Frankly, he's very far from being an idiot.
He's a politician!
I understand the outcry, but the statement is actually correct, für several reasons:
The concepts of countries, in the African context, is a colonial invention, created by Europeans in Berlin in 1884.
We, Africans, think mostly in terms of tribes. Tribal affiliation trumps country affiliation. Blood is everything, especially because of the forced association of tribes that don't necessarily trust each other, and the lack of sophisticated and functioning trust frameworks.
In many places, the pendulum is swinging back towards a more tribal organisation of the people, but this is not in the interest of those in power: former colonies, and their local administrators.
Without France, most of these borders would not exist anymore, because they just don't make sense on the ground. It's similar to the former Yougoslavie, that fell apart and disintegrated into Bosnia, Croatia etc, after the death of strongman Tito.
This is surely why France always promotes dictators to run the fragile African countries...
Another thing, the Sahel is infested with rebel armies, the most famous being Boko Haram... most of these countries have lost control on some parts of their territories, and are relying on foreign expertise, armies to defend themselves.
