On tour in Central Africa, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Friday in Angola on the new face that his country wants to present to the continent, before being caught up in Congo by the historical links between Paris and one of its former colonies.
After a talk of about an hour in Brazzaville, the French president and his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso spoke to the press about General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), who had declared Brazzaville the capital of Free France during the Second World War. world.
Emmanuel Macron underlined among the subjects of bilateral interest the “memorial, historical and cultural” aspect.
Denis Sassou Nguesso for his part listed the historical and tourist sites that the French president could see in Brazzaville when he comes longer, referring to his visit which many Congolese considered too short. There is “the Savorgnan de Brazza memorial, the Poto-Poto painting school, the Félix-Eboué monument and so many others”, he said.
“I am waiting for him here when we launch the summit of the three basins” (the three large forest basins of the world), added the Congolese president, on the subject of Emmanuel Macron’s entire trip to countries in the basin of the Congo River and its rainforest.
The French president had arrived at the end of the afternoon in the capital of Congo from Angola, which was the second leg of his trip after Gabon. He left in the evening for Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), just opposite, on the other bank of the river which gave its name to the two countries.
Before his departure, in a speech to the French community, he reaffirmed his ambition to “dust off” the relationship with Africa and hoped that the “friendship” with the Congo would be based on the “glorious” pages of their history. common “to build new, reinvented pages”.
Emmanuel Macron’s journey has a common thread: turning the page on “Françafrique”, with its opaque practices and networks of influence inherited from colonization, adopting a new “software” based on “humility” and pragmatic partnerships.
The Brazzaville stage, where Denis Sassou Nguesso has reigned with an iron fist for almost 40 years, seemed somewhat against this new orientation.
On the eve of his arrival, human rights organizations had asked the French president to relay their concerns, a subject which was not publicly mentioned after the interview between the two heads of state.
In Luanda, the French president participated in an economic forum focused on agriculture, in which more than 50 French companies took part, before meeting his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenço.
Cooperation agreements have been concluded to strengthen the Angolan agricultural sector, while the Portuguese-speaking country in southern Africa imports a large part of its food products.
It is a “food sovereignty strategy in which we believe for the African continent”, consisting of “building balanced and reciprocal partnerships” and developing “made in Africa which must become a reference”, said the French president.
In Brazzaville, Emmanuel Macron also suggested an agricultural partnership on the model of Angola and Cameroon.
He also hailed the role of Denis Sassou Nguesso in African attempts to resolve the crisis in Libya.
He had thanked President Lourenço in Luanda for his “commitment to the stability of the region”, citing the conflict in eastern DRC.
A delegation of the M23 rebellion, active in the DRC, was present in Luanda. However, no meeting took place between this delegation and the French presidency, according to the latter.
Saturday in Kinshasa, Emmanuel Macron will speak in particular about science and culture. But this stage, the last of his journey, promises to be delicate on another ground, France being accused in the DRC of supporting Rwanda rather than Kinshasa in the face of the rebellion in the east of the country.
After several small protests this week, citizen movements claimed Mr Macron was “not welcome”.
04/03/2023 00:17:31 – Brazzaville (AFP) © 2023 AFP