IN the midst of the palpable fear and consternation that engulfed France in the aftermath of the November ‘Friday the 13th’ 2015 horrific Paris terror attacks by Islamist group, ISIS, and the subsequent accosting of the world to mourn the tragedy was an anomaly that can only be unravelled in the context of the French’s participation in the obliteration of Libya, Mali and Syria; whose wars have given rise to the evolution of terrorism in the world.
France, the ever-willing war participant, has never concealed its resentment of Islamists worldwide.
To them, it has to be an open affair.
With over 10 000 French troops currently deployed abroad and over 3 000 in West Africa, 2 000 in Central Africa and 3 200 in Iraq, these are alarming figures for a country that purports to respect the rule of law in other nations.
French intervention in Mali, against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2013 was seen as pivotal in the ‘weakening’ of the Jihadi group.
But these have been operations that have backfired in spectacular fashion for the French.
The attacks in Paris last Friday, senseless as they were, have their roots in France’s supposedly proactive stance against Jihadists.
Paris must look at itself in the mirror and conduct a thorough self-introspection, especially with the now infamous Charlie Hebdo attacks early this year still lingering in the minds of many in the world.
“This is for Syria,” one of the Paris attackers reportedly said.
But he could have said it was for Mali, or Libya, or Iraq, The Telegraph said in a report last week.
Indeed signs have been there that yet another attack on France was imminent.
A fortnight ago, a leader of an al Qaeda in Maghreb (AQIM) affiliate, Ansar Dine, leader Iyad Ag Ghaly called for attacks on French interests rejecting the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali.
According to Dine, the call to attack France was, “in retaliation for their (France) presence in the region”,
“And last week President Francois Hollande announced that France will deploy an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf to assist the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), setting him on a collision course with the Islamist leaders,” reads The Telegraph report in part.
“Inside France’s prisons, 70 percent of the inmates are estimated to be Muslims – by law, France cannot ask a person to state their religion, so official data is unavailable.”
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made startling revelations on the source of ISIS’s financial prowess.
Putin said he shared Russian intelligence data on Islamic State financing with his G20 colleagues, that the terrorists appear to be financed from 40 countries, including some G20 member-states.
“During the summit, I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals,” Putin told journalists after the recently held G20 Summit.
“This money, as we have established comes from 40 countries and there are some of the G20 members among them.”
Such has been France’s recklessness that even as slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was warning them against attacking his country because Europe would be invaded by African immigrants, Nicolas Sarkozy, the then French leader led the onslaught against Libya.
Libya was the barricade against immigrants entering Europe and today the results are there for everyone to see.
The fall of Libya emboldened more and more terrorism.
The same is happening in Syria, in Iraqi and now in Mali.
Long before NATO forces, led by France, unleashed what they said was a ‘shock and awe’ barrage of cruise missile attacks against Libya, Sarkozy was already claiming credit, saying France had ‘decided to assume its role before history’ in stopping Gaddafi’s alleged ‘killing spree’ against people whose only crime was to seek to ‘liberate themselves from servitude’.
According to one news report: “A spokesperson for Gaddafi suggested that increased illegal immigration was the price European nations would pay for their political support of the rebels trying to topple the Libyan strongman.”
“You will have immigration,” Gaddafi warned on March 6 2011 in an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche.
“Thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe.
“There will be no-one to stop them anymore.”
In fact, Gaddafi made good on his promise when in May 2011, Libyan authorities began putting non-Libyan citizens on boats and sending them north to Europe.
Today, four years after Gadaffi’s demise, the floodgates have opened and Europe has to battle containing the French-led careless act as hordes of immigrants use Libya as a gateway to crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In Syria, where France is partaking in the annihilation of that unfortunate nation, the case is the same as multitudes of immigrants escape the Western horrors of war in their beloved motherland.
As Europe grapples with the horrific Paris attacks, there can never be escaping the fact that France was and is responsible for the continued rise of terrorism in the world.
Terrorism can never be condoned, but France and the rest of the Western world must never prop it up like they are doing.