The establishment of a "national council for imams" Did Macron's plan succeed in splitting the ranks of France's Muslims?

Bitter rifts known to the Muslim community in France, following its intention to establish a "national council for imams" of the country, amid clashes between the two largest bodies it represents: the Grand Mosque of Paris and the French Council of the Islamic Faith. While this station comes according to what Macron planned for what he called "the fight against isolationism."

In a meeting attended by more than 200 imams and the director of a mosque in France, on Sunday morning, the Grand Mosque of Paris and three French Muslim federations announced the establishment of a national council for imams. In a step that comes in response to what the government of President Macron had previously written in its law for what it called "fighting Islamic isolationism", with the aim of extending the republic's control over Islamic places of worship.

On the other hand, the organization that organizes Islamic worship in the country (the French Council of the Muslim Faith) denounced this initiative, which in turn intends to establish a council of imams. While it reveals the division and shocks that occurred among the Muslim community as a result of this matter, observers hold it responsible for the aforementioned law.

Single board and clashes

During Sunday's meeting, which was chaired by the dean of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Shamseddine Hafeez, the latter described it: "Today is a historic day." He added that "this moment proves our responsibility to the Muslims of France and to all our citizens," recalling that this step comes at the request of President Macron, who called for the establishment of a "national council of imams" in the fall of 2020.

This established council will be tasked with "granting credits" to imams active in France, as part of a wide-ranging restructuring of the country's second-religious institutions, called for by the French authorities. The Grand Mosque of Paris, the Congregation for Muslims in France, the Union of Muslims in France, and the French Federation of Islamic Associations from Africa, the Comoros and the Antilles participated in its founding meeting. Where the heads of the four bodies and imams voted on its statute and unanimously elected Imam Ba Amado as its president.

A move that confirmed the existing division between the Paris Mosque and the "French Council of the Muslim Faith", the body organizing Islamic worship in France. The latter responded through its president, Mohamed Moussaoui, who considered what happened "a robbery of the work carried out under the auspices of the French Council of the Muslim Faith." He added that his organization reserves "the right to use all legal means to put an end to this irresponsible position," which had previously announced the establishment of a "National Council of Imams" on December 12.

Macron is fueling a "war between brothers"!

The French newspaper "Le Figaro" touched on what it called " the new crisis of Islam in France " following the rift between the unions representing the country's Muslims over the establishment of the "National Council of Imams". This is mainly due to the discussions about Macron’s law to combat “Islamic isolationism” and what he imposed on the “French Council of the Muslim Faith” by drafting a “republican charter” for imams that is a condition for its practice in France. The latter, whose proposal did not receive the unanimity of the bodies representing the country's Muslims.

Macron pushed for the establishment of this council in order to control the issue of recruiting and training imams, and to determine the extent to which all of this is compatible with the "values ​​of the French Republic", with the aim of ending "foreign interference in the country's affairs through imams," according to his claim.

According to Le Figaro's figures, there are about 2,000 imams for 2,500 Islamic places of worship in France, 300 of whom are paid under bilateral agreements with other countries: 150 Turks, 120 Algerians, and 30 Moroccans.

On November 19, 2020, Macron met with the heads of the bodies representing the Muslim community in the country, in order to pressure them to submit a "Charter of Republic Values" specifying that Islam in France is a religion and not a political movement, and stipulating an end to interference or belonging to foreign countries. He threatened them that "in case some people do not sign this charter, we will draw conclusions," stressing that "he knows that a number of them have ambiguous positions on these issues," so they must "get out of this confusion."

At the time, observers saw that the French President's moves came at a time when the country's Muslims were living in a state of terror and a sense of being targeted and insulted, after the highest pyramid of the state had become directly targeting them, taking advantage of his loose project that wants to confront "Islamic isolationism or separatism" with it, as he put it, However, their suffering precedes that and takes different dimensions, oscillating between social and economic.

A new slap Burkina Faso rises up against the presence of France and confuses Macron's accounts in the Sahel

Following the confrontations that erupted over the past few days between protesters and French military forces in Burkina Faso, which resulted in dozens of deaths, Paris appealed to the Burkinabe president to intervene and prevent protesters from interfering with its military convoys carrying out a mission in the Sahel.

