Umamah Bakharia 

Last week, French president Emmanuel Macron embarked on a three-nation tour of west African countries. The trip included Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau, with the continent’s food crisis at the top of the agenda.

The official state visit comes days after Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations inked a deal to unblock the grain shipments from Ukrainian posts. Analysts say this made the visit even more strategic.

Speaking to Radio Islam, an analyst from the African Diaspora forum in Senegal, Mr Talla Niang, says the details around French ties with the continent are sceptical.

“I don’t see any European country coming to an African country and spending €2 million every day to protect that particular country if there is no interest,” says Niang. He adds that some African presidents are empowered to enforce the French agenda.

“France is not comfortable competing with other countries because other countries offer more than what France offers. This is one of the reasons they come with that new strategy that still dominates [some African countries],” he says.

This also comes as France tries to pull out of Mali over security issues after the increased insurgency in the area.

“What the French did in Mali, they wanted to do in Sudan; they wanted to divide the country into two that was one of the reasons they stayed there for ten years,” says Niang.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of state is set to visit South Africa soon to bolster ties.