French parliament halted by lawmaker’s shout “Go back to Africa”
(Kai Pfaffenbach / Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw his country from the United Nations refugee program has triggered a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and a small West African nation with a huge refugee problem.
Mali, a country of 1.2 million people, resettles nearly 2,000 refugees from places like Syria each year. Trump has already cut aid to the country and threatened to withhold its U.S. funding unless the government took action to combat the violent extremism of the Islamic extremist group ISIS.
A representative of the French government tells NPR’s Robert Siegel in a phone interview from Paris that Mali’s decision-making process is “very difficult.”
Siegel: What do you think the French government has done right in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations refugee program?
Catherine Deneuve, France’s special representative to Mali, in an interview with Robert Siegel.
Catherine Deneuve: Well, we’ve tried to be good partners with the U.S. and make very significant steps for that. And actually, the first step was the agreement signed this year and we’re really pleased with that step.
Siegel: Why is the U.S. withdrawal so significant?
Deneuve: That’s something is something that was very important for the people of Mali to understand. And that’s very simple because the United States is currently the first country in the world with an external program for assistance that can help countries in crisis like Mali, because the United States is an international actor and is willing to invest very much in the development of countries that are being hit by crisis.
We will do that, but the program, which has been ongoing with the United States, has been limited so that we can help more and more countries in the world, from countries that are hit by crises like Mali, in a way, in a way, it was not only humanitarian, but it was also for economic development.
Siegel: Why has the U.S. relationship with France been so important for the U.
