Paris is jealous of the Black Continent to Moscow and BeijingFrench President Emmanuel Macron, during a recent multi-day tour of African countries, said in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde that "Russia's presence on the continent causes concern."
And he added that Africans should rely on France and Europe in the field of economic cooperation.
BLAME ALL THE TROUBLES ON RUSSIAAccording to Macron, Russia's actions on the African continent are not ordinary cooperation.
This is a "hybrid presence" carried out under the slogans of "helping weakened political forces (to benefit from it), or militias that do not have legitimacy." It remains to be seen what response we will give to this Russian presence, the French president noted. But "France will do everything so that this scheme does not spread too much, because I do not believe that it is good for African peoples."
President Macron did not hide that he was annoyed by the growing authority of Moscow in the former French colonies. This growth, in his opinion, is caused by the fact that "Russia has spread a lot of false news here and supplemented its presence with Wagner militants" (meaning the private military company Wagner. – V.I.)."
It is significant that Macron chose Cameroon as the first country of his African trip. After Russia actually ousted France from Mali, similar processes, according to Paris, are observed throughout the former Francophone Africa. Macron was particularly alarmed by the visit to Moscow on April 12 of Joseph Beti Assomo, the Minister of Defense of Cameroon, when the parties signed an agreement in the field of defense and security. After that, French Minister of War Sebastian Lecornu and other official representatives of Paris insistently wanted to meet with Assomo in order to convey to him their concerns about such "political adultery".
In this regard, the French press quotes the opinion of their own unnamed diplomats: "They (the Russians) are aimed at Cameroon, a strategic crossroads with access to the Gulf of Guinea and the interior of Africa… The Kremlin is using Cameroon's defense minister and his subordinates to expand its influence. Russia annually trains from 100 to 150 of its officers and non-commissioned officers in its military schools. We must step up our military cooperation if we don't want Yaounde to end up in the Russian orbit."
It is no coincidence that an unusual French ambassador, an unnamed "four-star general", was going to Cameroon, whose task would be to counteract such a scenario.
GOOD INTENTIONS INSTEAD OF MILITARY AIDPresident Macron intends to seek to increase his country's influence in Africa in general and in Cameroon in particular through "paying all his attention to African youth, resuming closer economic cooperation and helping African countries develop their sovereignty."
However, from the very beginning of his visit to Cameroon, Macron became the target of local journalists who asked him many uncomfortable and unpleasant questions. In particular, they were interested in the reasons for the noticeable deterioration in the quality of life of Cameroonians in recent years and what the former guarantor of Cameroonian security, represented by Paris, intends to do to correct this.
Macron tried to explain what happened by the consequences of the coronavirus crisis, intensified by the "invasion of Russia into Ukraine" (Roskomnadzor considers such formulations to be untrue). Which, according to Macron's logic, led to a shortage of food on the continent and an increase in prices for almost the entire range of goods. It is noteworthy that at a joint press conference of Emmanuel Macron and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya, the French president complained: "The invasion of Ukraine is testing our economy."
In this regard, the Cameroonians asked him another "slippery" question: why is France so quickly helping a country like Ukraine militarily, and not African states?
It was not asked by chance. Cameroon has been suffering from attacks by militants of the jihadist organization "Boko Haram" banned in the Russian Federation for more than a decade. And the fight against the militants is being conducted with varying success. Moreover, Paris has not yet shown even a hint of readiness to help Yaounde cope with this challenge. On the contrary, Russia did it.
Emmanuel Macron answered this question: "The sovereignty of the Ukrainian territory has been violated, and it would be some hypocrisy to compare the situation in Africa and Ukraine. Since in the latter case we are talking about a real war, whereas in the first case it is not. I don't see any African country in such a situation. And I remind you that France, led by Francois Hollande, helped the Malian authorities in 2013. We have sent not only weapons to Africa, but also troops to stop the terrorists heading to Bamako."
President Macron also assured that "France does not intend to directly interfere in the Ukrainian conflict, but only intends to help Ukraine resist the Russian offensive."
Judging by the reaction of Cameroonians, they were very surprised by this response. And this is understandable: Cameroonians are not interested in Ukraine or even Mali, which is close to them, but in the fate of their own country. In any case, they did not receive any guarantees that Macron would send his troops to fight Boko Haram.
Another acute issue was raised by local historians at the suggestion of a group of Cameroonian political parties. They demanded to open the French archives to study the details of the commission of "colonial crimes" by the subjects of Paris.
