By Ali Dan Ismael the Editorial Desk
July 10, 2025
In the theatre of global geopolitics, few nations have played the role of both arsonist and firefighter with as much practiced cynicism as France. From West Africa to Southeast Asia, and from America’s revolutionary beginnings to modern-day counterterrorism, France has repeatedly chosen sides—not out of principle, but out of profit, pride, and imperial calculation.
Ambazonians, this matters to you. Because while the guns may thunder in your towns and villages, the real war—the one of influence, alliances, and betrayal—is often fought in quiet rooms and smiling handshakes. And in that theatre, France has always played folks for fools.
Check and revisit the record. The famous Channel Tunnel connecting France to Britain was engineered by the British with deliberate emergency flooding systems—meant to drown the tunnel should the French ever attempt a military invasion. That is not paranoia. That is historical memory. For centuries, France and Britain have been locked in strategic rivalry, and even the physical symbols of modern unity carry in them the legacy of mistrust.
During the American War of Independence, France stepped in—not as a friend of liberty, but as a jealous rival of the British Crown. And even in that noble-seeming gesture, there was self-interest—not solidarity. In Vietnam, it was France that ignited the flames, only to be beaten off like flies by nationalist resistance, retreating with little dignity and leaving the quagmire to the Americans.
World War I. World War II. In both instances, France was saved by the very Anglo-Saxon powers it now despises and undermines. America and the British Commonwealth spilled blood for French soil. Yet today, France repays the world with diplomatic sabotage, economic manipulation, and ideological poison cloaked as policy.
Look to Africa. The downfall of Camair—once a rising West African airline—was hastened not by market forces alone but by French economic sabotage, simply because Camair dared to fly American Boeings instead of French Airbuses. Call it commercial interest. But the pattern is clear: wherever France cannot control, it destroys.
In Libya, when NATO debated intervention, France waited in the shadows, offering little but criticism. After Libya collapsed into chaos, it was France’s own policies—arming militias, financing rebel factions, and meddling through secret deals—that helped light the powder keg of Islamist uprisings in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. France came as liberator, stayed as occupier, and fled as pariah.
Even more damning: in 2024, when a draft resolution calling for an independent investigation into war crimes in Cameroon reached the UN Security Council, France refused to support it, effectively shielding the Biya regime once again.[¹]
And now—Bamenda. A French ambassador arrives with smiles and scripted statements. But we must ask: what is his true mission? Is it to support peace—or to manage rebellion? Is it to report back to Paris how best to divide the resistance—or how to seduce its leadership with offers of soft diplomacy and silent betrayal?
Ambazonians, do not be deceived.
This is the same France that watched silently when the Produce Marketing Board collapsed. When your airports—Tiko, Besongabang, Bali, Nkwen—were abandoned. When your seaports died, when CDC and PAMOL were gutted. When Santa Coffee was ruined. When the Yoke Dam fell into neglect. France has never lifted a finger for your prosperity. Only for its interests.
As President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako recently warned, “Our struggle is not just against tyranny in Yaoundé; it is also against the invisible hands in Paris that pull the strings of destruction.”
And those hands remain active—grooming proxies, proposing puppet leaders, and funding distractions to dilute Ambazonian resolve.
You should never be naïve. No great power acts from charity. But while others may exploit, France destroys.
The rest of the world is beginning to see through the French veil. In America, French nationals are gradually being sidelined in language teaching, replaced by African Francophones. Why? Because French state-sponsored educators have turned classrooms into pulpits of anti-American sentiment. The Americans have noticed. So should you.
Ambazonia must not welcome its enemies with wine and handclaps. You must learn from the world’s caution. You must speak in firm tones when France comes with smiling lips and hidden daggers.
You are not alone. You should not be confused. And you should not be asleep.
Let history be your eyes. Let vigilance be your shield. Let no smiling diplomat deceive a wounded nation into laying down its guard. Because Freedom Has No Master
Ali Dan Ismael The Independentist
¹ Source: UN Security Council proceedings, Draft Resolution on Cameroon, April 2024 – France abstained and later opposed joint statement on humanitarian access and war crimes review.
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