Well at the bottom of the wave against a backdrop of mistrust and calls for any break with France, whose practices annoy the African peoples, Emmanuel Macron could not help but proclaim the anachronistic era of Françafrique. ” This age of Françafrique is well over and I sometimes have the feeling that mentalities are not evolving at the same pace as us when I read, I hear, I see that France is still attributed intentions that it doesn’t have, that she no longer has».
Words that could sound like a song of victory for those who, at the cost of tireless efforts and sacrifices, call with all their wishes for the African renaissance. An era where the destiny of Africa is decided by Africans and for Africans.
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However, that would be claiming victory too soon… And for good reason. Relations deemed sectarian between France and its backyard, this is the nth time that a French president decrees their end. As in a tragicomedy where the ” Maître ” infantilizes his slaves by announcing the end of their servitude… Nothing more. Free to the slaves to realize after the fact, the big hoax. Jacques Chirac, François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, they had all hastened, before Macron, to proclaim the end of Françafrique.
The survivals of this system under which France still enjoys a paternalistic role vis-à-vis the French-speaking African states remain evident…on the economic, monetary, diplomatic or military levels.
In fact, the military agreements linking France to its former colonies still have a bright future ahead of them, notwithstanding the announcement of a reorganization of the French military system in Africa because “in this case it is neither a withdrawal nor a disengagement but it is a question of adapting a device».
The end of the French military presence in Africa therefore took on the appearance of a veritable Arlesian, although vigorously decried. And just by analyzing Emmanuel Macron’s discomfort in the face of the sovereignist hints of many African states opening up without complex to new partners in terms of economic, commercial and military cooperation, the evidence is obvious… The speeches decreeing that the era of Françafrique is over are beautiful to listen to.
On the other hand, they will not reflect the reality to which the French have become accustomed nor that to which they and their president will want to get used. Mutatis mutandis, this strongly resembles the duplicate of Macron’s very famous speech, decreeing the end of the CFA. “ The CFA Franc is over: “we are breaking the moorings” “, he had declaimed under constant pressure from the international anti-CFA front.
More than 3 years later, the FCFA has never imposed itself so much as a common currency for the 8 countries of UEMOA. The famous ECO, announced to replace it and be the common currency of ECOWAS, no one heard about it a long time ago. Emptied of all its substance according to the desiderata of Alassane Dramane Ouattara, obviously on a mission commanded by Emmanuel Macron, no one knows if he will one day go from project to reality. Nor yet, what will remain of it, if so.
The king is dead, long live the king ! Françafrique is outdated, long live Françafrique!