We are talking about the events of the 1940s and 1960s, when the French authorities brutally dealt with the guerrillas of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon, a left-wing political party, who fought against them. As a result, Macron had to promise "as soon as possible" to open the archives requested by Cameroonians for "a common group of French and Cameroonian historians."
As a result, Macron failed to convince Cameroonians that the causes of the global food crisis are caused by the "war started by Russia." On the contrary, the Cameroonian press broadcasts in this regard statements made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Uganda during his parallel African tour. Lavrov said that it was Western sanctions against Russia that hit the rebound around the world. And Cameroon was no exception: galloping inflation, logistics problems, internal instability.
GRUELING RUNNING ON THE SPOTNext, the French President had planned a visit to Guinea-Bissau, which he had just held in the leadership of the powerful Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
And also to Benin, which is increasingly being attacked by jihadists, Macron promised direct military assistance to this country. However, the situation in these African countries is not much better than in Cameroon. And Paris will have to spend enormous resources, military and material, in order to at least keep the remnants of its colonial empire under its relative control. Moreover, even large military and financial injections do not guarantee him the expected result. In the meantime, Emmanuel Macron is trying to demonstrate his willingness to help African countries solve problems. The goal is clear: to restore ties with the capitals of Africa. Otherwise, France will lose influence on the continent and, as a result, in the international arena.
Will Macron be able to "stop" Russia and China? The game promises to be difficult for him. In any case, this refers to one of his main goals – "to provide a stronger lifelong connection with the African armies." Meanwhile, France has actually already been "moved" in the African market of military-technical cooperation.
However, Macron also brought with him "cookies" that could interest Africans. Among them is the FARM project ("Mission for Sustainable Agricultural Development"), created by the G7, the European Union and the African Union. With the help of this project, the West expects to minimize the problem of hunger in Africa in order to prevent the intensification of migration processes from here to Europe.
But that's not all. Cameroon has significant oil and gas reserves. And Macron, including at the expense of Cameroonian resources, expects to reduce energy dependence on Russia.
The problem is the general decline in French economic attractiveness for Africa. Thus, French companies now occupy only 10% of the country's economy, compared with 40% in 1990. The fact is that the economy of most African states has actually been captured by China.
It is no coincidence that Macron, in addition to the ritual accusations against Russia, allocated a place for China in his speeches. Pointing out that Beijing owns 60% of Cameroon's public debt, the French president made a threatening statement: "We cannot accept that companies from other parts of the world believe that everything is possible here." At the same time, France's main economic competitors in Africa in general and in Cameroon in particular are, in addition to China, not Russia at all, but Germany, Turkey and India, with whom it will have to "bump elbows" hard to achieve its goals.
THERE IS NOTHING TO FIGHT WITH AND I DON 'T WANT TOAnother problem of Paris is that the regimes loyal to it, including Paul Biyi, who has ruled in Cameroon for 40 years, have entered into tough conflicts with their population.
And Biya's inability to fight Boko Haram and the "English-speaking separatists" is just one of the consequences of this.
Under these conditions, Paris will have to choose a maneuvering strategy in order, on the one hand, to preserve the remnants of its political and economic influence on the African continent. And on the other hand, to establish relations with the opposition, which opposes the regimes ruling in the former French colonies. In fact, during his visit, Macron tried to exert political pressure on countries interacting with Russia and China. But he brought too few "cookies" for the Africans to break ties with them. In any case, it is physically impossible to protect the growth of Beijing's influence in the economies of African countries. Because he often offers them several times cheaper goods than French ones – while improving their previously dubious quality.
Under these conditions, Paris, of course, can resort to its old method of governing Francophone Africa by overthrowing undesirable regimes. But it is becoming more and more difficult to do this in the conditions of an increasingly active policy of numerous competitors. Especially in the context of a sharp escalation of the jihadist challenge.
Meanwhile, Macron's attempts to commit himself to helping the Ukrainian regime and African countries at the same time can play a cruel joke on him. In any case, France is clearly not ready for prolonged hostilities, albeit of a limited nature, simultaneously on the African and European continents.
And the bitter truth is as follows. Whatever President Macron does against Russia and China, the problem is not at all in their "machinations", but in the weakening of France itself. The consequence of which is the loss of its former positions in the world in general and in Africa in particular.
Vasily IvanovVasily Ivanovich Ivanov is a journalist.
