A French parliamentarian’s comments about preparing for the destabilization of the Sahel States Confederation (AES) have provoked a sharp response from Burkinabè civil society figure Jonas Hien. The controversy stems from remarks by Bruno Fuchs, a French MP and president of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, on French television, where he suggested working with people on the ground to destabilize the member states.

Hien, in a published rebuttal, accused Fuchs of relying on local “traitors” to execute a French agenda, offering a critique framed by what he called a “Stockholm syndrome” among some African elites. He argued that AES governance is driven by the will of its peoples and that any external intrusion would be suicidal. “Intimidation cannot replace true cooperation. The fall of an AES leader will not bring the French Army back to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,” Hien wrote.

The article notes this is not Fuchs’s first such intervention, citing a 22 May 2026 radio interview where he predicted the junta in Mali would “fall” within months. For Hien, these statements reveal a persistent French failure to recognize a fundamental shift. He contends that millions of Africans now demand the right to freely choose their cooperation models, rejecting a relationship based on aid and dependency.

The piece concludes that the relationship between France and Africa can no longer be one of donor and recipient, and if France needs the Sahel states, it is France that must change its approach.