French President Emmanuel Macron is welcomed by President of Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo on March 04, 2023. ( Samy Ntumba Shambuyi - Anadolu Agency )

YAOUNDE

France's President Emmanuel Macron may run into trouble trying to implement his new Africa strategy, according to some African experts and academics.

Last week, Macron visited Gabon, Angola, the Congo Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to renew relations between Paris and Africa and proclaim his intention to make French interference on the continent a thing of the past.

In Gabon, the first leg of his tour, Macron announced "the end of Francafrique," vowing that Paris would be a "neutral interlocutor whose role is not to interfere in domestic politics."

However, some experts on the continent assert that this declaration is nothing more than a veil for more meddling as locals increasing oppose France's presence on the continent.

Unilateral strategy

"Francafrique" was is a term coined by French intellectuals after World War II to describe the updated version of the French colonial system, a professor at Yaounde University in Cameroon's capital, Ntuda Ebode Joseph Vincent, pointed out.

"With its Francafrique policy, France interferes in African countries' domestic affairs on the military, economic, and other levels, and makes sure to create secret economic ties between the African regimes and French politicians," he said.

Ntuda Ebode, who heads the university's International Relations and Strategic Studies Center, accused France of seeking to "write the history of Africa on its own, as it has done in the past."

"It's impossible to implement the New Africa Strategy which was not prepared inclusively and jointly," he stressed.

Changing discourse for popularity

Citing surveys conducted in 2021-2022, Mursel Bayram, head of Africa Studies at the Social Sciences University of Ankara, Türkiye's capital, said African opinion leaders saw China, Germany, Canada, and Türkiye as Africa's most beneficial partners.

"France is even behind new actors like Japan, and India," Bayram added. "The French government, aware of this, seeks to change the discourse."

A Senegalese expert in international relations, Daouda Kinda also argued that Macron's remarks did not reflect reality.

Kinda said that the West had not given up on the colonial system and kept it alive through economic ties such as the African franc currency.

France seeks to regain popularity in countries such as the Central African Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso, where locals have staged protests against French military presence in recent years, according to Kinda.

"France is changing its strategy, as did the other colonial powers," the expert said. "After seeing that military interventions in Africa no longer had any influence, France is trying to implement a 'soft power' policy through civil society and the young people."

Kinda asserted that Macron "never considered ending this colonial system," and instead wants to restore France's lost popularity on the continent.

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk, Anadolu Agency

Times Tower, Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters in Nairobi. File I Nation Media Group

Buckingham Palace has appeared to criticise the charity boss at the centre of a royal race row — Ngozi Fulani — after she appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Wednesday to discuss the abuse she experienced after speaking out.

Ngozi Fulani revealed she has resigned from her post as CEO of Sistah Space due to the backlash to the incident.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson has claimed that after a reconciliation meeting in December it was “agreed that no further media comment would be made.” 

Fulani and a senior member of the royal household – Lady Susan Hussey – were embroiled in a racism scandal last November after an interaction at a reception hosted by the Queen Consort to raise awareness of violence against women and girls.

At the reception, Lady Hussey – who was at the time Lady of the Household – repeatedly asked Fulani where she was “really from”. Fulani went public with her experience and Lady Hussey stepped down from her honorary position.

In December, the two women took part in a reconciliation meeting in which Hussey is said to have apologised for the hurt she caused.

During her appearance on GMB, Fulani announced that she was temporarily stepping down so the charity can continue with its work providing support to women of Caribbean and African descent who are victims of domestic violence, undisturbed by controversy. 

She also expressed her displeasure that the palace has not apologised to her privately, and claimed that the palace did not “intervene” when she experienced abuse after going public.

“Who are they apologising to? If you’re sorry tell me you’re sorry, if you’re not it speaks for itself.”

“If you have to ask somebody for an apology, it’s not an apology”, the campaigner also said.

“The Sistah Space charity has suffered, directly suffered as a result. When you think that this was supposed to be for violence against women and girls, because of this incident the violence has been directed to me. The palace hasn’t intervened, I think they could have”.

However, Fulani said she did not “regret” going public with what happened to her

“Listen, I’m about discussing and making aware violence against women and girls and I’ll go anywhere at anytime to fight that cause. I didn’t expect for that to be directed at me at all”.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson responded by saying that after the reconciliation meeting in December “a joint statement was issued, in full agreement with Ms Fulani”.

The went on to say that “it was recognised that no malice had been intended by Lady Susan.

"In the statement following the incident, a number of pledges were made by the Palace which have all been honoured – including enhancing Diversity and Inclusivity programmes."

The spokesperson added: “For the avoidance of any doubt, we are sorry for the incident that took place and apologise for the distress and difficulty it caused to Ms Fulani."

When Lady Hussey’s comments were first made public they were swiftly condemned by Prince William – Hussey’s godson – whose spokesperson said it was “right” she had stepped down from her position in the royal household.

The spokesperson said at the time: “I was really disappointed to hear about the guest's experience at Buckingham Palace last night.

"Obviously, I wasn’t there, but Racism has no place in our society. The comments were unacceptable, and it is right that the individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.” By Emma Mackenzie, Yahoo News