French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated Thursday that France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa after he began a four-nation tour of the continent.
Speaking in remarks to the French community in Gabon, Macron said ‘the age of Francafrique is well over,’ referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.
Macron is visiting four central African countries at a time when France finds itself facing a wave of hostility among troubled former colonies in the Sahel, forcing it to withdraw its troops.
Africa Today News, New York reports that ahead of his visit, Macron on Monday gave some details of the redeployment of French forces, after their departure from Mali and the Central African Republic in 2022 and from Burkina Faso last month.
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He said there would be a ‘noticeable reduction’ in the French troop presence in Africa ‘in the coming months’ and a greater focus on training and equipping allied countries’ forces.
In his remarks in Libreville, Macron insisted that the reorganisation was ‘neither a withdrawal nor disengagement but adapting an arrangement’ with allies.
Macron arrived late Wednesday in Gabon, a close French supporter, for a conference on preserving tropical forests — an initiative that he and Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba unveiled at last year’s UN climate conference.
After attending the summit section of the conference on Thursday, he heads to Angola before flying on Friday to the Republic of Congo and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that he will visit China sometime in April to seek the Chinese government’s help with ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The announcement on Saturday came after China published a 12-point position paper that called for a ceasefire and a ‘political settlement’ to end the year-long conflict.