On October 8, the New Africa-France Summit will be held in the city of Montpellier, in the south of France, which will have thousands of young Africans and French as guests in order to open a space for dialogue aimed at the relations of both. cultures.
This Friday, October 8, about 3,000 representatives of African and French youth will meet in the south of France to discuss the construction and reconstruction of relations between France and the African continent.
On this occasion, the event will not have the presence of heads of state or institutional authorities, since it wants to give the floor to the youngest with the aim that they are the ones who analyze and define the relations between France and Africa. However, French President Emmanuel Macron will be present during the meeting.
Among the guests are young entrepreneurs, artists, researchers, athletes, students, African and French personalities, actors from diasporas and the business world. In addition, the event will feature the participation of the philosopher, political scientist and historian Achille Mbembe.
According to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry, since this year, twelve African countries have agreed to promote the dialogue initiative with France: Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Tunisia.
J’ai I made a vow, celui que le Nouveau Sommet @AfriqueFrance soit celui d’un dialogue direct et ouvert, celui de la jeunesse, celui des diasporas. Merci cher Achille Mbembe pour votre contribution. Rendez-vous vendredi à Montpellier! pic.twitter.com/cETNCCl1CM
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 5, 2021
An agenda to discuss different points of interest
Starting from the youngest voices, the New Africa-France Summit on October 8 will analyze how the future relations between both parties have been and how they should be.
During the meeting, roundtables will be opened around the five main themes: citizen commitment and democracy, entrepreneurship and innovation, higher education and research, culture and sport.
On Friday afternoon, President Emmanuel Macron is expected to speak, alongside Achille Mbembé, with various young African and French talents on the great themes of the event and his proposals to redefine Franco-African relations.
Africans’ “disenchantment” at Macron’s promises
On November 28, 2017, six months after Emmanuel Macron arrived at the Elysee, the president traveled to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where he met with about 800 students from the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University. There, the new and young face of French politics delivered a speech in an attempt to outline a new relationship with the African continent through various compromises.
For the next four years, Macron worked towards creating more balanced relations with the African continent and changing the narrative of the ties between France and this part of the world, involving more civil society.
In an interview with the French magazine Le Point, Wilfrid Lauriano do Rego, coordinator of the Presidential Council for Africa, said that Macron consolidated his vision of change by creating “the Presidential Council for Africa, which has engaged in a regular dialogue with civil society on various issues. . Then he worked on the hottest topics in memory. The Stora report that led to the recognition of France’s responsibility in the Algerian war. The Duclert report that led France to be responsible for the events in Rwanda. There was also the reform of the CFA franc and the decision to return historical works of art to the continent in two countries that requested it, namely Benin and Senegal ”.
Regarding the New Africa-France Summit, do Rego said that the transformation of Africa “cannot take place without civil society, which does not mean that France excludes relations with States, but rather includes the concerns of civil society. Now, at the top, it is also up to this civil society to say how it sees things and what it proposes ”.
However, four years after Macron’s speech in Ouagadougou, many young people feel “disenchanted” by the promises of the French leader. “We cannot say that there have been changes under the Franco-African sun. Africans are struggling to get rid of the heavy legacy of colonization, “Adama Zongo, an African professor, told AFP.
For his part, Lianhoué Imhotep Bayala, a doctoral student in Burkina Faso, assures that French interference in Africa is permanent “and is translated into recurring trips by Ministers Florence Parly and Jean-Yves Le Drian. When France comes to give lessons in State conduct to another State, it is the most evident characteristic of the insistence on maintaining ties, ”he said.
Although Macron’s desire is to improve relations with Africa, especially with several North African nations where there were French colonies, many believe that the end of the so-called “Françafrique” is nothing more than “a great political marketing joke”.
📣 Intéressé.e par le Nouveau Sommet Afrique France? Retrouvez l’ensemble du program dès maintenant! 👇 #AfricaFranceRemix
– Nouveau Sommet Afrique France (@AfriqueFrance) October 4, 2021
Françafrique: the controversial term that has evolved over time
The expression “Françafrique”, which is the union of the French words “France” and “Afrique” describes the historical relationship between the European nation and its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although it began as a term to describe the good relations between the two parties, over time it became the way to describe the growing influence of France in its former African colonies.
An article in the French magazine Le Nouvel Obs explains it better: it is the word used to talk about the “networks of hidden relationships, commercial hunts and secret agreements, even military, through which France sought, from the day after of African independence in 1960, to maintain a privileged link with its former colonies ”.
According to the Global Voices portal, no French president publicly questioned the concept of “Françafrique” until 2012, when then-president François Hollande said it was time to end that term. But France has economic and security interests on the African continent, as is the case in the Sahel region in the north, where French troops have been present since 2013 in the face of the terrorist threat.
After the Second World War, France recognized the legitimacy of the right to autonomy of its colonies. However, before and after this, he continued to enrich himself by exploiting African energy sources and mines.
Historians claim that Sub-Saharan Africa became the “backyard” of Paris, preserving military bases as protection against Soviet and American influence at the time.
Achille Mbembe, who is one of the most influential critics of French neocolonialist African politics, said in an interview on the Politis website that, at the meeting on October 8 in Montpellier, less pleasant topics will also be discussed, such as anti-sentiment. -French in Africa, “especially in the backyard countries: military interventions, control of the CFA franc, Francophonie and the role of business in development. There is a general feeling that the giants Bolloré, Bouygues, TotalEnergies and others enjoy privileges on the continent, and that it is the result of collusion between certain segments of the French and African elites, ”said the historian.
With AFP and local media
.