00:00And French President Emmanuel Macron has wrapped up a two-day trip to Gabon, the state visit aimed at strengthening and renewing the bilateral partnership two years after a coup deposed former leader Ali Bongo, who was in power from 2009 all the way through to 2023.
00:17Simon Moritz reports.
00:19Greeted by military parade and clamoring crowds, French President Emmanuel Macron touched down in Gabon on Sunday to shore up diplomatic, military, and economic ties.
00:33Unlike several countries in the Sahel which have scaled back or severed their relationships with France in the past several years, Gabon's government has maintained them.
00:40Despite the coup that pushed previous head of state Ali Bongo out of power in 2023, the current president, Brice Oligi Ngema, welcomed his French counterpart.
00:53Your presence reflects our shared desire for a new beginning, to build cooperation based on trust, dialogue, and equality with a win-win vision.
01:10Elected last April, the leader has renewed a defense pact with France for two years.
01:17And Paris has reduced its military presence to 100 troops, down from 1,200, in the 2000s.
01:23The soldiers present are currently training Gabonese forces.
01:27The Elysee wants to ensure its economic interests as well.
01:31Gabon is a country rich in hydrocarbons and magnumies, elements that are integral to fuel production, as well as timber.
01:38On Monday, Macron underlined the importance of the two countries working together.
01:46August 30, 2023 was a turning point in Gabon's political history.
01:51And you have ushered in a new era, based on renewal, inclusiveness, and plurality of opinion, values that our two countries deeply share.
02:00That is why France has supported the transition from the very beginning.
02:04France has, since the first time, supported the transition.
02:08And helping to improve infrastructure as well, the French Development Agency is involved in the rehabilitation of the Transgabonais, the country's railway line.
02:17A renovation plan launched in 2024 plans to replace the 270 of the 648 kilometers of sleepers and rails by 2027.
02:25The French leader is now in Angola attending a summit of European and African leaders, which aims to deepen economic and security ties.
02:34Talks with African nations are centering on trade, migration, and critical raw materials.
02:41Yet the gathering was very much overshadowed by emergency talks on Ukraine being held on the site of the meeting.
02:47But as Angola celebrates 50 years of independence, it comes, as Brussels says, it is committed to resetting its historically tainted relationship with the region.
02:58This is what the EU president, Ursula von der Leyen, had to say earlier.
03:01The global environment has become harsher, but the relationship between Africa and Europe has only grown closer.
03:13Global Gateway is not only about large-scale public investment.
03:18Its strength lies in governments, banks, and businesses from both countries pulling in the same direction.
03:27Joining me now is Paul Mellie, an Africa specialist from Chatham House in London.
03:34Paul, thank you very much for your time.
03:37With China, Turkey and others already very much present in the region,
03:43is this a case of Europe leaving it too late in the day in terms of building key trade relationships with African countries?
03:52No, I think it's more a case of updating Europe's relationship with Africa.
04:01Europe has traditionally been one of the continent's principal trading partners.
04:07And, for example, in 2023, it was the largest source of foreign direct investment in Africa with 238 billion euros of investment.
04:19So that economic relationship is there.
04:23It already exists.
04:24It's already quite solid.
04:26But, as you've said, there's competition from China, from Turkey, from India to a lesser extent now, but perhaps more in the future.
04:36You know, these newer actors are coming in, and they often offer quite attractive terms.
04:43For example, the Chinese are very often willing to build huge infrastructure projects, railway lines, roads, ports,
04:50and without some of the financial and political conditions that traditionally Europe has set.
04:57So the EU is trying to set forward, as it were, a new, a modernised, refreshed offer of partnership
05:06that's different from the old relationship of what was so-called conditionality,
05:12where Europe provided aid in return for African countries meeting certain rather specific conditions.
05:20It's trying to work with Africa much more, particularly on joint challenges, such as tackling climate change.
05:27Is historical baggage not a problem, though?
05:30Because it certainly seems to come up time and again when you think of the way that many African people view the relationship,
05:40particularly between France and its former colonies.
05:42Yes, historical baggage is always going to be an issue, inevitably, although the colonial era for most African countries,
05:53though not, curiously, for Angola, which didn't get independence until 1975,
05:57but for most African countries, independence came around 1960.
06:03So the old colonial era is a long way away.
06:06Most Africans were born after it had ended, but even so, it still weighs heavily on mindsets and perceptions.
06:18And as we can see around all the difficulties that France faced during the very difficult sort of closing phases
06:25of its military engagement in the Sahel, it's quite easy in a tense political atmosphere
06:32for that old historical baggage still to cause pain.
06:38I mean, for example, although there's been an inquiry now into a colonial era massacre in Senegal,
06:47an inquiry that was supported by France, there was quite a lot of delicate negotiation and diplomacy
06:53that went on around that.
06:55And President Macron has tried, through a series, agreeing to a series of historical inquiries
07:01into various events around the continent, in Cameroon, in Algeria, of course,
07:09in Rwanda from the period of the genocide, to try and shed light and a bit of clarity
07:17and honesty about some of these difficult past events.
07:21Still, all that history weighs heavily.
07:24I want to come back to what you were just saying earlier, though.
07:27So African nations are already the primary suppliers of minerals to Beijing.
07:31So what exactly can European nations offer by contrast?
07:36I mean, can they indeed truly provide a more equitable and sustainable approach to developing natural resources?
07:44Well, I think they're really able to provide two things.
07:50One, and it's particularly significant in the present climate at a time when the US under President Trump
07:57has pursued a very unilateralist transactional approach to international policy.
08:03One is to reassert the value of collective action, multilateral action.
08:09So, you know, we have the European Union, so 27 member countries.
08:14And then we have the African Union with around 50 countries.
08:19So these are two groups that by definition, the culture is one of working together.
08:26It means that not only the largest countries, but also smaller states have a voice in shaping the agenda.
08:32And that really matters, whether you're dealing with economic issues or whether you're dealing, for example, with climate change,
08:41as we've just seen at the COP summit in Brazil just a few days ago.
08:47So that's something that really matters for Africa, because Africa doesn't have any superpowers.
08:54And therefore, its voice in the international arena is expressed when it comes together.
09:02That's what gives Africa clout.
09:04And the same is also true for the EU.
09:07And so that's very important.
09:09The other thing that the EU can bring is a commitment to tackling some of these issues, such as climate change,
09:17but also managing really rather sensitive and difficult issues, of which migration is probably the most difficult
09:24and the most painful and controversial, because it's politically difficult for both European countries and African countries.
09:34But in working together to find at least easier ways of managing it or less difficult ways of managing it,
09:42that's actually a significant attraction for Africa.
09:45And a final point, I think, is that the EU is a very institutional actor.
09:51So when it makes agreements and sets the terms of agreements or African governments negotiate with the EU
09:59or the African Union reaches accords with the EU that set terms,
10:04those are things that both sides can then actually count on,
10:09because the EU operates through this rather sometimes bureaucratic but predictable institutional structure.
10:17And that can be reassuring for international partners.
10:20Paul Belli, I'm so sorry.
10:21We're going to have to leave it there.
10:22Thank you so much again.
10:25And do stay with us.
10:26I'll be back after a short break with more news and headlines.
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