Russian flags are starting to appear in Dakar

While Senegal remains one of the only French-speaking West African states that has not expelled France (along with Côte d’Ivoire), Russian flags are appearing in the streets of Dakar. President Macky Sall’s Francophilia is well known. Perhaps it is not known that the Senegalese population is almost in the same mindset as that of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso? French diplomacy would be well advised not to miss the opportunity, once again, to intervene in the crisis that Senegal is experiencing. The slightest mistake would be fatal. A delegation from the Elysée Africa cell had met the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in March 2023, in a manner that they hoped was confidential. This was a bewildering combination of naivety and amateurism. In the end, the result was calamitous: Macky Sall was upset and France had nothing to hope for in return. Indeed, Ousmane Sonko is subject to other far more powerful influences, notably those of Russia. Unless one is a Machiavellian and handles them with infinite precision, which is far from the case, «at the same time» proves calamitous in foreign policy.

It should be noted that there are no fewer than 25,000 registered citizens at the Consulate General of France in Dakar, and there are certainly even more French citizens living in Senegal.