The French president came under some criticism during his visit to four countries in the region, while France claims to want to redefine its African policy.
He had left to tie “a new relationship” with the countries of Central Africa. President Emmanuel Macron concluded his series of visits on Saturday March 4 in Gabon, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During these four days, the Head of State wanted to address the “future” of the Africa-France partnership, through various fields such as security, diplomacy and ecology.
>> Emmanuel Macron’s tour in Africa: “There is no longer the popular enthusiasm that there could have been at the time”, says a specialist
However, the past resurfaced several times during exchanges with his counterparts, despite his desire to chase away the ghosts of Françafrique, in particular through announcements concerning the French military presence and works of art. Franceinfo looks back on this African tour.
Gabon: tropical forests and… Ali Bongo on the menu
Arriving in Gabon on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron took part in the One Forest Summit in Libreville (capital of Gabon), which brought together several African Heads of State around the preservation of tropical forests. “We will make an additional €100 million available to countries wishing to accelerate their strategy to protect vital carbon and biodiversity reserves”promised the French president, who is demanding “more political commitment” African countries in exchange for funding.
But the “action plan” Emmanuel Macron’s ecology was not the only subject discussed during his Gabonese stopover. Accused, with this visit, of indirectly supporting the outgoing president, Ali Bongo, candidate for his re-election this year, he strongly defended himself. “I did not come to invest anyone. I only came to show my friendship and my consideration to a country and a brotherly people”he justified himself, after having assured that the era of “Francafrique” was “gone”.
Asked about the reduction of the French military presence in Africa, Emmanuel Macron assured that it did not constitute “neither a withdrawal nor a disengagement”but rather a way of adapting to certain struggles, against drug trafficking or piracy for example.
Priority to agriculture and “made in Africa” in Angola
For Emmanuel Macron, Angola must be an important new partner of France. In Luanda, the capital of the country, he took part in an economic forum focused on agriculture on Friday, alongside around fifty French companies. No question of “come and dump ready-made solutions”assured the French president, who called for cooperation “respectful” in order to enable Angola, a major importer of food products, to achieve sovereignty in this area.
“It corresponds to the idea I have of the economic partnership between the African continent and France”he detailed in front of the audience, before praising the merits of the “made in Africa” (“made in Africa”). Cooperation agreements to strengthen the Angolan agricultural sector have been concluded, in particular through aid from the French Development Agency amounting to 200 million euros, underlines RFI, which must be used to finance a program of “climate resilience”.
In parallel with this forum, Emmanuel Macron met his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenço, whose commitment he praised “for the stability of the region”in particular its mediation in the conflict between Rwanda and the DRC around the Congolese region of North Kivu.
An express stopover in Brazzaville
The stage was planned as complex, almost dissonant with regard to the foreign policy defended by Paris. Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Congo-Brazzaville on Friday was logically the shortest of his tour. The country has been ruled for nearly 40 years by one and the same man, President Denis Sassou Nguesso, whom the tenant of the Elysee Palace briefly met.
On the eve of Emmanuel Macron’s arrival in Brazzaville, Congolese human rights organizations set out their concerns in a statement on Thursday, asking the French president to relay them to his counterpart. In their statement, the NGOs particularly deplore the “shrinking civic space”enforced disappearances, summary executions and “death” prisons…
The nature of the discussions between the two men did not filter. The Head of State conceded to have stopped in the Congo “because you shouldn’t humiliate anyone when you’re on tour”even if its interlocutors are not always elected to the “best democratic standard”. His visit has in any case was considered too short by its hosts.
Tense exchanges and a discreet meeting in the DRC
The last segment of Emmanuel Macron’s official trip promised to be the most complicated. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday, it “had to defend a balancing act between the DRC and Rwanda regarding the crisis in the east of the country” described to franceinfo François Soudan, editorial director of the newspaper Young Africa. “To put it simply, the Congolese president criticizes France for not clearly condemning what he calls ‘Rwandan aggression’ and Macron prefers to place himself in the background of regional UN mediations”details the specialist.
During the joint press briefing of the two leaders, the President of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, made a point of denouncing I’“unjust and barbaric aggression” of Rwanda in the east of the country. “The open looting of the Democratic Republic of Congo must stop. No looting, no balkanization, no war”defended Emmanuel Macron, before timidly calling on everyone to “take responsibility, including Rwanda”. The French president also announced the release of aid of 34 million euros, in addition to the 47 million promised by the EU, to help the populations of eastern DRC in the grip of the M23 rebellion. .
Speaking to journalists, the exchanges between the two heads of state were on several occasions tense. “Look at us differently by respecting us, by considering us as true partners and not always with a paternalistic look, with the idea always of knowing what is necessary for us”declared Félix Tshisekedi in particular to the applause of the Congolese press.
The leader of the DRC did not digest the expression “African compromise” used by the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to qualify his election in January 2019. “When there are irregularities [dans des élections en Occident], we are not talking about American-style, French-style compromises”got carried away the Congolese president.
Just before this press conference, Emmanuel Macron had discreetly visited Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, a popular doctor and tipped as a candidate for the next presidential election in the DRC. According to information from France Inter, the Elysee Palace only made this meeting public after Emmanuel Macron left for France. A news that is not likely to improve relations between Paris and Kinshasa.