PARIS (AFP) — President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a former minister, Jean-Marie Bockel, as a "personal envoy" to Africa, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday, in a change of style for French diplomacy after a series of setbacks on the continent.
French troops engaged in anti-jihadist operations have quit Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger following military coups over the last years.
Bockel has been tasked with "explaining" to other key nations "the reasons for and methods of the adjustments" to be made to its deployments, according to a letter from Macron seen by AFP.
The countries include Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Chad, all key countries in French-speaking Africa.
Multiple sources have told AFP that France plans to reduce significantly its troop numbers in former African colonies, while Macron has long trailed a new relationship with the continent.
Bockel is a declared opponent of "Francafrique" — a shorthand term for a decades-long system of corruption, political collusion and exclusive access for French business that for years was at the heart of Paris' policy towards African countries.
Today, there is "a much more crowded field" of geopolitical players seeking ties to African nations who are "more prepared to do the kind of deals with Africans that the Africans might actually want," said analyst Michael Shurkin of 14 North Strategies.
"While there are elites that remain or have remained attached to France in various ways, there's a younger generation that simply is not," he added.
‘Prepare for every eventuality’
Bockel was forced to quit the government of former president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 for criticizing "Francafrique." His son Pierre, a military officer, died in a 2019 helicopter collision in Mali.
France wants to retain "access to infrastructure like ports and have logistical nodes from which we could deploy in case our partners ask for it, offering training in exchange," a source familiar with the decision to name Bockel told AFP on condition of anonymity.
One key question is whether to reduce France's roughly 1,000 troops deployed in Chad, former headquarters of Paris' anti-jihadist operations in Sahel countries it has now departed.
Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in January held talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, foreshadowing a repeat of the turn to Russia made by several former African allies of France.
N'Djamena "has to prepare for every eventuality (including) for the scenario that France decides to leave," said Wolfram Lacher, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
In Senegal, uncertainty over a delay of this month's presidential election until December could overshadow talks on France's 350-strong military foothold.
Elsewhere, elections are scheduled for 2025 in Ivory Coast, where there are 900-strong deployment, while 400 French troops remain in Gabon where president Ali Bongo Ondimba was deposed in August.
—
by MARINA DE RUSSÉ Agence France-Presse
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
