Military When you talk about insecurity caused by terrorism in the West Africa subregions, mostly the International communities point accusing fingers at the Government of France.
Over time, the country has been accused of encouraging terrorism in Africa with funds and material logistics. This would be very hard to believe but one may be prompted to ask questions about the financial transactions that have taken place between the Government of France and some terrorist groups, mostly in West Africa.
For instance, France has made payments of millions of dollars to terrorist groups across West African countries, not less than three times in a row. This money was allegedly paid as ransom to secure the release of some French citizens who were said to have been kidnapped by the terrorist groups.
Just last week, on March 20, 2023, France made a payment of 13 million euros to terrorists in the Niger Republic. They claimed the money to be a ransom to free a French journalist, Olivier Du Bouse
We could recall that in 2013, France made a payment of $3 million to Boko Haram in Nigeria for the release of a French journalist, a deal that included the release of top Boko Haram commanders from prison in Cameroon and tried to hide it from the Nigerian government. Even after BBC broke the story.
Third, in 2019 former U.S Ambassador to Mali revealed that France paid $17 million to various terrorist groups in Mali in ransom. Terrorist groups in the region are being financed by ransoms paid for kidnap victims, who always happen to be "French" citizens.
Payment of ransom for the release of kidnap victims have been generally condemned by the United Nation and this has caused the UN to attempt a moratorium bill on the payment of ransom, worldwide.
Category: Forum
Tag: Africa news france news terrorism
Written by Ejiro Hassan (ejiro)
Published 3/26/2023 9:54:42 AM