With the growing feelings of anger and congestion against the French presence in Africa, protests and armed confrontations erupted during the recent period in several African regions and countries, some of which demanded the withdrawal of the French military forces and the end of colonialism, which began to take various forms in it, and drained its wealth for decades, and increased in depth It did not stop the danger of armed militias and their attacks , which was the main justification that Paris claimed behind its presence in those areas.

It seems that today the noose is really tightening on France, in its traditional area of ​​influence, and it is facing many challenges and troubles that prevent the success of its strategic plans in the region.

Its last foreshadowing was the interception of thousands of protesters in Burkina Faso, the French military convoys heading towards Niger, to prevent their arrival.

"We want France out" Burkina Faso protests

Chanting the slogan "We want France to leave" and "Kaya says to the French army: Go back to your country," thousands of protesters have gathered in the streets of Kaya, north of Burkina Faso, since Thursday, November 18, to prevent the large French military convoy coming from Ivory Coast. , to reach Niger.

According to local media sources, the protesters claimed that the convoy was planning to deliver military equipment to the armed militias behind terrorist acts in the area and claiming to fight them.

While the residents and those who supported them from the civilians who came from the neighboring areas and villages, camped at the entrances to the city and the crossroads, to guard it and ensure that the convoy did not advance, the Burkinabe army and military police formed barriers between civilians and the French forces to prevent any possible clash, while the local authority intervened to prevent the demonstrators from blocking the road the convoy, but all efforts were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, several media sources confirmed that the trucks carrying fuel and food supplies for the French army had returned, while the armored vehicles and tanks remained in place, waiting for the way to be opened for them.

For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian appealed to the Burkinabe authorities to mediate to prevent the protesters from disrupting the French military mission in the Sahel. In Kaya, I think he will find the solution."

Skirmishes and protests continued for continuous days, and as the protesters attempted on the evening of Saturday, November 20, to approach the convoy, the French and Burkinabe police forces fired warning shots, and many sources claim that the shots wounded 4 civilians, while the side denied French it.

The situation worsened after the armed attack launched by the armed militias on Sunday, November 21, which resulted in the killing of about 19 members of a "gendarmerie battalion" in Inata, near a gold mine, and a civilian, as a preliminary outcome of the attack, according to what was announced by the Minister of Defense. Burkinabe security, Maxime Kon, who said in an official statement: "A detachment of the security forces was subjected to a despicable and barbaric attack this morning. They held their position, and 22 members were also found alive." While many security sources later confirmed that the death toll had risen to about 30.

Retreat to the French role in the coast

After the French General Staff decided, last summer, to reduce the number of its military forces present in the African coast, it later retreated from that and decided to redeploy its forces from Mali to Niger, since November 16, especially since they became facing a real threat with the entry of Moscow Along with several other forces on the line, as a rival regional player.

The French decision was not welcomed by the majority of Africans opposing the French role in Africa, and thus the French military convoys advanced on a land in the lava of growing popular anger. Especially since France, which launched its military campaign in the African Sahel since 2014, to combat terrorist organizations, has failed in this and deepened the security and political crisis of these countries, in addition to the continuous depletion of their wealth and resources.

Meanwhile, the French role began to gradually erode, especially with the American reservations about French intervention in Africa, and the failure to grant the Security Council an absolute mandate for military operations on the continent.

France is now oscillating between reorganizing the forces and reducing their number, according to the strategy of French President Emmanuel Macron, which he announced last June, or maintaining its traditional foothold in this region, which Russia has begun to dispute.

"Horror Recordings" How did France get involved in humanitarian crimes in Egypt?

A press investigation by the investigative website "Disclose" revealed that the Egyptian authorities exploited the French army's reconnaissance operations to launch attacks targeting civilians. Documents leaked to the site show that the two French governments were aware of the matter, but chose to remain silent and participate in what happened.

In 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron decorated his Egyptian counterpart with the Legion of Honor, the highest honor granted by the republic, during a dinner party of great secrecy and secrecy, to the extent that the French press only learned about the news from the Egyptian presidency, which prompted it to protest that “when was she absent?” Our cameras are from the president's dinners?"

At the time, that explanation provoked a storm of anger at Macron's move, in which the republic, "the defender of human rights and democracy", was complicit in the violations committed by the Egyptian regime. He announced the Italian intellectual Corrado Ooggios his abdication from the same medal , rejecting his involvement with the character is accused of killing his compatriot Julio Regina, as I wrote Emma Bonino, the former Italian Foreign Minister Almoshh the "Legion of Honor" in 2009, a petition protest in which she says: "I feel offended that I share the same medal with Someone with that reputation."

