Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, took shots at Disney’s most recent “Black Panther” film and charged that it gave “a false and misleading portrayal” of French soldiers.
A fictional high-tech African nation’s resources are being sought after by Western nations, particularly France, according to the plot of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
In one scene, French-trained mercenaries attack a Wakandan station in Mali with the intention of stealing its mineral resources.
They are then taken before the UN.
Lecornu was responding to a journalist who noted that the fictional mercenaries in the movie were wearing the same uniforms as the real French forces of the Barkhane mission in Mali, where Paris’ troops fought Islamic extremists at the government of Mali’s request from 2013 until their withdrawal in last August.
Lecornu tweeted, “I firmly denounce this misleading and deceptive representation of our Armed Forces.”
“I think about and pay tribute to the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali at its request against Islamist terrorist groups.”
France stated in February of last year that its nine-year military mission in Mali, where its troops had been stationed to stop the spread of terrorist organisations there, had come to an end.
Less than three weeks prior to France announcing the conclusion of its military operation, the country’s ruling junta expelled Paris’ ambassador from Bamako, and thousands of anti-French protesters gathered in the capital, some of whom burned cardboard cutouts of French President Emmanuel Macron while others were seen waving Russian flags.
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