Paris’ defence minister has condemned the latest instalment of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, which depicts French troops caught trying to steal resources belonging to the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda.
France is particularly sensitive to its image in West Africa after military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso demanded the departure of French troops, deployed to the Sahel region since 2013 to fight jihadists.
Journalist Jean Bexon, who posted the Black Panther clip, noted, “The evil French mercenaries operating in Mali are dressed like soldiers from Operation Barkhane,” a real-life military mission.
“I strongly condemn this false and deceptive representation of our armed forces,” Sebastien Lecornu wrote on Twitter on February 12, responding to a clip from the November movie posted by a journalist.
“I am thinking of and honouring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups,” Lecornu wrote.
The defence ministry told AFP that France was not calling for withdrawal or censorship of a work of art.
People close to Lecornu said he was “angry at seeing the film”, which was released as Russia appears to be making progress in turning West African populations against France and its military deployments.
