LIBREVILLE, Congo
French President Emmanuel
Macron reiterated on Thursday that Paris has no intention of returning to past
policies of interfering in Africa.
He arrived in Libreville on
Wednesday at the start of a four-nation African tour aimed at resetting
relations with the continent.
“I prefer to be very clear and
explicit in meeting you today,” he said in remarks to the French community, “In
Gabon, as elsewhere, France is a neutral interlocutor, which speaks to
everyone, and whose role is not to interfere in domestic political
issues."
Macron visit to four central
African countries comes at a time when France finds itself facing a wave of
hostility among its former colonies in the Sahel, forcing it to withdraw its
troops.
Ahead of his visit, he said
there would be a "noticeable reduction" in the French troop presence
in Africa "in the coming months" and a greater focus on training and
equipping allied countries' forces.
"I’ve decided on a new
strategy for all our military bases in Africa. And I have asked the defence
minister and the chief of the defence staff to work with their counterparts to
adapt our military arrangements,” he said.
Macron insisted that the
reorganisation was "neither a withdrawal nor disengagement, but adapting
an arrangement" with allies.
Before leaving Gabon, he will
attend a conference on preserving tropical forests, an initiative that he and
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba unveiled at last year's UN climate
conference.
Later Thursday, he will head
to Angola, before travelling on Friday to the Republic of Congo and
neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
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