The senator (PS) of the French from abroad does not go overboard when it comes to saying what she thinks of the African policy of France. Hélène Conway-Mouret has been surveying the field in recent months, with no less than three countries visited since the start of 2023, and delivers a bitter observation regarding the French presence on the African continent. “From the West to the East, passing through Central Africa”, the politician believes that Africans oscillate between hostility and indifference. How did we get here ? The former Deputy Minister in charge of French nationals abroad under the Ayrault government points out both the lack of consultation in the very definition of French strategy in Africa, the absence of France in key markets, and today an overly restrictive visa policy. She answered questions from Point Afrique, at a time when the Head of State is about to give new impetus to Franco-African relations and begin a tour of Central Africa.
Le Point Afrique: President Macron begins a tour of four Central African countries. You have just returned from a trip to the African continent. How is the Franco-African relationship doing on the ground?
Hélène Conway-Mouret: I was recently in Djibouti and Ethiopia, earlier, earlier this year, I visited Mauritania. These are very different countries, located to the east and west of the continent. What I can point out is that I spent time there. And I believe that it is essential, today, to spend time in Africa. The African continent requires time to better understand all its dimensions.
This is exactly the opposite of what President Macron is about to do, in the wake of his predecessors. He will spend at most 24 hours in each country, it is no longer conceivable. Africans need us to listen to what they have to say. We can no longer arrive with certainties. Unfortunately, we have not evolved enough on this approach. And today, our clumsiness or inappropriate remarks are cheerfully relayed on all social networks locally. Our political staff really have to be very careful about their speeches, the slightest unfortunate phrase can have irremediable consequences.
Going back to the President’s tour, it gives, once again, the impression that the French have no time to devote to Africa. Everything happens as if Africa were a secondary subject. I think that on the contrary, we must seriously consider this continent, understand it better, and grasp the realities on the ground. Because the future is being played out there.
Anti-French sentiment is growing in Africa, what do you see?
We must qualify the answer, because there are several Africas. In West Africa, today, I note an increasingly marked hostility, it is flagrant. This applies to all the countries of the sub-region. Obviously, the cases of Mali and Burkina Faso are highly publicized, but when you take the time to listen to people, you can easily see that the whole of West Africa is in this dynamic. anti-French.
In Central Africa, it’s different, I note a growing lack of interest. France has lost its place as a privileged partner in several countries with which it nevertheless has a strong colonial past. It’s over, that time is over.
From now on, we are on the same level as the other countries, we have to earn our place as partners and there is no longer any capital of trust on which we can count. We are no longer the only ones and we are no longer the best, and yet we continue to believe that we are.
I believe it takes a radical change of mindset. The context of Africa has evolved, we are in competition with others and as long as we have not changed our software, the anti-French feeling will only increase.
The situation is also different in East Africa, where I come from. We don’t have the same story, and so there’s not really any hostility here, just indifference.
I was in Ethiopia and Djibouti, two countries with different ties to France, but where we oscillate between indifference and lament. In Djibouti, for example, many regret the reluctance of France, which once had a very privileged place. Now, the competition is fierce with the Chinese or the Turks. Let’s take a concrete example: while we only offer one Air France flight per week, on Thursdays, that is to say, in the middle of the weekend, which begins on Friday, in Djibouti, others such as Turkish Airlines operate daily flights. However, Djibouti must be strategic for us, because this country is a business hub in the region, and there is business to be done there, things are moving a lot.
This drastic reduction in flights also means that there are fewer cargo flights, and therefore French products are less available locally. Ultimately, France is no longer visible to the population, as before.
We have the French Institute, which is doing tremendous work, and which we could support better, in order to continue to inspire African youth and attract them to us, but there too, we have made the choice to cut budgets. Eventually, we deprive ourselves thinking that we are loved everywhere anyway. This is not the case.
What is the feedback from French expatriates there? Do they feel threatened? How are they prepared to deal with this growing feeling?
On the ground, obviously, our French entrepreneurs are hanging on, they are really conquering, however, I note that too often, Africa is only considered through the prism of risk. This vision prevents French companies from going to certain African markets. We must therefore not lament the fact that the others are present everywhere and that France disappears almost everywhere.
If others take that risk, why wouldn’t we be able to do the same and get ahead? In any case, our risk-taking, today, is not strong enough.
