In Benin, Macron reaffirmed his military support but avoided commenting on his repressive regime

Emmanuel Macron arrived in Benin on Wednesday, where he met his counterpart Patrice Talon in the economic capital of Cotonou. It is the second stage of his first trip to Africa since his re-election last April, and it was also the first time that Macron traveled as president to Cameroon, where he was on Tuesday; Benin, and Guinea-Bissau, where he will finish his tour on Thursday.

One of the key issues of this meeting was security in the region and French military support. Jihadist groups, particularly present in the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, threaten the security of the country. Since the end of 2021, the Beninese army has been the target of several deadly attacks in the north of the country, where it is deployed to contain the advance of these terrorist groups.

“We have to thank France for its collaboration in the field of intelligence services and training. But, even so, we need more military equipment. We need more support from France to get that equipment, as well as more funds,” said the president of the African nation.

Paris responded that it was willing to listen to Benin’s requests and could send “drones and military surveillance equipment, which are necessary to fight terrorism.” Emmanuel Macron also claimed to want to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries.

“What we want is to build together in a very concrete way the renewal of the French presence and this association in support, in support: training, equipment, accompaniment, training of special forces, planned operations,” explained the French president.

In Cameroon, Macron had already stated that he wanted to remain committed to the fight against the Boko Haram jihadists, active in the north of the country.

Macron also reaffirmed France’s will to fight terrorism in the region in the context of the French military withdrawal from Mali. France announced the end of Operation Barkhane in the country amid a serious diplomatic crisis in which the French ambassador to Mali was asked to leave the country in early 2022.

Made more art restitutions

Emmanuel Macron began his arrival in Benin by visiting Cotonou for an exhibition of art objects returned by France to the country at the end of 2021. After his first election as head of state in 2017, Macron had committed himself to the restitution of the 26 Beninese works that Paris preserved and that the African country claimed.

During the colonization of the African continent, the looting of works was perpetrated and it is estimated that between 85% and 90% of African heritage is outside the continent. In France, at least 90,000 art objects from sub-Saharan Africa are part of French public collections. The Beninese president demands the restitution of all the works that belong to his country.

Although Emmanuel Macron was not able to give a precise schedule for these returns, he promised to continue with the process. He explained that a law that aims to facilitate the restitution of works will be voted soon.

Macron, discreet on the issue of human rights

While the French president has as a priority the reaffirmation and evolution of France’s relations with its former colonies, the head of state has not been able to directly condemn the setback to democracy and human rights observed in Benin.

Amnesty International condemns the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political prisoners in Benin, including several journalists accused of “harassment through electronic communication”. The organization also denounces the restriction of freedom of expression, violations of the rights of detained political opponents, and deadly police violence against demonstrators.

But Patrice Talon, when questioned on the matter by a journalist during the press conference, stated that in Benin “nobody is in prison for political reasons. But some people are in jail because they committed crimes for political reasons.” Although the two presidents discussed political prisoners during their meeting, Macron did not openly denounce these political detentions.

Talon was re-elected in the first round of the presidential election in April 2021 with 86.36% of the vote. The Constitutional Court had rejected the candidacies of the main political opponents. The president is criticized for his authoritarian drift and for the setback in human rights in a country that was considered, until the start of his government, a model of democracy in the region.

Africa, scene of growing tensions between France and Russia

If the head of the French Executive finally decided to visit these three countries, something he did not do during his first presidential term, it is also because he is witnessing the loss of his influence in the region, both economically, as well as military and diplomatically. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Egypt, Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia in parallel to his tour is symbolic of a race for geopolitical influence on the continent.

Macron declared this Tuesday: “They are pushing us (…) perhaps because we have fallen asleep,” adding, “it is up to us to be better, more efficient.”

In Cameroon, French companies represented 40% of the Cameroonian economy in the 1990s, compared to only 10% today. Russia, China, India, Turkey and Germany take a large part of the market. France is no longer even the leading European exporter of products to Africa, as it was overtaken by Germany.

Militarily, the rejection of the French army in Mali was a blow to Paris, which had to end its Brakhane military mission and rethink its military policy in the region. This Tuesday, Macron did not fail to denounce the presence of Wagner militias and Russian propaganda in the region.

France’s colonial past in Africa also weighs on bilateral relations and fuels mistrust of France. To reinvent the country’s cooperation with its former colonies, Macron knows that he needs to address this issue.

He promised joint work between Cameroonian and French historians on France’s role in the atrocities committed during Cameroon’s war of independence. In an attempt to reverse the balance, Macron described Russia this Wednesday in Benin as “one of the last imperial colonial powers” for its invasion of Ukraine.

With EFE, AFP and local media