In a speech at the Elysée Palace, two days before the start of a tour in Central Africa, the head of state will specify his “vision of partnership with African countries”.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron will present his strategy for Africa on Monday, February 27, for the next four years in order to “deepen the partnership between France, Europe and the continent”, announced the Elysée on Friday.
In a speech at the Elysée, two days before the start of a tour in Central Africa, he will specify his “vision of the partnership with the African countries” and “the course he gives himself” for his second five -year term , said an advisor to the president.
Emmanuel Macron will go to four Central African countries next week: Gabon, Angola, Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. “He will exhibit the objectives of this trip and, more broadly, his priorities and his method to deepen the partnership between France, Europe and the African continent,” the Elysée said in a press release. This speech, scheduled at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. GMT), will be followed by a press conference with French and African journalists from a distance. 2>
feeling antifrançais
He will follow the speech delivered in Ugadougou, November 28, 2017, in which Emmanuel Macron had marked his desire to turn the page with the postcolonial African policy of France, imprint of political collusions and sulfurous links, and stretched the hand to an increasingly suspicious African youth vis-à-vis France.
But the anti -French feeling has since gained ground in the former African “pre -Carré” of Paris, the French army had to leave Mali and Burkina Faso where it was engaged in anti -terrorist operations and French influence On the continent is increasingly disputed by Russia and China.
Speech like the African tour will also be an opportunity to present the new contours of the French military presence on the continent after the end of the “Barkhane” operation and the withdrawal of the army of Mali and Burkina to Burkina The request of the juntes in power in these two countries.
The Head of State may “explain the evolution of our military presence in Africa more, an evolution which concerns primarily West Africa but also Central Africa,” said the advisor. “The philosophy of this change is not to put more or to put less (of men), things will also evolve between different countries, it is to cooperate differently,” added the advisor. “We get out of a cycle where France has needed or tend to put itself on the front line. We enter a cycle where we will work in the second curtain,” he specified.