Niamey (AFP)
After activating the end of the CFA franc, the symbol of Françafrique, French President Emmanuel Macron ended his visit to Côte d'Ivoire in Bouaké to cheer before going to Niamey where he was welcomed on Sunday afternoon by his ally in the anti-jihadist struggle, President Mahamadou Issoufou.
"ADO! ADO! Macron! Macron!" Chanted the crowd, welcoming the French President and his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Dramane Ouattara, known as "ADO", in Bouaké, the second city of Côte d'Ivoire.
"This is the first time since Côte d'Ivoire has existed that a French president has come to Bouaké. And he has come to build our market, the only place of activity in Bouaké. We really thank him," said Sanata Traore, trader, during the laying of the cornerstone of the Bouaké market.
Costing 60 million euros, financed by France, the site, which will be the largest covered market in West Africa, will bring together 8,500 traders on nearly 9 hectares.
The Ivorian and French authorities hope that this infrastructure will revive the once flourishing economic activity and make us forget the past of Bouaké, ex-capital of the rebellion, a barracks town regularly shaken by mutinies or rebellious movements from the military.
"We can never thank President Macron enough. This market burned more than 20 years ago and we, traders, were in distress and resourcefulness. We will have a new modern market", rejoiced Claude Kouassi, bookseller in Bouaké.
The two presidents, who did not speak, laid the foundation stone during a ceremony dispatched at a run. The time, all the same for President Macron, expected in Niamey, to receive as a gift a ... horse!
Previously, they had paid tribute in the old Descartes high school to the nine French soldiers and one American killed there in 2004, by a bombing of the Ivorian army. A pivotal episode in the decade of Ivorian crisis in November 2004 and a dossier that keeps many gray areas.
During a very sober ceremony, Presidents Macron and Ouattara unveiled a stele "In memory of the American citizen and the nine French soldiers who died in the accomplishment of their duty" and laid wreaths in Ivorian and French colors. They then observed a minute of silence as we heard the clamor of the crowd waiting outside.
This act must "work on the essential work of reconciliation which the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire so badly needs and which is the path on which it is advancing," Macron said the day before.
- Arrival in Niamey -
The French president then arrived in Niamey. He will participate in another tribute ceremony, this time in honor of the 71 Nigerien soldiers who recently died in the attack on a military camp by the jihadists.
Above all, he will be able to meet with his Nigerian counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou and prepare the summit in Pau (south-west of France) which is due to bring together on January 13 the Sahelian heads of state of the G5 Sahel force.
On the same wavelength as Mr. Issoufou, who reiterated his support for the French operation Barkhane, Mr. Macron once again demanded clarity from the Sahelian governments on Saturday on the French military presence in the area.
"If this political clarity is not established, France in certain countries will draw all the consequences from it," he warned.
"When he talks about clarification, President Macron is targeting IBK (Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the Malian president) and Kaboré (Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the Burkinabè president)", a security source told AFP recently.
On December 4, in the wake of the death of 13 French soldiers in Mali, Emmanuel Macron invited the Sahelian heads of state to this summit in Pau (where the majority of the soldiers were stationed). The announcement had been badly felt by many who had perceived it rather as a "summons" even when there is in the region a growing anti-French feeling.
On Saturday, Mr. Macron presented himself as the builder of a new era of relations with French-speaking Africa by sounding the death knell for the CFA franc.
The abandonment of the CFA franc and this new relationship could, he said, change the image of France: "Too often today France is perceived" as having "a look of hegemony and the tinsel of colonialism which was a deep mistake, a fault of the Republic, "he said on Saturday.
© 2019 AFP