France tries to reaffirm its presence in Africa by promoting cooperation in the face of its decline in the Sahel

France's successive missteps in Africa, whose soldiers have been expelled from traditionally allied countries in the Sahel amid growing anti-French sentiment - as has happened in the last three years in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger - have pushed the Elysée to explore new ways of relating to the continent.

The idea is to focus more on development cooperation than on the military field, and is directed towards areas considered until now less strategic for France, such as the southern region, all in a context of greater prominence of emerging powers such as Russia, China, India or Turkey.

Acceptance of this new model cannot be achieved without nipping the old one in the bud, says Aurélien Llorca, associate researcher at the University Institute of International Studies and Development (IHEID) in Geneva.

“It is obvious that the strategy of French diplomacy hides something, that it is not implementing this new foreign policy out of goodwill, but to defend its national interests.

Applying a model based on cooperation requires honesty, transparency and trust, something that France has lost in recent years,” he explains to this medium.

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For historical reasons, Paris has maintained a very active foreign policy and greater influence in the Maghreb and West Africa than in other African regions.

In the military field, Operation Barkhane to fight jihadism, which lasted a decade and had more than 5,000 soldiers deployed in several countries in the Sahel, was a good example of this interest.

However, terrorism has not only not been defeated, but has been gaining ground and causing a true exodus of more than four million refugees and displaced people.

This failure, which the French authorities have not completely accepted, is at the origin of an anti-Galic sentiment from which Russia, a rival power, has not only benefited, but has stimulated.

The pattern has been repeated in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

After successive coups d'état between 2020 and 2022, vehemently condemned by France, military boards come to power and relations with the former metropolis quickly deteriorate, even to the point of breaking up.

The military expels the troops present in its territory and then turns to Moscow as a new ally, both in the military field and in others that have to do with resources or energy.

All this occurs in the midst of demonstrations in which Russian flags and banners with the photo of Vladimir Putin fly.

Nicolas Dasnois, spokesperson for the French Embassy in South Africa, mentions the desire to project the image of “a more modest France than that seen in West Africa, a France focused on the reactivation of diplomatic relations and cultural cooperation.”

But France needs partners to maintain its political and economic interests in Africa and is finding them in several countries in the south of the continent.

The diplomatic delegation sent last November to Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, led by the Secretary of State responsible for Development, Francophonie and International Associations, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, as well as the signing of numerous trade agreements, show this line: “There was a huge void between what French foreign policy said and what it did, and many forms of interference that were not aligned with political discourse.

I think that finally the aim is to align what we want to do and what we are going to do, or at least it seems like an attempt to be credible again in Africa,” Llorca points out.

For Victor Chipofya, professor of Political Science at the International University of Blantyre (Malawi), “French foreign policy, historically, has been exploitative in the majority of allied African countries.”

“Only France benefited.

Now geopolitics on African soil is changing, largely thanks to the increase in popularity and presence of the BRICS+ [the main emerging powers: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the recently incorporated Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the Emirates United Arabs, Ethiopia and Iran]”, he explains to this newspaper.

But the expert recommends caution before evaluating this approach by France: “It is very important to analyze the history that the French have had in the past.

Personally, I still do not trust whether France has really changed its foreign policy towards a more cooperative line or whether this approach comes as a result of the loss of influence in West Africa,” he says.

The French diplomatic delegation, led by the French Secretary of State responsible for Development, Francophonie and International Associations, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (center), together with local Malawian authorities during the inauguration of a French Alliance center in Blantyre, Malawi, on the 15th November 2023.DIEGO MENJIBAR

New diplomatic alliances

The new profile that France now intends to project in Africa can be seen, for example, in the recent approach to Malawi: after more than 20 years without diplomatic presence in the country, on November 14, it received Zacharopoulou who, in addition to announcing the opening of a new center of the Alliance Française (the organization that promotes French language and culture in the world) in Blantyre, made a series of key commitments in agriculture, food security, trade, public health and cultural cooperation: “France is back,” the embassy published on its X account (formerly Twitter).

Nicolas Dasnois, spokesperson for the French Embassy in South Africa, summarizes to this medium the spirit of the visit as “mainly political” and with the clear desire to project an image of “a new France, more modest than that seen in Africa.” Western, a France focused on the reactivation of diplomatic relations and cultural cooperation.”

Several of the alliances signed between France and Malawi will be aimed at alleviating poverty in the African country.

One of the most notable has been the commercial agreement of 10 million dollars (9.29 million euros) between Proparco and Ecobank, which aims to facilitate the import of fertilizers, basic foods and raw materials, and also contribute to the improvement of food security at a time when hunger figures are worsening in the African country.

In the midst of a season of food shortages, the result of droughts and frequent natural disasters associated with climate change, measures such as the signing of these agreements or the latest contribution of one million euros to the World Food Program (WFP) could cushion the setback. suffered in this small economy.

Currently, 4.4 million people, 22% of the population, face acute food insecurity in Malawi.

The visit of the French Secretary of State to Mozambique and Zambia also brought with it the signing of agreements that trace the line of this new diplomacy based on soft power or, as some experts have nicknamed it, “subtle persuasion.”

In terms of cooperation with the former Portuguese colony, France announced an injection of 4.5 million euros to offer humanitarian support to people affected by the conflict in Cabo Delgado and another of 10 million euros to facilitate access to water.

However, Paris has not left aside its commercial interests and has announced that the energy giant EDF, owned by the French State, will lead the consortium to build and operate a large hydroelectric project on the Zambezi River: a €4.5 billion dam with which aims to increase the electricity production capacity in Mozambique by more than 50%.

In Zambia, an allied country with which France has maintained close bilateral relations in political, economic, defense and cooperation matters since its independence in 1964, the new agreements will be aimed at alleviating the macroeconomic tensions that are suffocating the African country, with a crisis of the debt restructuring that has paralyzed investments and growth.

The French country has committed to strengthening its ties through a disbursement of 23 million euros for debt relief, mainly aimed at combating food insecurity, sustainable management of forest resources and water access services.

For Llorca, “if France wants to be perceived as having changed its approach and promote real cooperation between equal partners, it has to be coherent and systematic.

Trust is something very difficult to achieve and very easy to lose.”

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