French President Macron Ends His Africa Tour

 

Politico: Macron lays out ‘new era’ for France’s reduced presence in Africa  

France will significantly reduce its military presence in Africa, where its bases will be ‘co-administered’ with local army forces, the president said. 

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday for his country to build “a new, balanced relationship” with Africa, as the former colonial power seeks to reduce its military presence on the continent. 

“The objective of this new era is to deploy our security presence in a partnership-based approach,” Macron said in a speech in Paris, ahead of a tour that will take him to Gabon, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo later this week. 

In the future, French military bases on the continent will be “co-administered” with local personnel, the French president said, while there will be a “visible decrease” in the number of French troops stationed in Africa over the next few months.  

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Update #1: Macron ends Africa tour with wish for fair reset of ties (Reuters)  

Update #2: Macron Outlines France’s New Policy Strategy for Africa (Modern Diplomacy)  

WNU Editor: Not a good trip for the French President. The French military is being told to leave in numerous countries, and even though he is vowing a new era of no interference .... Macron vows era of French interference in Africa is over (RFI), he was met with skepticism. A skepticism that is justified as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni explains in the video below:

Italian Prime Minister @GiorgiaMeloni delivered this powerful and fiery speech exposing France's ongoing economic imperialism in Africa. pic.twitter.com/AwKufINILb

— 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) November 20, 2022

Update #3: When all else fails, blame Russia .... How Moscow chased France out of Africa (Politico).

France And Five West African States To Step Up Anti-Terror Efforts In Sahel Region

Reuters: France, West Africa to unite forces in fight against Islamist militants

PARIS (Reuters) - France and five West African states agreed on Monday to combine their military forces under one command structure to fight a growing Islamist militancy in the Sahel region, with Paris committing an extra 220 troops.

French President Emmanuel Macron had called the leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, known as the G5, to the southwestern French town of Pau to discuss the battle against insurgents in the Sahel, an arid region just below the Sahara desert.

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WNU Editor: When militants can launch attacks like this one, you know you have a serious problem .... Death Toll From Niger Army Base Attack Rises To 89 (January 11, 2020).

More News On France And Five West African States Agreeing To Step Up Anti-Terror Efforts In Sahel Region

Live: France, Sahel nations pledge to bolster anti-jihadist fight, urge US to maintain support -- France 24
France summit: Macron and Sahel partners step up jihadist fight -- BBC
French president and African leaders to step up anti-terror efforts in Sahel region -- Arab News
France to send extra 220 troops to fight Islamist militants in Sahel: Macron -- Reuters
France's Macron to host G5 Sahel presidents in Pau -- Al Jazeera
Is the French army the last line of defence against jihadists in Sahel region? -- France 24
France summit: Sahel crisis in danger of slipping out of control -- Louise Dewast, BBC News

Top General In France: Total Victory Against Islamist Insurgents In West Africa Is Impossible

A soldier pays tribute to his late commanders at Gao French Army base, after thirteen French soldiers were killed when their helicopters collided at low altitude as they swooped in to support ground forces engaged in combat with Islamist militants, in Gao, Mali November 27, 2019. Etat-major des armees/Handout via REUTERS

Reuters: As France mourns 13 soldiers, top general says full victory in Africa impossible

PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - France will never secure total victory over Islamist insurgents in West Africa, its top general said on Wednesday, after 13 soldiers died in a helicopter crash during a combat mission in Mali, France’s worst single loss of troops for 36 years.

General Francois Lecointre said France’s military role in the Sahel region south of the Sahara was “useful, good and necessary”, but it was hard to see the moment when the war would finally be won.

The remarks could embolden opponents of President Emmanuel Macron, in particular on the far-left, who are demanding France plots a way out of the conflict.

“We will never achieve a definitive victory,” Lecointre, chief of staff of the armed forces, told France Inter radio.

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WNU Editor: He is right. The region is massive and the resources that France and other countries have committed to fight Islamist insurgents is not even close to being adequate.

France's Colonial Ties to Africa Are Fraying

From Wall Street Journal:

PARIS -- As French President Nicolas Sarkozy attends the funeral Tuesday of President Omar Bongo of Gabon, France is reopening a debate on whether it has turned the page on decades of close, often secretive relationships with the oil-rich central West African nation and other former African colonies.

Mr. Sarkozy pledged in his campaign and soon after he was elected in 2007 to do away with France's sub-rosa military and business operations in Africa. There is no clear sign, however, that he has moved in that direction.

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My Comment: It is hard to keep treaties in place with failed states .... and Africa is one failed state. So the ties are fraying .... I am not surprised.