MACRON. Emmanuel Macron was in Cameroon on Tuesday July 26, 2022. An official trip focused on the Franco-Cameroonian relationship and the consequences of the war in Ukraine in Africa which ended with a concert by Yannick Noah.
[Mis à jour le 27 juillet 2022 à 11h34] It had been seven years since any French head of state had visited Cameroon. Emmanuel Macron made the trip to the African country on Tuesday July 26 to meet his Cameroonian counterpart in power for forty years, Paul Biya. The event was undoubtedly political and a form of response to Russian diplomacy which is deployed and hopes to gain ground on the African continent. As proof, Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Cameroon was organized in parallel with the tour of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Africa. However, the Elysée wished to insist on the “depth of the Franco-Cameroonian relationship” to justify its arrival. A political but also cultural relationship, as evidenced by the very noticed passage of Emmanuel Macron to the village of Yannick Noah in the north of the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. Between political issues, food crisis and moments of jubilation, a look back at the Head of State’s trip to Cameroon.
Walkabout and concert by Yannick Noah for Emmanuel Macron
These are the images that will be remembered by the greatest number, those of Emmanuel Macron in the Etoudi village, a district in the north of Yaoundé. The choice of location is no coincidence as the village is run by tennis player and singer Yannick Noah. On site, the setting was much less formal than during the formal visit to the Presidential Palace. The welcome reserved for the Head of State was very warm: a heated crowd on his arrival and a concert during which the famous village chief sang a song, including the refrain of Saga Africa, for the enjoyment of the public. and the presidential team.
This trip was a “strong symbol” according to the singer who, as a Franco-Cameroonian, says he is “always sensitive to relations between the two countries” with the French press, the day before Emmanuel Macron’s arrival. On the program of the visit to Etoudi: a tour of the family vault, a spiritual place where rest the father and grandfather of Yannick Noah, former chiefs of the village and the meeting of the Head of State with a dozen young Cameroonians who worked on relations between Yaoundé and Paris and colonial memory, a subject also at the heart of the relocation of the Elysée.
Emmanuel Macron defends Franco-Cameroonian friendship against Russia
Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Cameroon was above all a matter of political issues, particularly in the conflictual context of the war in Ukraine. The war between Moscow and kyiv, in which Emmanuel Macron wishes to play the role of negotiator, worries Europe but also Africa. The continent is dependent on imports of agricultural raw materials from Russia and Ukraine and is already seeing the first adverse effects of the war on its economy. Europe and Russia are therefore involved in an operation of communication and influence in Africa. In Cameroon, Emmanuel Macron defended his European positions during the press conference given from the Presidential Palace, assuring that the new food crisis is due to “the war decided by Russia” and not to Western sanctions imposed on the Kremlin.
Alongside Paul Biya, President of Cameroon, Emmanuel Macron portrayed Russia’s intentions in Africa in a bad light: “Russia has an African agenda which is not for the well-being of Africa and Africans. but which is an agenda that feeds on destabilization and seeks to fracture the world […] because Russia is happy wherever power is captured. ” During his speech, Emmanuel Macron also denounced the “hypocrisy” seen “in particular on the African continent” which, according to him, pushes certain countries to “not know how to qualify a war which is one and not know how to say who ‘launched’. Pointing once again to Russia’s responsibility.
Macron promises to “shed light” on colonization in Cameroon
After having denounced the responsibility of Russia in the war in Ukraine and its consequences in Africa. Emmanuel Macron gave pride of place to the Franco-Cameroonian relationship. The French president also asked French and Cameroonian historians, on July 26, to “launch joint work together” to shed light” on France’s action in the colonization of Cameroon and after the country’s independence. He thus promised the “entire” opening of the archives on “painful” and “tragic” moments. Cameroon’s independence history is made up of episodes of violence between French colonial authorities and Cameroonian nationalist militants.