In a long speech oscillating between humility and pragmatism, delivered Monday, February 27, 2023, under the golds of the Republic, the village hall of the Élysée, to underline “the solemnity” and “the importance” of his message, the president French has tried to redefine a new approach to its African policy, more focused on a partnership with the African continent, in various sectors such as economy, culture, sport, but also on the security issue. This partnership, which will be the theme of the South-North summit on June 23 in Paris, will apply, for example, to the economy.

Five years after the famous Ouagadougou speech held in a packed amphitheater at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, the President of the Republic, advocating “humility” and “responsibility”, first wanted to draw an assessment of his government’s action vis-à-vis Africa. Emmanuel Macron believes he has upset taboos during his first term, in particular on the highly contested CFA franc, or on the thorny question of the restitution of African cultural property looted during slavery and colonization. “We have kept our commitments,” hammered the head of state.

The essence of the French president’s message arrived very quickly. Emmanuel Macron insisted on the need to no longer see Africa as France’s backyard and above all he was very clear on one point: “Yes, France has interests to defend. “Many would like to encourage us to enter into a competition, which I personally consider to be anachronistic […]. Some arrive with their armies and their mercenaries here and there,” he said in a thinly veiled allusion to Russia and the Russian mercenary group Wagner, close to the Kremlin and deployed in particular in the Central African Republic and Mali, although Bamako defends himself. The Head of State bases his remarks on the hope of a possible reflux of Wagner’s men on the ground. “It’s the comfort of the reading grids of the past: measuring our influence by the number of our military operations, or satisfying ourselves with exclusive privileged links with leaders, or considering that economic markets are rightfully ours because we were there before “, he added. “That time has lived. “We must build a new balanced, reciprocal and responsible relationship” with the countries of the African continent, he hammered, on the eve of an African tour. Unveiling his African strategy based on three points: military presence, renewed partnership and youth, the French president further insisted that “we are in the middle of the ford […] there is still a second part of the river to cross “.

And the first project to come is that of the French military configuration in Africa. Indeed, the presidential speech also comes after months of procrastination around the French military reconfiguration in Africa and the end of the Barkhane anti-terrorist operation in the Sahel and the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali and Burkina Faso. These two countries are now controlled by military juntas and a feeling of hostility towards France is alive there. On the military level, the president reported without giving precise figures of an upcoming “visible reduction” of French military personnel in Africa and a “new model of partnership” involving a “rise in power” of Africans. France still deploys some 3,000 soldiers in the region, particularly in Niger and Chad, after having counted up to 5,500 men there, but it intends to rearticulate its system towards countries in the Gulf of Guinea, won over by the jihadist thrust, and therefore be less visible on the ground. “The transformation will begin in the coming months with a visible reduction in our numbers and a rise in power in [the French military bases] of our African partners,” he said.

The military strategy of the French president questions the experts. Indeed, how will France be able to reduce its military numbers in Africa while continuing to help African states fight against jihadists? Acknowledging that France’s military component alone cannot resolve multidimensional crises, particularly of domestic politics, the Head of State wishes for a more contractual evolution of the system, that is to say that the French army would respond to specific needs. France’s commitment to the anti-jihadist fight in the Sahel “will remain an immense pride shared with the allies who have joined us”, Emmanuel Macron said. But “it was not the role of France to provide, alone, political responses which had to take over from the military response”, he said. “We have despite ourselves assumed an exorbitant responsibility” in Mali, which gave arguments to opponents and allowed France to become “the ideal scapegoat”, he continued.

Gradually, the bases, in particular those of Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Gabon, where France has 1,700 troops, should be affected by the announced transformation. One of the avenues is to make way for academies, joint training sites, as envisaged in Côte d’Ivoire, where the Ivorians could, for example, welcome regional allies, also confronted with jihadism. On the other hand, the head of state confirmed that Djibouti – the largest French base abroad with some 1,500 men – would not be affected.

In this region, and on the continent as a whole, the influence of France and Westerners is contested by China and Russia. Thus, three of the four countries that the French president will visit – Gabon, Congo and Angola – abstained last Thursday during the vote on a resolution of the General Assembly of the UN demanding the Russian withdrawal from Ukraine. His visit to these countries raises questions within the opinions on the spot. In July, Emmanuel Macron had already toured Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau. He intends to continue his visits to the continent “almost every six months or more”.

The goal is to be as present on the ground as the Chinese, Turkish or Russian competitors, especially in economic terms. Emmanuel Macron calls for a real change of software, arguing for the transition from a “logic of aid to that of solidarity and partnership investment”. He urged French companies to go “fight” for this “land of competition” that the African continent has become. “I will no longer defend companies that are not ready to fight,” he said, calling for “an awakening of the French economic world”. “If new partners are setting up and taking positions that were before ours, it is precisely because they take African countries seriously”, considers Emmanuel Macron.

On Monday, he also announced “a framework law” to “carry out new restitutions” of works of art “for the benefit of African countries that request it”. This law “will be proposed in the coming weeks by the Minister of Culture to our Parliament” and “will make it possible to establish the methodology and the criteria for proceeding” with these restitutions, “based on a cultural and scientific partnership to welcome and preserve these works. “, continued the French head of state, indicating that he hoped ” that this approach can be part of a broader dynamic and also a European dynamic “.