From Part 1
Consultations with African leaders
Another fundamental change in the African policy was the March 2019 visit to Kenya,a former British colony that became independent in 1963 and succeeded in nurturing links with France in the transportation, energy and tourism sectors. A similar gesture was extended to Uganda in 2021 and it was during a visit to Rwanda on May 27 2021 that the famous declaration I came to recognise our responsibilities in the genocide of 1994 was made. The Vincent Duclert commission that made the reconciliation possible was a whopping analysis of 992 pages with recommendations as this document enabled the opening of the Kigali embassy in 2021 and the French cultural center.
Foreign Affairs Commission at Work
At the level of the lower house of parliament the deliberations of the foreign affairs commission showed agreements with Algeria on the exchange of professionals,in the field of social security and in the judiciary,as well as measures favourable to the development of French culture.In 2019,a session of the foreign affairs commission chaired by Marielle de Sarnez,examined a report by Amelia Lakrafi on a defence cooperation agreement with Nigeria( see rapport N° 1412).Where the lawmaker,in the course of an exchange of views allayed the fears of other legislators on the need to put into one place all the agreements with Nigeria and declared that she consulted Ambassador Modupe Irele,the chief representative of president Buhari in France.
Managing the heritage of decolonisation
The photo of the re-elected president signing the minutes of the ceremony (procès verbal)to mark the beginning of his second mandate,in the presence of the president of the Constitutional Council on May 7 2022 at the Elysée could be classified as the first official act of the second mandate of president Macron.In reality,the signature of the minutes of the ceremony was also assuming the legacy of the unfinished business of decolonisation since 1958:France-Mali relations are in a stalemate,the incumbent president of Ivory Coast Alassane Quattara has been in office since 2011
Guinea and Burkina Faso are under military rules.In Chad,the transition to the son was without a democratic election,in contrast to Gabon where the transition from the father of the current president was through a presidential election in 2009.In Congo Brazzaville, president,Denis Sassou-Nguesso has been in office since 1979 and Paul Biya who replaced president Ahmed Ahidjo in the 1980s holds firmly to his presidential powers and prerogatives as we are sliding through the second decade of the year 2000.
