Emmanuel Macron has often traveled to the African continent. At least 14 times, maybe more often, it was said in advance from the Élysée Palace that the number was not exactly ready at the moment. One thing is certain: the trip that the French President will embark on this Wednesday is likely to be one of the more important.
Four countries in five days are on the program, after Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Macron should go. The trip comes at a time when France is reassessing its role on the African continent. The visit was “an important moment in the historical relationship with the African continent,” said Macron’s advisors in advance. It is time to end a phase that was primarily characterized by military operations.
Before boarding the plane to Libreville, the capital of Gabon, Macron explained his Africa policy in a speech earlier this week. In it he announced that France wanted to “visibly reduce” its military presence on the continent. He did not specify exactly how many soldiers should be withdrawn and by when. According to Macron, the French military bases should not be closed, but converted into academies or joint bases. It is a reading of the past to measure influence by military operations, Macron said in his speech.
Displaced from Mali and Burkina Faso
For a long time, France, with the troops it sent, was an important force in the fight against Islamist terrorist groups in the Sahel, which are particularly troubling Mali and Burkina Faso. France ended the “Barkhane” operation in Mali last year and withdrew its soldiers because the military junta there maintains close ties with Russia. Burkina Faso has also obtained a withdrawal of the French military.
When the UN General Assembly voted to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine last week, Mali voted with Russia for the first time. Three of the countries Macron is now visiting – Gabon, Angola, Congo – abstained.
France’s influence in its former colonies on the African continent is waning, and anti-French movements are growing in the Sahel. The question remains who will fill the gap left by France. Russia and China have recently been defending their interests in resource-rich countries ever more vehemently. “Macron is no longer the one setting the pace in France,” Africa expert Antoine Glaser recently analyzed in the newspaper on the left Liberation. “France’s influence on the continent has never seemed so weak, France is getting open competition.”
Shortly after taking office in 2017, Emmanuel Macron gave a programmatic speech in Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, in which he broke with the Africa strategies of his predecessors. At the time, Macron called for the end of the previous French Africa policy and distanced himself from the concept of Francefriquei.e. the quasi-neocolonial relations between France and the African continent.
“Africa is not a backyard and even less a continent where the Europeans or the French can dictate a development framework,” Macron said in his speech on Monday. You have to move from an auxiliary logic to a partnership-based investment logic. Only if you cultivate balanced and respectful relationships can you tackle challenges such as climate change together.
Upon arrival in Gabon, Emmanuel Macron will attend the One Forest Summit for Congo Basin Forest Conservation. In Angola he wants to advise on an agricultural partnership between the two countries. The French President also announced a law for the return of looted art.