When the French president, Emmanuel Macron, landed in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Monday for a two-day visit, France’s puppet leaders across Africa were assured of one thing: Françafrique is back. The question is what this means for the future of millions.

The answer – and Macron’s legacy – is more repression, more coups, more corruption, more violence, more suffering and, ultimately, more refugees and migrants making dangerous journeys to Europe in search of safety. It will also mean the further incursion of Russia and China, which highlight European colonial crimes even as they ramp up their own influence.

Born after the independence of France’s former colonies in Africa, Macron presents himself as the antithesis to Françafrique – the doctrine that dictates the terms of governance in former French colonies, by military force if necessary – or, as I see it, Colonisation 2.0.

Rather than abolish it, Macron reformed the colonial CFA franc – originally franc des colonies françaises d’Afrique – a currency still printed in France and used by 14 African countries. It will be renamed the Eco by 2027, sparking accusations of neo-colonisation, including by Italy’s then-deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio.

To regain credibility, Macron agreed to return some of the African artefacts looted under colonialism in French museums, and to declassify secret files on the assassination in 1987 of Burkina Faso’s anti-colonial leader Thomas Sankara. He commissioned a report that criticised the former French president François Mitterrand over actions around the Rwandan genocide, agreed to return the skulls of 24 Algerian resistance fighters taken to France in the 19th century as trophies, and – as the diplomatic lead for all things related to French-speaking Africa at the UN security council – Macron also pledged to stand up for democracy and protect human rights.

Yet Macron’s first foreign trip outside Europe since re-election in April will see him meet Paul Biya, an 89-year-old despot who has been in power since Macron was five years old.

Over the weekend the Élysée Palace said Macron was meeting Biya not to find a solution to Cameroon’s anglophone crisis, which has seen separatist militias and government forces committing human rights abuses with impunity for the past five years, but to discuss the food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, agriculture and security issues.

Notably absent from the Élysée’s reasons for the visit are Biya’s human rights abuses, including the persecution of LGBT people.

No justification for Macron’s visit can erase the fact that Paris is still the bedrock for Françafrique and its puppets – such as Alassane Ouattara, in Ivory Coast; Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Gabon; Faure Gnassingbé, in Togo; Gen Mahamat Déby, in Chad; Denis Sassou Nguesso, in Congo-Brazzaville; as well as Biya – that France shelters under its security and diplomatic umbrella despite their gross abuses of human rights, corruption and electoral fraud that have impoverished their countries.

As violence in the Congo escalates, thousands are in effect being held hostage

Take Chad, where one in three – or 6.1 million people – need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. When Idriss Déby, in power for 30 years, died from wounds sustained in combat last year, Macron said France had “lost a brave friend,” and endorsed his 37-year-old son, Mahamat, who dissolved the government and declared himself president, in violation of Chad’s constitution, before his father was even buried.

In Cameroon, the situation is dire. As Africa’s largest timber producer and the world’s fifth-largest cocoa producer, the country should be prosperous. Instead, Biya’s ruthlessly authoritarian regime has made it one of the world’s poorest, ranking 153 out of 189 countries in the 2020 Human Development Index. More than half of the 26 million population were “food insecure” long before soaring global commodity prices made it harder for families to put food on the table.

Add to this the codification of violence against women under Biya. According to Cameroon’s civil code, only men can be the heads of households, only men can choose the place of residence, and men and women do not have equal property rights.

In the penal code, adultery is always punishable if committed by a woman, but is only punishable when committed by a man if it is “habitual” or takes place in the matrimonial home. Abortion is criminalised, unless the mother’s life is in danger or if pregnancy is the result of rape – and rape is not a crime within marriage.

Macron, of course, knows all of this, but it seems what matters most is still Françafrique.

Culled from The Guardian

French Head of State begins an African tour in Yaoundé on Tuesday. Despite their differences on the subject of human rights, the two leaders will meet to discuss in particular the economic partnership between the two countries.

Two years ago, Emmanuel Macron severely criticized the Cameroonian head of state Paul Biya. He said he wanted to put her “maximum pressure” to liberate opponents. The French president had also denounced human rights violations in Cameroon, in the English-speaking separatist north. According to a source at the Elysée Palace, this time again, during his trip to Youndé on Tuesday July 26, Emmanuel Macron should not avoid angry subjects… even if he will not meet opposition figures directly. Cameroonian.

Despite the differences and tensions, France had to reconnect with Paul Biya, 89, 40 of whom are in power, says Antoine Glaser, journalist specializing in Africa. If only because Cameroon has just signed a defense agreement with Russia: “We see that the presidents of the former French colonies [le Cameroun oriental a été sous administration française entre 1916 et 1960] especially from Central Africa, are increasingly turning to Russia and therefore there is a kind of re-engagement of Emmanuel Macron in these countries in the name of realpolitik.”

On the menu of discussions between Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya: agricultural cooperation between Cameroon, the leading economy in Central Africa, and France. The two leaders will notably discuss the threat of food shortages in the context of the war in Ukraine. For his first State visit to Africa since his re-election, Emmanuel Macron is accompanied by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, but also by the Minister for Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, and by a large economic delegation.

