A visit to “send a signal of political priority given to the African continent”. Emmanuel Macron returns to Africa on Monday, his first trip outside Europe since his re-election in April. He is waiting for the Head of State at night in Yaoundé, for his first visit to Cameroon. On Wednesday he will fly to Benin, before arriving in Guinea-Buissau on Thursday, the last leg of this African tour.
This four-day trip will allow the French president to reaffirm his “commitment to the process of renewing France’s relations with the African continent,” explains the Elysee.
Agri-food files, French military presence
During his first term, Emmanuel Macron favored visits to the countries of the Sahel – the anti-jihadist struggle is obligatory – and to non-Francophone African countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia or South Africa, leaving aside in practice those of the former pre-square France in Central Africa, including Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Cameroon. States that have developed their political and economic relations with other powers such as China, Russia or Germany.
During the visit, “issues of governance and the rule of law will be dealt with at each stage, without media interdict but in the form of direct exchanges with their counterparts,” underlines the Elysee. For whom “the line of the French president is in no way to set himself up as a giver of lessons.”
In addition to the agri-food issues exacerbated by the Ukrainian crisis, the challenge for the head of state is to rethink the French military presence on the continent after the current departure from Mali. A visit that comes as Emmanuel Macron announced last week his desire to “rethink for the fall all” France’s military systems “on the African continent”, while the Barkhane anti-jihadist force completes its exit from Mali.
The threat of Boko Haram
In Yaoundé, Emmanuel Macron will debate with the young people who participated in the Africa-France summit in Montpellier, prepared by Professor Achille Mbembe, who will be present in particular with the artist Greg-Belobo, former coach of the Cameroonian team Claude Le Roy and the former player French rugby player Serge Betsen.
Discussions will also focus on the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the Farm initiative launched in March with the European Union and the African Union to increase agricultural production. France intends to support projects in Cameroon, which has many advantages in this sector.
Talks with Cameroonian President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for almost 40 years, should also focus on the threat of Boko Haram in the north of the country and the conflict in the north-west and south. from the country. the West for more than five years, from armed separatist groups to the police.
This issue will also be discussed in Benin, which, bordering Burkina Faso, has suffered jihadist attacks, and to which France is willing to provide “concrete support”, in particular in intelligence or air support.
The Sahel issue will also be discussed in Guinea-Bissau, whose president Umaro Sissoco Embalo is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the front line against the Malian junta.
During these four days, Emmanuel Macron will be accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces, Catherine Colonna and Sébastien Lecornu, the Delegate Minister for Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, as well as the Secretary of State for Development, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou.
Source: BFM TV
