Marc Messier 11:46 a.m., February 28, 2023

On the eve of his departure for a four-day visit to West Africa, Emmanuel Macron laid the foundations for a new model of relations between France and Africa.

Objective: to be less present but more influential.

The Head of State is not nostalgic for Françafrique.

But what do we mean by Françafrique?

Emmanuel Macron is expected in Libreville, Gabon on Wednesday.

A first stopover on his African tour.

On Monday, the Head of State laid the foundations for a new relationship with West Africa.

Fewer soldiers, more training and equipment and a law to regulate the return of works of art to countries that request it.

Objective: to be less present but more influential.

"France no longer has a backyard in Africa. It has duties, interests, friendships that it wants to build, pursue, strengthen in order to pursue solid policies in each of the areas that you represent here. I have no for my part, no nostalgia vis-à-vis Françafrique, but I do not want to leave an absence or a void behind", declared the head of state.

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A neologism from 1945

La Françafrique, a term that tells part of the story of the complex links between Paris and its former colonies.

But what exactly are we talking about?

In 1945 a journalist from

L'Aurore

invented the neologism "Françafrique".

The idea of ​​a French-style Commonwealth.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny will take up the expression before becoming the first president of independent Côte d'Ivoire and the first guardian of the French pre-square in Africa.

Sédar Senghor, Bongo, Eyadema will follow him in the muffled footsteps of Jacques Foccart, kingmaker, of General de Gaulle, craftsman of the CFA franc, and installer of French troops in the former colonies.

The era of a real French policy in Africa, some will regret.

A mafia system will denounce the others.

Oil and ill-gotten gains, suitcases of cash, rigged elections, putschs, masons and spooks... 60 years later, the old crocodiles are all dead, but we are still talking about Françafrique.