Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to maintain French influence in Africa failing

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to maintain France’s sphere of influence in Africa has hit a roadblock, as security and political challenges force Paris to overhaul its ‘Françafrique’ strategy.

African observers say there is more resentment against the French today than before and many young Africans are vocally opposed to any hint of neocolonialism.

In a 2017 speech at the University of Ouagadougou in the African state of Burkina Faso, Macron claimed to end what has become known as “Françafrique”, the French strategy of exerting military, political and commercial influence over its former colonies on the continent.

Yet three years on, Macron’s claims have proven false, as French troops maintain their presence on African soil and its diplomats interfering in the politics of several resource-rich former colonial territories such as Guinea and Mali.

“No [French] president has wanted to let go of his reserved African domain, the veritable DNA of the presidency under the Fifth Republic,” wrote Pascal Airault and Jean-Pierre Bat in Françafrique: Secret Operations and Affairs of State.

France has been forced to gradually change its policy in Africa where it competes with old rivals such as the UK and newer ones such as China, Russia and Turkey.

“France is in an impasse whatever it does.” says Caroline Roussy, an Africa researcher at Iris, the Institute of International and Strategic Relations. She says Mr Macron’s new approaches to dealing with prickly African leaders have not always succeeded and a smarter strategy will be needed.

“He comes up against his own personality and the realities he can’t manage . . . At some point we have to end this unhealthy France-Africa relationship.”

French trade and business influence is also decreasing. A report last year for the French foreign and finance ministries on relaunching the country’s economic presence in Africa pointed out that France’s market share of the continent’s trade had halved to 5.5 per cent between 2000 and 2017.

France’s falling influence comes as numerous Muslim states have denounced Macron’s persistent support for blasphemy in his country against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“We will not give in, ever,” Macron tweeted on Sunday. The tweet served to back up his earlier support for a French teacher’s displaying of cartoons insulting of the Prophet of Islam in his class under the pretext of “freedom of speech.”




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