We also have dual nationals, who are necessarily more affected by what is happening. They feel these difficulties even more than the others because they are both identified as French and also as nationals. They hang on, they are resilient, they go through political crises, health crises, climate crises, and stay, unlike others who leave at the first difficulty.
As President Macron presents new guidelines for French African policy, what are your thoughts?
I wonder a lot about our trajectory. What is our line of strength? What is our backbone? Honestly, I can’t answer these questions. For this presidential trip, it will be about the environment, forest protection, major issues, but I emphasize that in African opinions, what goes up is that the French president is going to four oil-producing countries! The choice of Gabon is not so easy to understand, we are already criticized for a lot of things in other countries, like in Chad.
For the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo, editor’s note), the choice can be explained by a desire to balance relations with Rwanda.
Our African policy clearly lacks coherence. We must more seriously know how to explain why we favor one interlocutor and not another. We must also be able to settle our colonialist past with certain States, in order to move forward more calmly.
If we had a clear African policy with sincere messages both for young people and for all countries, things would be better for us on the ground.
All African policy is thought out and implemented from the Élysée, and we parliamentarians are totally ignored, while we could move forward together on these subjects, bring cross-views in order to get African policy out of the game of political confrontation. . Even if the President of the Republic was ultimately to make all the interventions, take all the decisions, it still deserves to be thought about collectively. It’s not bits of decision, announcement of withdrawal here and there, or redeployment that will make the difference. The French soldiers are, moreover, not always in agreement with this approach, nor the diplomats. A real African policy requires a much broader collective commitment because this continent is the future, and not only for its natural resources but also for its people. Just look at the dynamism of African youth.
How do you interpret the fact that Russia is pushing more and more of its pawns into the old French “backyard”… Is Moscow waging a proxy war against France in Africa?
We can’t blame everything on the Russians. They are only engulfed in a movement that is general because they see that there is a response in African youth. And I come back to the source of the problem, it is us and our lack of coherence in our African strategy that works against us. What do we say to young Africans, the majority? Should we continue to support presidents who have been in power for 40 years and in addition think that they remain in place thanks to us, with stifled opposition in the countries. I think we have to stop blaming everything on the Russians who are just taking advantage of the situation. The Chinese do the same thing, they are quite active on local social networks, and are quite efficient, but we don’t talk about it. Let’s stop thinking that it’s because of others that we have difficulties in Africa.
Parisian software has not changed because we have experts who are excellent, but they are out of step with a reality that is changing much faster than they can imagine.
The Russians, Chinese, Turks and others just got it. We continue to fly only once a week with a visa policy where half the people can’t leave because they don’t get it. In the meantime, we have Turkey with Turkish Airlines doing intra-Africa, which we’ve never done!
How do you explain the rise of this anti-French feeling beyond the Malian and Burkinabe cases where the context of the fight against jihadism is often advanced? What about other countries?
We are faced with a young generation which rejects colonialism, and which has not known Françafrique. Opposite, France no longer makes them dream. Before, in these mostly French-speaking countries, it was possible to come and study in France, there were partnerships for training, numerous exchanges through cooperation, today we have a visa policy which is too restrictive, particularly in several West and North African countries.
What are the feedback from the field about this, how is it going concretely and what is not working…
Among the problems raised, there is the fact that people lose their plane ticket reserved early enough to reduce the often very high cost, when the visa is not granted or arrives too late. They often have to make their reservation in the middle of the night or pay providers – for a service that is free! This is not what is expected of public service.
It should be added to this that in order to speed up the procedure, these service providers offer a progressive rate which can reach 300 euros and that private pharmacies block the slots available on the Internet and then resell them at rates which go up to 500 euros. . In some countries, they have set up near the consulate and thus pick up desperate people who, for professional, family or medical reasons, absolutely have to go to France. These services create inequalities in access to visas between those who can pay for this option and those who cannot.
From my point of view, we humiliate the applicants, we block them, with time-consuming procedures, and above all, this has a cost.
How did we get here ?
Since Brice Hortefeux and the Sarkozy administration, it is the Ministry of the Interior that dictates visa policy in France. The system as it functions today is a total aberration. We have a Ministry of the Interior which does internal politics. Our visa policy is no longer limited to statistics and hostile messages sent to foreigners. We’re stopping them from coming to our house, and we’ve got it all wrong!
