Montpellier (AFP)

Coming from all over the continent, young Africans expressed frankly their expectations and frustrations on democracy and the relationship with France, directly appealing to President Emmanuel Macron during an unprecedented summit in Montpellier (south) which favored the word of Civil society.

Arrived at the end of the morning, Emmanuel Macron, host and only president of this summit without heads of state, went from round table to round table, before a plenary scheduled for the afternoon.

On the stand devoted to the restitution of looted works, the Head of State announced that France would give back to Benin at the end of October 26 works of art from the "Trésor de Béhanzin", looted at the Abomey Palace in 1892 during the colonial wars.

During his stroll, the president was arrested on several occasions.

"I can no longer see African youth dying in the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, a woman told him.

A young Guinean then urged him to "support the Guinean transition" after the putsch that overthrew President Alpha Condé in September, of which Mr. Macron agreed that "the third term was not opportune".

- Expectations and frustrations -

This Africa-France summit wanted to give the floor to civil society and, for the first time since 1973, excluded the heads of state of the continent.

Coming from Burkina Faso, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco ... the young guests had a lot to say to France, concerning the colonial heritage, visa policy or development aid.

From the opening of the summit, to which some 3,000 people were invited, the round table "Citizen engagement and democracy" attracted many spectators and speakers.

"We hope that Montpellier will be a new start. Let us listen to the African ground, African youth, they have things to say to the world and to France," said Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute.

Referring to the recent decision of Paris to drastically reduce the number of visas for Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians, Mehdi Alioua, professor of political science in Rabat, deplored a "collective punishment" and denounced the visa policy as a "system humiliation (and) annoyance ", to the applause of the audience.

The issue of mobility remains a very important concern of African youth, who have not seen President Emmanuel Macron's promises come true, four years after his speech in Ouagadougou.

Trade between France and Africa Cléa PÉCULIER AFP

Another highly discussed subject, the state of democracy on the African continent, and "French interference".

- Condescension -

"We are stuck between a condescending Western speech which wants to educate Africans and a speech of our governments affirming that the Westerners want to impose their values", lamented a young student of Aix-Marseille University, Habiba Issa Moussa, of origin Nigerian.

"The essential questions here are not entrepreneurship or sport - widely mentioned at the Montpellier summit, note - it is politics!"

for her part, launched the Burkinabè Sibila Saminatou Ouedraogo, criticizing Africa's "dependent relationship" to France.

Emmanuel Macron arrives at the Africa-France summit in Montpellier, October 8, 2021 Daniel Cole POOL / AFP

In the afternoon, President Macron was to debate with a panel of twelve young African women, selected at the end of the dialogues carried out for months across the continent by the Cameroonian intellectual Achille Mbembe, responsible for preparing the summit.

"I would really like to believe it," David Maenda Kithoko, a political refugee from the DRC in France, told AFP.

"But I have a lot of doubts. Regarding the relationship between France and Africa, there are a lot of big words on the one hand, and a lack of courage on the other," lamented the young activist.

At the end of the summit, the French president, likely candidate for re-election in seven months, could make other announcements, based on the proposals of Achille Mbembe.

Among them, the creation of a Fund intended to support initiatives to promote democracy, programs allowing greater student mobility, or the establishment of a "Euro-African forum on migration".

All in a particularly delicate context.

The influence of France in its former precinct is increasingly disputed, particularly by Russia.

And Paris is in open crisis with two of its former colonies, Mali and Algeria.

© 2021 AFP