Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Macron, Madagascar, and the Return of France’s Old Colonial Ghosts
Raïs Neza Boneza
12 Nov 2025
🖨️ Print Article
cartoon

In 2025, Françafrique didn’t die — it just booked a seat on a French military plane. Macron’s “Operation Rescue” proves that old habits still fly first-class.

Originally published in Raïs Neza Boneza.

In October 2025, a French military aircraft quietly took off from Réunion Island on a mission that seemed straight out of a Cold War spy novel. Its target was not a terrorist, nor an endangered diplomat, but the disgraced president of Madagascar — a former nightclub DJ turned strongman, accused by the United Nations of ordering the massacre of 22 protesters.

The man’s name is Andry Nirina Rajoelina, and his escape from Antananarivo aboard a French military plane reveals that the specter of Françafrique — that toxic blend of political meddling, personal loyalty, and postcolonial arrogance — still haunts Paris.

A Rescue Without Honor

On 12 October 2025, while the streets of Madagascar’s capital were filled with chants for justice, a CASA aircraft of the French army was dispatched to retrieve Rajoelina. According to multiple sources, French paratroopers were even instructed to open fire if the Malagasy army tried to stop them — an illegal military operation conducted on sovereign African soil.

President Emmanuel Macron, when pressed, offered only evasive answers about “constitutional stability” and “friendship with the Malagasy people.” Behind those platitudes lies the uncomfortable truth: France intervened once more to protect one of its own, no matter how compromised.

Between Blackmail and Brotherhood

It wasn’t humanitarian concern that prompted this rescue. It was blackmail — and old political debts.

Rajoelina, who also holds French nationality, reportedly threatened to expose illicit payments and secret arrangements linking him to Nicolas Sarkozy and his network. When the walls began to close in, he made it known that he could “reveal everything.” Within hours, Sarkozy himself allegedly called Macron. The order was given.

The Élysée reacted not out of moral duty, but out of fear — fear of another scandal, fear of the ghosts of the past coming back to haunt the French presidency.

The Cost of Cynicism

Macron’s government justified the operation in the name of “stability” and “avoiding chaos.” But the real chaos lies in this duplicity. For all his promises to end Françafrique, Macron has perpetuated its logic — protecting corrupt allies while preaching democracy.

French-made tear gas killed infants in Antananarivo; French officials turned a blind eye to state violence. Then, when the regime collapsed, Paris whisked its protégé away to safety. This isn’t diplomacy. It’s complicity.

A Generation That Sees Clearly

Across Africa, a new generation is watching. Educated, connected, politically aware — Agonizing but organizing as it recognizes the double standards at play.

When Macron lectures Africans about “foreign interference,” the irony is bitter: just days after that statement, France interfered directly in Madagascar’s sovereign affairs.

For Malagasy youth, this episode is more than an insult — it’s a betrayal. They fought for freedom, and France stole their victory.

The Pretence of a Break

Macron once vowed to end Françafrique. Yet in practice, he has merely digitized it — replacing briefcases with encrypted calls, coups with covert “exfiltrations.” The logic remains unchanged: France decides who stays, who falls, and who escapes.

The Rajoelina affair is not just a diplomatic scandal. It is the moral bankruptcy of an entire system — one that still treats African nations as chessboards for European power games.

Françafrique is not dead. It has simply rebranded itself — polite words instead of decrees, jets instead of jeeps, but the same contempt beneath the surface.

And once again, the bill will be paid by the people — the Malagasy people who demanded justice, and were answered with silence.

Raïs Neza Boneza is a Congolese-Norwegian writer, researcher, and human rights activist. He is co-convenor for Africa of Transcend Global Network, a network for peace, development, and the environment.

Africa
Colonialism
Madagascar
France

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialist in Africa
Declaration Expressing Pan-African Solidarity with the Republic of Cuba
11 August 2026
"Cuba has remained a shining example of internationalism and holds a special place in the history of people's struggles against imper
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
STATEMENT: Question of Western Sahara, Tinguiri Mansour Omar, 1979
29 July 2026
“It is perfectly clear that the war of aggression waged by Morocco against the [Western] Saharan people is a purely colonial war.”
Beverley Waithaka
Kenya Is Not America's Quarantine Zone
24 June 2026
The United States announced that Kenya, with the permission of a comprador government, would serve as an Ebola quarantine hub for Ame
Socialist Movement of Ghana , Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Statement of Condemnation of the Plan to Have Emmanuel Macron Deliver a Keynote Address on Reparations in Ghana
10 June 2026
The Socialist Movement of Ghana declared its strong opposition to their government's invitation to French president Emmanuel Macron t
Nicholas Mwangi
Police tear gas and arrest protesters at France-Africa counter summit in Nairobi
20 May 2026
Organizers, activists, intellectuals, and international delegates were arrested in Nairobi during an anti-imperialist protest against the Franc
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
France Out of Africa! PASAI Shows the Way
13 May 2026
An international gathering of anti-imperialists in Nairobi, Kenya revealed the lies of “Africa Forward” as the presidents of France a
Pavan Kulkarni
Thousands of Malians demonstrate in support of the government’s fight against terror groups
13 May 2026
Two weeks before, the armed forces had fought off the highly coordinated attacks on six cities by about 12,000 jihadist and separatist fighters
Kenyan government offers Red carpet for colonizers and a bloody nose for Anti-Imperialists
13 May 2026
The Ruto regime claims a Pan-African mandate when it sends police to Haiti, but it attacks and arrests Pan-African delegates when they gather i
Jeremy Miller
The Republic of Mali Still Stands: A Sahelian coup d'état that almost was
06 May 2026
The attack on Mali was a coordinated international destabilization campaign, but as is usually the case, any coverage from the Wester
Jason Koebler
'A.I. Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train A.I. Are Fighting Back
18 March 2026
Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind A.I. training, moderation, and sex chatbots.

More Stories


  • Systemic racism is built into Canada’s prison system, but federal parties have little to offer incarcerated Black Canadians and their families.
    Simon Rolston, Nora Demnati
    Anti-Black Racism in Canadian Prisons Remains Rampant, Despite Government Pledges
    02 Oct 2021
    Systemic racism is built into Canada’s prison system, but federal parties have little to offer incarcerated Black Canadians and their families.
  • Unstable property rights mean Black southerners may survive a flood but lose their home, and it’s causing the racial wealth gap to grow larger.
    Sarah Sax
    Black families Passed Their Homes from One Generation to the Next. Now They May Be Lost.
    02 Oct 2021
    This article first appeared in The Guardian.
  • “Race Norming” and Medical Apartheid
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    “Race Norming” and Health Care Jim Crow
    29 Sep 2021
    Health care disparities are inevitable when notions of white superiority are guiding principles in every sector of society.
  • U.S. Congressional Support for More War spending and AUKUS Anti-China Pact Exposes Cynicism of Biden’s UN Speech Calling for More Diplomacy
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    U.S. Congressional Support for More War spending and AUKUS Anti-China Pact Exposes Cynicism of Biden’s UN Speech Calling for More Diplomacy
    29 Sep 2021
    Joe Biden spoke of peace and diplomacy at the U.N. but support for defense spending and war making are bipartisan imperatives that prevent the people's needs from being met.
  • ESSAY: The War Aims of World War I and World War II and Their Relations to the Darker Peoples of the World,  Merze Tate, 1943
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The War Aims of World War I and World War II and Their Relations to the Darker Peoples of the World, Merze Tate, 1943
    29 Sep 2021
    A 1943 Merze Tate essay provides a trenchant critique of the false hope of peace offered by the white west to “the darker peoples” of the world.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us