Macron visits Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau to renew relations

MADRID, 25 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Armed Forces and Foreign Relations, as well as the French Secretary of State for Development, will begin a trip this Monday to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

The Elysée has stated that it wants to "maintain the thread of the renewal of France's relationship with its African partners", as reported by the French radio station Radio France International (RFI).

Since his election in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has never been to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau. The French president will begin his tour in Cameroon where he will remain until July 26.

He will then go to Benin, a country that the Elysee considers "increasingly connected to Sahelian issues." The French head of state will end his trip in Guinea-Bissau on July 29. The country has just assumed the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States.

This trip to Africa, the first since the re-election of Emmanuel Macron in April, will focus especially on the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the challenges of agricultural production and security issues, according to the French Presidency.

Likewise, France also intends to support its new way of addressing the continent. It is about "marking the continuity and constancy of the president's commitment in the process of renewing the relationship with the African continent," the Elysée specified.

A round table is planned in Yaoundé to allow the young Cameroonians who participated in the Africa-France summit in Montpellier to interact directly with the French president.

The Beninese stage will be marked by the issue of the restitution of cultural property and the displacement of the terrorist threat that affects northern Benin and northern Togo to coastal countries.

The French president announced last week his desire to "rethink everyone on the African continent by the fall", while the Barjane force is in the process of completing its exit from Mali.

Many other issues will be addressed, in particular security and political issues, such as the Anglophone crisis that has been going on for five years in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, or the calls from civil society concerned about the restriction of civic space.