Paul Biya and Emmanuel Macron should also talk about security and terrorism. Cameroon is indeed shaken by attacks attributed to Boko Haram in the north of the country. A subject that concerns Paris as much as Yaoundé. France could therefore opt for discreet aid via equipment deliveries or air support.

The French president will then visit Benin on Wednesday and Guinea Bissau on Thursday.

Source: California 18

Emmanuel Macron is visiting Cameroon on Monday, the first leg of a four-day visit to Central Africa dedicated to food security, French investment and governance. There he will meet Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state in power for forty years, in the context of political uncertainty about his succession.

His first official tour begins with Emmanuel Macron, on Monday, 25 July, visiting Cameroon in Central Africa, three months after his re-election, then in Benin and finally in Guinea-Bissau.

A visit that marks a new phase in the French president’s African policy, after a first five-year term that dominated the fight against terrorism in the Sahel and the development of relations with English-speaking Africa.

The tour will therefore begin in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, where Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to meet 89-year-old Paul Biya on Tuesday, who has become one of the oldest presidents on the African continent after forty years of undivided power.

The discussion will focus on the new agricultural partnership to tackle the food crisis, the fight against terrorism, but also governance and the rule of law. A sensitive subject, which has already been the subject of difficult talks between the two leaders.

Negotiation and diplomatic hurdles

On October 7, 2018, Paul Biya was reappointed for a seventh term, scoring a landslide victory over his rival Maurice Kamto. To fight these results on the street, the opposition candidate, as well as many of his supporters, were arrested in January 2019, then finally released after nine months in custody. Underhand, the matter had been the subject of several exchanges between Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya.

The amnesty involving a total of a hundred prisoners was announced five days before a meeting between French and Cameroonian leaders at a summit in Lyon.

A few months after the episode, on February 22, 2020, on the agricultural show, a Cameroonian activist Emmanuel Macron questioned the situation in the English-speaking region, where officials are fighting a separatist insurgency, accusing power . There massacre. The French president promised to put “maximum pressure” on Paul Biya to end human rights violations.

An exit was praised by the Cameroonian government, which confirmed it intended to “remain the master of your destiny”. At the same time, several hundred people demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Yaounde, demanding an “apology” from France.

“If they both reflect the authoritarianism of the Cameroonian regime, then the question of political prisoners and the management of the separatist conflict are two very different issues”, underlines associate researcher Thierry Virkoulon at the Africa Center of IFRI (French Institute for International).

“Maurice Kamto is not the first political prisoner to be released by France; François Hollande had already managed to oust Michel Thierry Atangana, an engineer who had spent seventeen years in prison. But on the question of the separatists, It’s another story; Emmanuel Macron has hit the wall. Because in the age of Paul Biya, you don’t change the software: he has experienced a centralization of power and has no intention of changing. Part of this is to English speakers. hand over”.

strengthen strategic partnership

Elysee confirms that Emmanuel Macron’s visit will be an opportunity to take a fresh look at this ongoing conflict and in particular the commitments made by the government. But “it is by no means a question of positioning oneself as a teacher or promoting a model”, we say.

The stated aim of the visit is above all to forge a new agricultural partnership with Cameroon, the leading economy in Central Africa, while the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine threatens the continent.

Investments by French companies will also be on the agenda in the context of stronger competition, as the country continues to strengthen its ties with China, its main supplier, and recently signed a military agreement with Russia.

“Through this visit, Paris seeks to ensure the loyalty of Cameroon’s partner in the context of the loss of influence in its East African backyard, as demonstrated by the examples of Mali, Central Africa and to a lesser extent Guinea and Burkina Faso” , analyzes Nicanor Tachim, doctor in political communication at the University of Paris-Est Creteille. Cameroonian experts recall that a partnership with the country is essential for Paris, due to its strategic role in supplying the sub-region, and especially Chad, where France has a military base.

For Cameroonian researcher Larissa Kojoue, there is no doubt that the visit marks a change in the tone of Cameroonian power.

“Upon his arrival in the elysée, Emmanuel Macron wanted to adopt a form of breakdown in the African policy of France, especially in comparison to its former colonies”, analyzes the teacher of political science at the University of Buea, in the Southwest of the Country. “He took a fairly critical position with the Cameroonian authorities, but since then we have a feeling he has softened his speech, getting caught up in the systemic relationship between Paris and the continent, which puts economic interests at the fore than the rule of law’.

Shadow of Paul Biya’s Succession

Larissa Kojoue also wonders about the message of the visit, while the country is plunged into a period of political uncertainty as the country approaches succession.

“Paul Biya’s greatest political victory has been in convincing the people that there was nothing after him, to stay in power all these years. He duly dismissed all those who had anythe political project. , including his own camp. Today, the name of his son, Franck Biya, is aired as a possible successor. Like it or not, Emmanuel Macron, visiting Cameroon on an official visit , certainly strengthens the President in his position.”

“The arrival of the French president concerns the expatriate as part of the population in Cameroon, with respect to time”, underlines Nicanor Tachim. “A presidential election will be held in 2025. As the regime nears the end of its reign, some see the arrival of Emmanuel Macron as a desire to prepare for the post-Biya period”.

