By John Ikani
French Defense Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, has taken to Twitter to express his strong disapproval of the latest instalment in Marvel’s Black Panther franchise.
The movie depicts French troops trying to steal resources from the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda. Lecornu called the representation of the armed forces “false and deceptive.”
It also includes a scene that shows a group of French soldiers being brought into a UN meeting, much to the embarrassment of a fictional Paris ambassador, after they were caught on a secret mission to a Wakandan base in Mali.
A journalist, Jean Bexon, noted that the French soldiers depicted in the movie are dressed like those from Operation Barkhane, a real-life military mission.
France is particularly sensitive about its image in West Africa, as military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have demanded the departure of French troops deployed to the Sahel region since 2013 to fight jihadists.
The Defense Minister stated that France was not calling for censorship of the movie, but stressed that “no revisionism can be allowed about France’s recent actions in Mali.”
He added that France intervened at Mali’s request to fight against armed terrorist groups, and not to pillage natural resources, as depicted in the film.
The release of the movie comes at a time Russia appears to be making progress in turning West African populations against France and its military deployments.
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has been called upon by Mali to reinforce its army, once French troops left, and there have been speculations that Burkina Faso may follow suit.
Online, pro-Russian accounts and influencers have spread cartoons showing France sending skeletons and a giant snake to “conquer all of Africa”
This has added to the challenges faced by France, as a French military source recently acknowledged that “we face a steamroller that plays with the perceptions of local people who are in existential difficulty” from war and famine.
In November, President Emmanuel Macron stressed that “influence” is a “strategic priority” for France.
