Fraternité. Given the party’s anti-colonial programme, and that the two men are close allies, it’s hard not to think Faye doesn’t share at least some of Sonko’s anti-French sentiment.

The viral clip appears to have been a direct translation. According to Africa Check, a fact-checking service: “The viral video not only features Sonko, but [also] has been altered, with English audio replacing Sonko’s original French. But Sonko said something similar in his 2021 speech.”

The British-based Full Fact reached the same conclusion. “The footage is of a speech made by a different Senegalese politician from the same party, Ousmane Sonko, in 2021. He was speaking in French and the video has apparently been altered using AI to make it appear that he is speaking English, although he did say [in French], ‘it is time for France to leave us alone’. While the video being shared on Facebook has been altered with AI … it is a correct translation of a section of the speech he made in July 2021.”

The speech itself was reported by Africa News at the time, and it reflected well what many Senegalese and perhaps many Africans generally thought about France, a former colonial master that is still trying to hang on to its declining influence.

“The hypocrisy of France is lived and expressed every day,” Sonko was reported as saying. “We want it to stop interfering in our affairs. [The] Senegalese people have the right to choose freely, and not because France has chosen a candidate with the methods we know.”

Recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have something in common: their leaders are all anti-French, and their countries are all in the Sahel region. In October, the three countries formed a new defence pact called the Alliance of Sahel States for both domestic and national security. Now, a democratically elected Faye in Senegal is likely to join them.

The countries suffered greatly under French colonialism and what many perceived subsequently as postcolonial French interference and exploitation.

Faye’s predecessor, the pro-French Macky Sall, tried to delay the election and put both Faye and Sonko in jail. Both men were released weeks before the poll.

Le Monde, the French newspaper, summarises Paris’s predicament in a headline, “How France was driven out of the Sahel”, where it had been since the 19th century.

It is often reported that the United States is trying to counter Chinese infiltration on the continent. But looking at the map, Washington is more clearly, though not without embarrassment, trying to replace France in the region.

In Niger, where the Pentagon operates a major drone base, the junta declared last month that American civilian and military personnel were no longer welcome.

Western capitals lecture Africa on democracy and human rights but sell them weapons they can’t afford and field military “advisers” to help them kill each other. The US especially has not progressed much from the Cold War and “war on terror” mentalities.

Meanwhile, China offers loans and infrastructure assistance. No wonder, as I have written recently, most African leaders have told their Western counterparts to their face that the Chinese are welcome.

No wonder … most African leaders have told their Western counterparts … that the Chinese are welcome