France works on Africa ties
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron’s tour of sub-Saharan countries is a symptom of emergency as Paris is losing its influence in Africa due to its leadership’s lack of vision for the continent, said Francois Asselineau, a former French top civil servant and political observer.
This week, Macron began a five-day tour to Congo, Gabon, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the Elysee Palace, the visit aims to enhance bilateral co-operation with countries in the region.
“This visit is an emergency, one might say. France is rapidly losing all influence in Africa, despite the fact that the French language has for 150 years been the only vehicle for the very many ethnic groups (in central Africa) to speak to each other. It is still often the language of the administration there, but that is changing rapidly,” said Asselineau, who also ran against Macron in the 2017 presidential election. He cited the case of Mali, which, according to reports, will relegate the French language’s status from official to working in its new constitution.
Another factor driving Africa’s antipathy for France, which is seen as part of the collective West, is the “perception that Europe is now devoting its billions in aid to Ukraine,” the expert said. “Animosity for Paris is growing all over the continent,” Asselineau said. “Young Africans want to get out of the French zone of influence and Macron, with his speeches perceived as sermons, is not accepted at all.”
The French leader “totally lacks vision” for Africa and is probably more interested in the continent’s natural resources than in political ties with African countries, Asselineau argued.
He said French diplomacy should have long focused on these ties of co-operation with Africa. France’s influence in Africa is being rapidly overshadowed by Russia and China, and one of the reasons is that, unlike France, their officials are “practical and not ideological or condescending,” and therefore welcomed anytime and everywhere across the continent, he said.
“Russia and China … have never given lessons of ‘democracy’ and have always respected the local leaders ... China and Russia behave with a presidential ethos, the one that African heads of state have themselves, and don’t pretend to be pals, like president Macron does with great arrogance.”
All this unwraps against the backdrop of accelerating trade between African countries and Russia and China, while France is gradually loosing its status as the dominant foreign trade partner on the continent, the expert said. Paris is also failing in the Sahel countries in its efforts to help fight radical Islamists due to a lack of financial means, which makes African states look for support from others, including Russia, Asselineau said.
“France is now unwelcome in several former colonies, probably permanently. And France does not have the financial means for its ambitions of military presence in Africa; this is also perceived by African leaders who are looking elsewhere for help, in particular to Russia. Behind France’s meddling in the Sahel, President Macron’s policy in Africa is perceived as infantilising.”
Last year, French troops withdrew from Mali, and in January, Burkina Faso officially ended France-led operations on its territory.