France to host a summit with Africa

Ahead of France hosting a summit on Friday with Africa, where it was once a major colonial power, here are the milestones in France's relations with the continent since President Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017.Shortly after being elected, Macron vows to declassify secret French files on the assassinated Burkina Faso leader, Thomas Sankara.Sankara, dubbed "Africa's Che Guevara", was killed in 1987 and many Burkinabe suspect that France played a role in the putsch which brought Sankara's close friend Blaise Compaore to power.Three sets of documents have since been handed over to Burkina's judiciary. In November 2018, Macron agrees to return 26 artefacts to Benin "without delay".Mainly royal statues from the Palaces of Abomey formerly the capital of the kingdom of Dahomey taken by the French army during a war in 1892, they are in Paris' Quai Branly museum and should be returned by the end of this year.In December 2019, Macron and his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara announce the end of the CFA franc, a French-backed currency used by former colonies in West Africa. Critics described the CFA franc as a symbol of colonialism.Under the reform, the CFA franc will eventually be renamed the "eco", and its member countries will no longer be required to keep financial reserves in France.On January 20, 2021, Macron's office rules out an official apology for France's conquest and 132-year rule of the North African country as a major report on how France should face up to its colonial past there is published.Reconciliation Instead, Macron said he would take part in "symbolic acts" aimed at promoting reconciliation. In March, he admits French soldiers murdered a top Algerian independence figure, Ali Boumendjel, then covered up his death in 1957.The same month, he orders that researcher be given easier access to classified files on Algeria and its bloody struggle for independence. But that week the careful rapprochement falters.Algiers bans French military aircraft from its airspace after Macron is reported as telling descendants of figures from Algeria's independence war that the country was now ruled by a "political-military system" that had "totally re-written" its history and stirred up hatred of France to hold onto power.On May 28, 2021, Macron recognises France's failure in not stopping the 1994 genocide during a visit to Rwanda to put a 25-year-old rift over the mass killings to bed.But he says France "was not complicit" in the genocide and stops short of a full apology.In June 2021, Macron announces a major reduction of France's military presence in the Sahel and the end of the existing Barkhane operation there.France currently has 5 100 troops in the arid and volatile Sahel region, which stretches across Africa south of the Sahara Desert and spans half a dozen countries. Under the plan, they will be reduced to between 2 500 and 3 000 troops.Relations between Paris and Mali have been tense since two coups there since August 2020. France is also worried about the use of Russian mercenaries in the country. -Nampa/AFP

France to host a summit with Africa

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France to host a summit with Africa

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