Sunday 20 November 2022 01:26 AM Italian PM Giorgia Meloni slams France for forcing Burkina Faso to hand over ... trends now
Italy's firebrand new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni launched a blistering diatribe claiming immigration from nations in Africa would stop if countries like France resisted exploiting the continent's people and natural resources.
IMeloni has slammed France and its president, Emmanuel Macron, for child labor being used in gold mines that allegedly benefit the European country.
Speaking in front of a television audience, Meloni showed photos of children are mining gold in Burkina Faso, an African country that France once controlled. The Italian prime minister claimed that France is still forcing the African nation to hand over 50% of its exports to them.
Burkina Faso has been independent from France since 1960 but Meloni suggests the former colonial power still holds considerable sway over its former territory.
Meloni, leads what is Italy's most right-wing government since World War Two.
Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called out France and its policy over its former territory Burkina Faso that she claims has young children working in gold mines
On the rocky ground of Nounou, in Burkina Faso at a gold mining site, about 3000 people work on a daily basis, 1000 or so of them children
Her far-right Brothers of Italy party is a part of a coalition that has made reducing immigration a key part of their agenda - with many of the migrants coming from the African continent.
'This is called the CFA Franc,' Meloni began as she held up a West African CFA franc bank note. 'It is the colonial currency that France prints for 14 African nations to which it applies seigniorage (a profit made by issuing currency) and by virtue of which it exploits the resources of these nations.'
Meloni then held up a photograph of a young child working in one of the country's gold mines.
A UN report from 2016 suggested out of 3,000 people working at a mine in Burkina Faso, a third are children.
'This is a child who works in a gold mine in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest nations in the world. France prints colonial money for Burkina Faso, which has gold,' Meloni explained.
Meloni's claims in front of a live TV studio audience as she highlighted the plights of migrants
The Italian PM brought a number of photos to use as props to highlight her stance on migrants
'This is called the CFA Franc,' Meloni said as she held up a West African CFA franc bank note. 'It is the colonial currency that France prints for 14 African nations ... by virtue of which it exploits the resources of these nations.'
'In return, they demand that 50% of everything that Burkina Faso exports ends up in the coffers of the French treasury. The gold that this child goes down a tunnel to extract, mostly ends up in the coffers of the French state,' Meloni said as she became visibly riled.
'So, the solution is not to take Africans and bring them to Europe. The solution is to free Africans from certain Europeans who exploit it and allow these people to live off what they have.'
Meloni wants to see the migrants stay in their own country rather than make the treacherous voyage across the Mediterranean to Italian shores.
