French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was on an official visit to Côte d’Ivoire. After meeting Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara on Friday, December 9, she went to the town of Yopougon in Abidjan to discuss with personalities from civil society, including singers Siro and A’safo, or feminist activist Méganne Boho. This while the theme of disenchantment between African populations and France is increasing.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Francois Hume-Ferkatadji
It is in the 1949 library of Yopougon – where the female writings of Africa and the Afro-descendant world are in the spotlight – that were invited, in all discretion, panelists from civil society. Among them, the writer Véronique Tadjo, the feminist activist Méganne Boho or the editor Laure Blédou. They talk to the minister about their successes, their fight but also their difficulties.
The Zouglou singer, Siro, insisted on questioning growing anti-French sentiment in the region :
” Why today, an anti-European and anti-French feeling is not silenced in Africa ? Doesn’t Europe have the means to communicate ? Because we have ears and what we hear here, as long as we haven’t heard the opposite, we stay on what we hear. The toad in your house grows, it annoys you but ends up putting you to sleep. »
Paris defends different view of Africa »
” You change, but we change too “, replied the French Minister of Foreign Affairs who defends a” different view of Africa “. However, she insisted on the misinformation and false news that would affect African opinions:
” If all this happens, it is because it there are forces at work who tell you nonsense. And we have a duty to support the development of the country, and you also have a duty not to be taken for fools. »
The Ivorian Minister for the Promotion of Youth Mamadou Touré denounces the rise of the ” populism “: ” We are neither pro-France nor pro-Russia. We are pro-Africans “.
For Paris, the Malian junta is the only ” responsible of the banning of NGOs
In Mali too, this anti-French feeling continues to win over the population and even the authorities. The junta in Bamako he Malian government announced at the end of November the ban ” of all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali “financed or supported by France, ” including in the humanitarian field “. It thus intended to respond to the suspension of official development assistance (ODA) decided by Paris at the end of October.
While these decisions could jeopardize 7.5 million people receiving humanitarian aid in Mali, according to numerous NGOs who have denounced them, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna considers that the Malian authorities are ” responsible for their actions “.
For us, and given this double coup that hit Mali, there was no question of anything in France’s development aid benefiting individuals linked to the junta or benefiting to the junta, who, through diversions, pursue negative actions. So in February we took the decision to suspend development aid, without suspending humanitarian aid. If the junta decides, as it appears to have done, to suspend the humanitarian aid provided by French, Malian or international NGOs, it is taking on a serious responsibility, it is a choice which is hers and which is not ours and for which she is responsible to her people.
For French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, the Malian junta is the only “responsible” for the ban on NGOs
The “ Franco-German prize for human rights and the rule of law awarded to Méganne Boho for her fight against violence against women and for gender equality
During the round table with personalities from Ivorian civil society, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and Marton Köver, Chargé d’Affaires at the German Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire, awarded the Ivorian from Adiaké (South) Méganne Boho the Franco-German prize for human rights and the rule of law “.
This prize distinguishes the fight of the president and founder of the Ivorian League for Women’s Rights, aged 28, for the fight against violence against women and for gender equality in Côte d’Ivoire.
This prize can “encourage little girls to want to get involved in the community”, according to Méganne Boho, winner of the “Franco-German prize for human rights and the rule of law” for her fight against violence against women and for gender equality
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