INTERNATIONAL PETITION FOR THE URGENT OPENING OF A PARLIAMENTARY AND JUDICIAL ENQUIRY INTO THE ACCUSATIONS OF SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM IN AFRICA LEVELLED AGAINST FRANCE BY MALI, BURKINA FASO AND NIGER

Dr Franklin Nathan NYAMSI, President of the African Freedom Institute

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Recipient(s) :

French Parliament, French Justice, European Union, European Justice

The petition :

We, the undersigned signatories of the present petition, call on the parliamentary and judicial authorities in France and throughout the European Union to open an urgent parliamentary and judicial inquiry into the numerous and repeated accusations of support for terrorism made by the authorities of the African republics of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, so that all light can be shed on these serious accusations and justice can be done. 

Indeed :

• Considering the accusations made on August 15, 2022 by the Republic of Mali against France before the United Nations Security Council, according to which :
  

 "The Government of Mali has several pieces of evidence that these flagrant violations of Malian airspace have been used by France to gather intelligence for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and munitions"; "Since the beginning of 2022, the Malian Armed Forces, equipped with new capabilities, have recorded more than 50 deliberate cases of violation of Malian airspace by foreign aircraft, notably operated by French forces in various forms."

 (Source : https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/le-mali-accuse-la-france-de-soutenir-les-terroristes-le-chef-de-barkhane-juge-insultantes);

• Considering the accusations made by the Niger authorities, reported in the columns of the Turkish press, according to which :
  

 "Niger's transitional president, Abdourahamane Tiani, has once again accused France of destabilizing his country and supporting terrorism in West Africa.

 Tiani was speaking in a televised interview released on the occasion of Niger's national holiday, August 3.

 "This sick desire to destabilize Niger has spread through the repositioning of all the French DGSE [Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure] agents that we chased out of our territory. They have been repositioned in Benin (...) They have been repositioned in Nigeria", asserted the President of Niger.

"This desire to destabilize is a certainty", he insisted, while pointing out that French agents had subsequently collaborated with terrorist organizations in the sub-region.

 "The first to come out made appointments with terrorists from Boko Haram and Iswap [Islamic State in West Africa]. It happened on October 25 and 26, 2023," he recounted, confident.

 "They proposed to these terrorists to wage open war against the Nigerien state, against the new Nigerien authorities who dared to ask the French soldiers to leave their territory", he recalled.

 "Boko Haram and Iswap did not agree..." he continued, claiming that the French side had delivered weapons to the terrorists.

 "They repeated the same manoeuver on the night of January 10 to 11, 2024, when they again delivered military equipment via two helicopters to Boko Haram terrorists, who seemed more ready to accept the proposals of French troops... They erased the numbers so that we couldn't trace the origins of these weapons," he was indignant.

 "These are actions taken and continue to be taken by the French. Let them know that we are following them and, when the time is right, we will act," he warned." (Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/niger-le-president-tiani-accuse-la-france-de-vouloir-destabiliser-son-pays-et-de-soutenir-le-terrorisme/3298374); 

-Considering the formal accusations made by the Burkina Faso authorities, as reported in the French press, to the effect that :

"Captain Traoré, who has turned his back on France and made his country's sovereignty a cardinal point of his governance, criticizes Côte d'Ivoire in particular for still being an ally of Paris. On Thursday, he also criticized Benin, saying that his neighbour hosted "two French bases" in its northern part. According to him, these bases are a "centre of operations for terrorists" who regularly strike Burkina Faso. These accusations, rejected by Paris and Cotonou, had already been made earlier this year by Niger's Prime Minister, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine. "( Source : https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2024/07/11/le-capitaine-traore-accuse-ses-voisins-ivoirien-et-beninois-de-vouloir-destabiliser-le-burkina_6248811_3212.html );

We therefore call on the French and European parliamentary and judicial authorities to look into these accusations as a matter of urgency, in view of their grave nature, the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by terrorism in Africa and around the world every year, and the scandalous opprobrium that the veracity of such accusations would constitute for the honour, dignity and moral probity of French and European institutions;

We affirm the urgent need for the truth to be known and for justice to be done, in order to build peaceful, fair Franco-African and Euro-African relations that are mutually beneficial to our peoples and to international peace;

We ardently appeal to all European citizens and legal residents of the European Union to support the present petition by signing it in solidarity, so that the voice of the millions of innocent victims of terrorism can be clearly heard in French and European institutions and opinions, to encourage a mobilization of consciences in favour of a fairer world;

In witness whereof, we hereby sign this petition, so that this just and noble cause may triumph.

Signed in Bamako-Paris-Washington-Rouen-Niamey-Ouagadougou, January 18, 2025 on the initiative of the Association African Freedom Institute, chaired by Dr. Franklin NYAMSI.