In conjunction with that uproar, what was hidden was greater, as Macron was fully aware of the violations taking place on Egyptian soil, and even elements of his military forces were assisting the Egyptian army in committing attacks against civilians on the border with Libya. This is what is revealed by the journalistic investigation of " horror recordings ", which was published by the investigative website "Disclose", in its first episode entitled "Operation Sirli".

Sirleigh operation

The story goes back to the morning of February 13, 2016, when a bus carrying a French team arrived at a military barracks for the Egyptian army in the city of Marsa Matrouh (northwest of the country). That team included ten former officers of the French army, six of whom work for security contractors, equipped with a light "Merlin 3" reconnaissance aircraft, leased by the French Ministry of Defense at a cost of 1.45 million euros per five months of service.

The objective of the secret operation, which was called "Sirli", was to secure 1,200 km of the Libyan-Egyptian border strip from the infiltration of "terrorists", and to cover about 700,000 square kilometers of desert with reconnaissance flights to monitor the movements of possible "terrorist groups".

The team's trips were always accompanied by an Egyptian officer, according to the Disclose investigation, whose task was limited to translating the audio recordings taken by the plane, which in turn were used by the Egyptian authorities to carry out attacks against civilians involved in smuggling operations at the borders.

This information was obtained by the French press website team by analyzing hundreds of leaked secret documents, one of which was a report dated April 20, 2016. that area." What is meant by "banana" is the area between Siwa Oasis and the Nile Delta, an area that is crossed by trucks inhabited by young people of no more than 30 years old, who are active in livelihood smuggling.

In another report, the French team says: "We have not detected any data regarding the possible presence of terrorists, especially with the inability to carry out overflights over Sinai or into Libyan airspace." Rather, the report concludes that "all the operations that were carried out were in response to the wishes of the Egyptian side."

The Egyptian side "has become more demanding", according to Disclose, noting that the Egyptians asked to connect the plane directly with a reception point in the Egyptian barracks "to speed up the process of dealing with potential threats." The French team members refused the order, but their leadership agreed to it. Then, on September 3, "Egyptian air strikes against smugglers became more visible," according to another team report, referring to the targeting of civilian trucks with aerial bombardment.

On September 21, 2016, hours after a Merlin 3 plane spotted a civilian "segway truck" crossing the desert, Egyptian aviation was informed, and minutes later an Egyptian Cessna 208 fighter jet flew over the site. The French team changed its flight path to avoid any collision, and upon its return, the truck had disappeared in a mass of fire.

The next day, the Egyptian Air Force announced that it had thwarted a smuggling operation by bombing a “semi-transporter” truck that the smugglers were using in their activities. France at the time was a partner in the crime of "indiscriminate bombing of Egyptian civilians," according to the investigation.

Macron is "fully" aware of the crime!

In July 2020, the Egyptian presidency announced that it had "destroyed 10,000 vehicles that were used in smuggling activities, and 40,000 smugglers and terrorists." On the other hand, the investigation quotes a report by the European Institute for Peace that "there was no evidence of the presence of terrorist elements inside the eastern half of Libya, and no evidence that smuggling activities were linked to terrorist groups in Libya."

Meanwhile, a Disclose journalist moved to the Egyptian coastal city, where 50% of the population lives below the poverty line, and "they earn only 6 euros from working in the olive and date fields for a hard working day that extends from dawn to dusk." A former smuggler was quoted as saying: "An individual can earn 3800 euros from one smuggling of cigarettes, so this activity remains attractive despite its deadly risks."

The French Ministry of Defense did not answer Disclose's inquiries about its involvement in human rights violations and the random liquidation of civilians in Egypt, while this intelligence coordination between the two countries extends throughout the states of François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, who was "fully aware of the course of the operation," according to a report. It was issued by the Elysee shortly after the president made a call with his Egyptian counterpart in 2017.

The investigative website, quoting the report of the operation team, added that "fighting terrorism was the third priority for the Egyptian side" after fighting smugglers and immigration. Macron's administration also preferred to further participate, after the former French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sylvie Goulard, visited Cairo, and expressed her country's desire to "expand and consolidate the Cirley operation", praising its "distinguished results".