Macron flies to Africa to counter declining French influence | – #Macron #flies #Africa #counter #declining #French #influence
PARIS, February 27 (Reuters) – President of France Emmanuel Macron, a number in Paris’s former sphere of influence military and political will fly to Africa this week in a bid to counter Russia’s failed attempts to push France out of the continent.
Macron will visit three African countries around the Congo Basin, as well as Angola, with a focus on France’s anti-France it will be far from its troubled former colonies in the Sahel, where its morale is rising.
Before the visit on Monday evening, Macron is expected to give a speech at the Elysee Palace and announce his new African policy at a press conference.
Tour, after Burkina Faso pulled out French troops and allowed France to fight rebels in the West African country military It comes a week after it suspended the deal, becoming the latest African country to reject aid from Paris.
France The junta there last year was Russian military withdrew its forces from Mali after starting to work with contractors and ending a decade of operations against Islamist insurgents.
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Russia’s Wagner Group is also deployed in the Central African Republic, prompting fears of a domino effect in Paris as Western countries seek to lobby against Russia in the global south over its aggression in Ukraine.
Macron accused Russia of carrying out anti-French propaganda in Africa to serve its “predatory” ambitions.
But advisers to the French president denied at a briefing on Friday that Macron was on a charm offensive to regain his lost reputation.
“We need to be more nuanced in the idea of loss of influence, which is so encompassing. There is a great demand for relations with France in these countries,” said one of the consultants.
Trip Macron will pay attention to the environment by participating in a forest summit in Gabon, and will also meet with African artists.
But he is expected to provide more clarity on France’s new military strategy on the continent in his speech on Monday.
Reporting by Michelle Rose and Elizabeth Pineau; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne
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2023-02-27 13:37:29
Source – reuters
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