Emmanuel Macron anticipated Sunday afternoon in Gabon, two years after the tip of the Bongo period | EUROtoday

The President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, begins a go to, Sunday, November 23, to Gabon aimed toward “strengthen and renew” the bilateral partnership, two years after the putsch which ended fifty-five years of the Bongo dynasty.

The Head of State, who is constant an African tour began in Mauritius and South Africa, earlier than Angola on Monday, is anticipated at 5:30 p.m. in Libreville, the capital. He will then communicate with the Gabonese president, Brice Oligui Nguema, on the origin of the putsch, elected in April after nineteen months of political transition.

Emmanuel Macron hears “welcome the completion of the transition” And ” sustain “ the brand new authorities, explains the Elysée. This go to, after that of President Oligui to Paris in May, is a part of a “profoundly renewed political dynamic”with “a dialogue now based on equal-to-equal exchanges”provides the Gabonese presidency. General Oligui was elected following a vote throughout which worldwide observers famous no main irregularities.

Reduction of the French army presence

Unlike a number of Sahel nations which turned their backs on France, the previous colonial energy, between 2021 and 2023 after coups, the brand new Gabonese authorities have maintained ties. The nation was led for greater than forty-one years by Omar Bongo Ondimba (1967-2009), who was succeeded by his son Ali upon his dying in 2009. Omar Bongo was a pillar of “Françafrique”, a system of political co-optation, networks and business preserves between Paris and its former African colonies.

After taking energy, General Oligui renewed the protection partnership with France for 2 years. This settlement should be authorized once more in January. Reconfiguring its army presence in Africa, France has lowered its army presence in Gabon to round 100 males – removed from the 1,200 within the 2000s. This presence is now centered on coaching Gabonese forces. An academy for the safety of the surroundings and pure sources, coaching specialists within the battle towards poaching and unlawful gold panning, might be arrange at Camp de Gaulle, the place French troopers are primarily based.

A poorly diversified financial system

French firms, for his or her half, hope to strengthen their presence on this Central African nation of two.3 million inhabitants, the place they’re already very current in hydrocarbons, manganese and wooden. Gabon is without doubt one of the very first producers of black gold in sub-Saharan Africa and one of many richest nations on the continent by way of GDP per capita ($8,820 in 2022). But the financial system, which the federal government fails to diversify sufficiently, nonetheless relies upon too closely on hydrocarbons, and one in three inhabitants lived under the poverty line on the finish of 2024, in line with the World Bank.

The French Development Agency (AfD) is collaborating within the rehabilitation of the Transgabonais, the nation’s solely railway line. A renovation plan launched in 2024 plans to interchange 270 of the 648 kilometers of sleepers and rails by 2027 – a colossal effort because of unstable soils, dense rainforest and excessive rainfall.

During his earlier go to to Libreville, in March 2023, Emmanuel Macron affirmed that the period of “Françafrique” was “gone” and that France was now a “neutral interlocutor” on the continent. Since his arrival on the Elysée in 2017, he has advocated an method to Africa that’s extra centered on English-speaking nations, youth, memorial work and financial partnerships. “win-win”.