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President Emmanuel Macron will deliver a major speech at the Elysée on Monday devoted to France’s diplomatic and military strategy in Africa, a continent where its influence is disputed. On Wednesday he will leave for a tour of four Central African countries.
A speech and a tour of four African countries. Emmanuel Macron begins this Monday, February 27, a week dedicated to Africa with an important speech at the Élysée Palace dedicated to France’s diplomatic and military strategy on that continent.
The head of state plans to specify his “vision of partnership with African countries” and “the direction” he intends to take during his second term, according to the French Presidency. In his speech he will present “his priorities and his method to deepen the collaboration between France, Europe and the African continent”, added his office.
Macron’s agenda will continue on Wednesday with a tour of four Central African countries: Gabon, Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During the first stage, in Libreville, the French president will participate in a summit on the preservation of the forests of the Congo River basin.
In July, Macron had already traveled to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau, and intends to continue his visits to the continent “almost every six months, or even more” often.
Details on the evolution of the French military device
In his speech in Paris on Monday, the French president is also expected to address the highly sensitive issue of the evolution of the French military posture on the continent following the end of the anti-terrorist operation Barkhane in the Sahel and the forced withdrawal of French troops. from Mali and Burkina Faso. These two countries are now controlled by military juntas and there is a feeling of hostility towards France.
The French country maintains some 3,000 soldiers in the region, especially in Niger and Chad, after having had up to 5,500 men there, but intends to reorganize its deployment to the Gulf of Guinea countries won by the jihadist offensive and to be less visible in field.
In this region, and on the continent as a whole, China or Russia question the influence of France and Western countries. Thus, three of the four nations that Macron will visit -Gabon, Congo and Angola- abstained last Thursday during the vote on a UN General Assembly resolution demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.
“More listening and humility”
Monday’s speech will echo that of Ouagadougou in 2017, in which Emmanuel Macron had marked his desire to turn the page with the post-colonial African policy of Paris, the ‘Françafrique’, marked by political collusion and sulfurous ties, and tend to shaking hands with an African youth that is increasingly wary of France.
The French president, who presented himself as the leader of a new generation, then denounced before 800 students the “indisputable crimes” of colonization and called for a “new relationship” with Africa, a pact that he intends to extend to Europe.
This new, more withdrawn approach is confirmed by the Secretary of State for Development, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, who will accompany the French president on his tour.
“Today, African countries choose their partners in a free and sovereign manner, and that is good,” he said. He also believes that anti-French sentiment in French-speaking Africa is pushing Paris to change its “stance towards greater listening and humility.”
with AFP
Article adapted from its original in French
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