When France loses its backyard and its influence in Africa

By Fernand A.B. Makosso, PhD student in Political Science. AFRICA Coordinator 2050.

France has long been considered a dominant power in Africa, thanks to its colonial history and its close economic and cultural ties with many African countries. However, these last years, it has become increasingly evident that France is losing influence on the African continent. There are several reasons for this loss of influence. First of all, many African countries are seeking to free themselves from the economic supervision of France, and diversify their commercial partners. France's economic relations with Africa have been largely based on the exploitation of natural resources., but African countries now want fairer and more sustainable cooperation. Win-win they say ! These last years, France increasingly faces competition from other foreign powers who also seek to expand their influence in Africa. This is the case for the United States, of Russia and China. These countries have increased their presence on the continent, and have economic and geopolitical interests that diverge from France.

A notable fact in 2022.

During the summer 2022, a rare coincidence has caught the attention of informed observers of African politics. Visits to Africa by French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The first went to Cameroon, Benign, and Guinea-Bissau, while the second moved to Egypt, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda and Ethiopia. From his first speech in Cameroon, Emmanuel Macron chose to stage this “competition” himself in Africa between two “powers” ​​who continue to enjoy a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. But the paternalistic attitude of the French president shocked. In West Africa, in posture, his comments immediately sparked widespread criticism.

For France losing momentum in Africa, the urgency is clearly no longer to renew its relations with heads of state, and civil societies can wait. In Africa, this real headlong rush from France, this (non) short-sighted strategy, ultimately locks him in a vicious circle which causes him to lose influence a little more every day. While Brazzaville welcomed with great fanfare the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, the French president was in Cameroon. Congo Brazzaville, explicitly wanted to make the French president understand that if Paris considers them “infrequent”, other countries, economically, and militarily powerful are ready to take over.

Since the start of the war in Africa, Europeans in general and Emmanuel Macron in particular, poorly hide their loss of influence of the country on the African continent. And while Europe seeks by all means to find alternative fossil resources to Russia, France is floundering in North Africa. Its relations with Morocco continue to be difficult, and Italy cheated him seven months ago by signing a giant gas contract with Algeria. Gone are the days when we were still politely waiting for France on the continent. Today, African countries are courted by all the great powers of the world.

Let go of the horses...

The strategy of pressure by the media and the justice system is now known. The eternal affair of ill-gotten gains, which was often exhibited to scare Congolese leaders, Guinean Equato, Gabonese and others, no longer a recipe. Putting pressure on African leaders by dropping media bombs, some as dirty as the others, now appears like wet firecrackers. Another illustration of the loss of its territory in its former colonies, Togo and Gabon. A “diplomatic arm of honor” was recently sent to Paris by these two countries, “historical” pillars of French-speaking Africa, whose presidents both succeeded their fathers at the head of their countries, have chosen to join the community of English-speaking countries. Their official membership was recorded on 25 last june, on the occasion of the Commonwealth Summit which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, a former French-speaking country that has become English-speaking, whose economic success inspires on the continent. Ten ago, twenty, or thirty years, this situation would be science fiction. Today it is very real. Driven out of Mali by Russia, France is in the process of rethinking its entire “anti-terrorist” military system in the region. Emmanuel Macron's African policy during his second term which started last year, in any case hardly looks like a long, quiet river, but rather like a perilous ridge path, with a particularly narrow margin of maneuver. The French military intervention in Libya has been widely criticized, and contributed to the negative image of France in many African countries. Africans in a large section have still not digested the death in 2011 of Muammar Gaddafi following NATO intervention, motivated by Nicolas Sarkozy.

France remains an important player in Africa, but it is clear that France must revise its foreign policy in Africa if it wants to maintain its influence on the continent. It is time for France to implement a more sustainable strategy that is more respectful of the interests of African countries, to ensure mutually beneficial cooperation. Emmanuel Macron l'a dit: « for twenty years, we are rushed, maybe because we had fallen asleep while China, India, Russia, Turkey or Germany led the offensive and took a good part of the market share», he declared during his last African tour in the summer 2022. The result is clear according to the figures we obtained regarding Cameroon for example.. French companies, which are approximately 200, only weigh approximately 10 % of Cameroon's economy against 40 % in the years 1990. An abysmal difference.