Cinq jours, quatre pays: Emmanuel Macron entame jeudi une tournée en Afrique
Five days, four countries: French President Emmanuel Macron begins an African tour on Thursday in Mauritius which will also take him to South Africa, Gabon and Angola in order to "boost" new "dynamics" with the continent, far from the disavowal suffered in the Sahel.
At each stage, Emmanuel Macron intends to solidify a renewed relationship with Africa, in contrast to the legacy of colonial France ("Françafrique"), which he outlined in his Ouagadougou speech in 2017.
"The objective, as in each of his trips, is to give impetus to momentum and to promote the renewal of our relationship with Africa," the Elysée summarizes.
This entails a less military approach, more focused on youth and remembrance work, with new partnerships outside the traditional Francophone sphere. And each trip has a "strong economic component," notes the Élysée Palace.
It is also a way to turn the page after a resounding failure in the Sahel, from which the French army was pushed out, from Mali to Chad, at a time when the continent is being courted by other powers.
In Mauritius, Mr. Macron intends to strengthen, with this first visit by a French president since François Mitterrand in 1993, a partnership that is already long-standing but has become somewhat "stretched" in recent years.
Mauritius, experiencing strong economic growth thanks in particular to tourism and construction, has become a "success story" in which French companies can play a full part, it is explained in Paris.
"France has also just suffered a setback in Madagascar where the president (Andry Rajoelina) who was close to Emmanuel Macron was deposed (by the military, editor's note). There is therefore a need for rebalancing" of French diplomacy in the region, says François Gaulme, associate researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).
Welcoming the "transition" in Gabon
The French head of state will then travel to South Africa for a bilateral visit, marked by a stop at the memorial to the struggle against apartheid in Pretoria, and the G20 summit, Saturday and Sunday, in Johannesburg.
Emmanuel Macron will then make an important stop in Gabon, which has just emerged from 19 months of political transition following the coup that led to the ouster of President Ali Bongo in 2023.
There he will meet the man who overthrew the Bongo dynasty, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who was elected president in April following an election in which international observers noted no major irregularities.
President Oligui Nguema faces serious challenges at the helm of a country rich in oil but whose economy is struggling.
Mr. Macron will "welcome the completion of the transition" and "support the (new) authorities", the Elysée emphasizes.
French companies, for their part, hope to participate in the diversification of the Gabonese economy, particularly in the exploitation of minerals.
Since the coup, "the question mark in relations came more from the French side," notes François Gaulme. "Now, the situation is normalized from a constitutional point of view," he observes. "The new president is also much more Francophile than Ali Bongo," he adds.
The French president will conclude his tour on Monday in Angola, where a European Union–African Union summit will be held.
This meeting aims to take stock of the progress of the European "Global Gateway" strategy, launched in 2021 to finance African infrastructure to the tune of 150 billion euros.
Commentaires (19)
L ere des franc macons est revolue
VIVE Sonko
Les entreprises françaises espèrent de leur côté participer à la diversification de l'économie gabonaise, notamment dans l'exploitation de minerais.
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