Behind the scenes of Macron's Africa-France summit

摘要

It's an event that never ceases to make people cringe inAfrican presidential palaces. The "new" Africa-Francesummit will take place in Montpellier on 8 October, in atotally revised format and without the presence of anyAfrican heads of state (AI, 06/09/21).Among the major announcements expected to mark theevent is a major overhaul of the Presidential Council forAfrica (CPA), which was launched by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron in 2017 to "revitalise" therelationship between France and the African continent.Among the founders of the CPA were the current Frenchambassador to South Africa, AurélienLechevallier - former number two of the diplomaticdepartment at the Élysée Palace until 2019 - and theFranco-Beninese Jules-Armand Aniambossou, presidentof the CPA from 2017 to 2019 and now head of theFrench embassy in Kampala. Macron is expected torevamp the CPA by almost exclusively devoting it to the"diasporas", a word that should even appear in the nameof this new structure and which was still being debatedon at the Élysée as of 5 October.