As the visit drew near, opposition MP Jean-Michel Nintecheu issued a statement reflecting this concern. Criticizing France’s role in maintaining “the dictatorial and sometimes dynastic rule at the head of African states”, he affirmed that the people of Cameroon “will not accept anything imposed on them as supreme magistrate”. freely and democratically elected”.

“France is not organizing any transitions neither in Cameroon nor anywhere else, but in these political circumstances, our role is to maintain close relations with our negotiators,” Emmanuel’s Africa adviser Franck Paris said.

While Maurice Kamto, leader of the Movement for the Renaissance (MRC) of Cameroon, called on the French leader to meet with Cameroon’s opposition during his visit, Elysee said such talks were “not in use”.

Emmanuel Macron’s advisor nevertheless specified that upstream or downstream contacts were possible with these movements.

Following his interview with Paul Biya, Emmanuel Macron will meet with youth representatives, as well as members of civil society, to address “all aspects of Cameroonian society”.

Culled from News84media

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government says holding a referendum involving all the people of Southern Cameroons is the sole political solution to the Ambazonia crisis.

Comrade Dabney Yerima made the remarks on Saturday during a war cabinet meeting convened to examine the disturbing situation in French Cameroun and the President Emmanuel Macron visit.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader noted that he expects the French government of Emmanuel Macron to support the referendum initiative that was registered at the United Nations by the leader of the Ambazonia nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. The plan is based on holding a referendum with the participation of the original inhabitants of West Cameroon.

Yerima went on to say that the happenings in Yaoundé are not related to the Southern Cameroons problem.

Vice President Dabney Yerima further stressed that the people of Southern Cameroons were no longer interested in the politics of French Cameroun and whosoever becomes head of state in La Republique du Cameroun after Biya will sit with the Ambazonia Interim Government and discuss the terms of separation to decide about the fate and future of the two Cameroons.

Yerima said holding a referendum on the fate of Southern Cameroons with the participation of all inhabitants had first been proposed by the late S.T.Muna and the late Dr John Ngu Foncha.

By Isong Asu

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday begins a three-nation tour of western African states in the first trip to Africa of his new term as he seeks to reboot France’s post-colonial relationship with the continent.

Macron will begin his July 25-28 tour, also the first venture outside Europe of his new mandate, with a visit to Cameroon, before moving on to Benin and then finishing the trip in Guinea-Bissau.

Top of the agenda in the talks will be food supply issues, with African nations fearing shortages especially of grain due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But security will also loom large as France prepares to complete its pullout from Mali this year, with all countries in the region seeking to head off fears of Islamist insurgencies.

The trip to three countries which rarely feature on the itinerary of global leaders comes with Macron, who won a new term in April, pledging to keep up his bid for a new relationship between France and Africa.

France has also followed with concern the emergence of other powers seeking a foothold in an area Paris still considers parts of its sphere of influence, notably Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but also increasingly China and Russia.

‘Political priority’

The tour “will show the commitment of the president in the process of renewing the relationship with the African continent”, said a French presidential official, who asked not to be named.

It will signal that the African continent is a “political priority” of his presidency.

In Cameroon, which has been riven by ethnic violence and an insurgency by anglophone separatists, Macron will meet President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled the country for almost 40 years and is the longest-serving non-royal leader in the world.

Biya has run the country with an iron fist, refusing demands for federalism and cracking down on the rebellion by separatists.

Macron will move on Wednesday to Benin, a neighbour of Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria. The north of the country has faced more deadly attacks, with the jihadist threat now spreading from the Sahel to Gulf of Guinea nations.

He is likely to be lauded for championing the return in November of 26 historic treasures which were stolen in 1892 by French colonial forces from Abomey, capital of the former Dahomey kingdom located in the south of modern-day Benin.

Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy. But critics say its democracy has steadily eroded under President Patrice Talon over the last half decade. Opposition leader Reckya Madougou was sentenced in 2021 to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges.

On Thursday, Macron will finish his tour in Guinea-Bissau, which has been riven by political crisis at a time when its President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Rethink strategy

With all the countries criticised by activists over their rights records, the Elysee has insisted that governance and rights issues will be raised, albeit “without media noise but in the form of direct exchanges between the heads of states”.

Macron’s first term was marked by visits to non-francophone African countries including regional powerhouses Nigeria and South Africa as he sought to engage with the entire continent and not just former French possessions.

Benin is a former French colony, but Guinea-Bissau was once a Portuguese colony while Cameroon’s colonial heritage is a mixture of British and German as well as French.

Macron meanwhile has insisted France’s military presence in the region will adapt rather than disappear once the pullout from Mali is complete.

He announced last week that a rethink of France’s presence would be complete by autumn, saying the military should be “less exposed” in the future but their deployment still a “strategic necessity”.

The pullout from Mali follows a breakdown in relations with the country’s ruling junta, which Western states accuse of relying on Russian Wagner mercenaries rather than European allies to fight an Islamist insurgency.

Source: AFP