Reactions to President Emmanuel Macron's speech on France's African policy
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, presented, this Monday, February 27, 2023, at the Élysée Palace the orientations of his African policy for the years to come.
REUTERS - POOL
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
Before starting, Wednesday, March 1, his tour of the African continent which will take him to Gabon, Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, presented, this Monday, February 27, the news orientations of its African policy.
First reactions collected by RFI.
Advertisement
Read more
Libreville, Gabonese capital, is the first stage of this tour where we will find our special correspondent
Paulina Zidi
.
"
It's a pre-match discussion, before going out on the pitch
," said Emmanuel Macron to discuss this speech on the future Africa-France partnership, a speech he therefore wanted to make in France because it also applies to the French.
Do not talk about Africa only in Africa, but mobilize before this marathon trip.
Four countries, in four days - Gabon, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - and four themes: the fight against climate change and the protection of forests in Libreville, food security in Luanda, memorial issues in Brazzaville and finally economic, scientific and cultural exchanges and partnerships in Kinshasa.
A long sequence for this 18ᵉ trip of the French president on the continent, the second in Central Africa in barely six months.
“
I assume this tonic accent
”, added Emmanuel Macron, in a region plagued by security challenges, but also environmental, health and other.
A balancing act also for the French president who is traveling to two countries, Gabon and the DRC, in the middle of an election year, with presidential elections planned, respectively at the end of the summer and at the end of the year, a calendar which has already made some of the opposition and Gabonese civil society react, for whom this trip could be seen as support for President Ali Bongo, who could run for a third term.
Follow-up to the speech in Dakar
In Senegal, our correspondent
Charlotte Idrac
followed the speech with students from the CESTI school of journalism, at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar
.
We followed him in front of a giant screen, a large screen connected to France 24, live, with around twenty young students.
Speech carefully followed.
Some took notes, very focused.
There were a few smiles, sighs too.
But really, in the end, what emerges is that this speech did not convince these young people.
“
Nothing new
”, said one of them who had followed the
Ouagadougou speech in 2017
.
He said he had the feeling of having heard the same things, the same words, the same promises of rupture.
“
It was infantilizing speech
,” said another.
Several denounced “
contradictions, ambiguities
”.
For example, when President Macron says he does not want to enter a competition on the continent, it is precisely because he knows that the competition is fierce that he speaks out.
On democracy too, many reacted by denouncing
France's "
double standards " on the question of third terms in Africa or on the transition in Chad.
"
There are no anti-French feelings, but there is a pro-African feeling
", this is what several of these young people said, with a clear desire for change.
Let us add that this speech had not at all given rise to debate upstream, in Dakar.
Nothing on this subject in the press of the day.
Almost no student at CESTI was aware, in advance, of this speech by Emmanuel Macron this afternoon.
Safety and partnership
Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, is one of the stages of the official trip of the French head of state.
Joined by RFI, Christophe Lutundula, Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, therefore noted various points of Emmanuel Macron's speech, in particular the security aspects and economic partnerships.
“
There is food and drink… the menu is extensive.
As far as we, the DRC, are concerned, I note with great interest two fundamental elements.
First, President Macron recognizes that France is accountable for the past and that until then, there has been no result, in any case, the expected results.
»
“
There is also an essential element, in any case, for us, the DRC, it is that he underlined the centrality and the preeminence of the question of security in Africa.
Not having the language of wood, I think that the position of France vis-à-vis Rwanda must be clear.
France has asked Rwanda to stop its support for the M23, France must also pay particular attention to the way in which Rwanda has received this message, this request, and applies it.
»
“
The president also spoke about support for entrepreneurship.
This is a chapter that interests us because in reality, there are really no French interests, in any case not significant, in the DRC.
»
Change language elements
“
Partnership
” is undoubtedly the word most used by Emmanuel Macron during his speech.
The French Head of State wants to put an end to the notion of "pre-square" and establish new relations with the States of the continent... expressions and vocabulary that are not to the taste of civil society, particularly in the Burkina Faso, as Eric Ismaël Kinda, spokesperson for Balai Citoyen, points out.
“
When we talk about France-Africa relations
;
France's relations with the African continent, how do you expect it to be a country with an entire continent
?
We must first start by changing the language elements
!
»
“
It's a speech that gives the appearance of a president who makes a self-criticism, but in the end, it is nothing at all.
It's a vocabulary that we try to adapt, that we try to remodel to give the impression that we are trying to change the line, the way of doing things.
»
“
We don't really want France that much.
France only defends its interests and Macron is the man of the big bosses.
So he could not hold a speech other than one that emphasizes the economy.
It is not Emmanuel Macron's speech that will change our destiny.
We have long understood that it is up to us to fight to change our destiny.
We don't start dreaming because a French president delivered a speech to the world and to the African continent.
»
► To read also France's African policy: return to President Macron's speech
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
France
Emmanuel Macron
Africa