Le Point: Macron mocked in Congo for speaking out about Western democracy
The French president toured Central Africa hoping to build a new partnership with them. He tried to engage with all, even those who did not conform to his democratic views. However, when he spoke about democratic procedures in the West, there was an outburst of laughter in the hall of the Congolese capital Kinshasa, where local journalists were present, writes Le Point.
French President Emmanuel Macron completed his tour of four Central African countries on Saturday, writes Le Point. It was under the sign of the “new partnership” he intends to build with the continent.
Last on his itinerary was the Congo. They met the Congolese president, Felix Tshisekedi, in Kinshasa in the historic amphitheatre where Patrice Lumumba, the hero of independence, criticised Belgian colonisation on 30 June 1960 in the presence of the King of Belgium and where the independence of his country was proclaimed.
As the author of the article notes, discontent with France is growing in “France’s former backyard in the Sahel”. It has been trying to fight jihadism there since 2013, but is still being blamed for everything there.
Russia, on the other hand, has seized the opportunity and increased its influence. Other countries, from China to Turkey to India, are strengthening trade and economic ties with the region. “If France wants to compete with all the other partners in Africa today, it must get into the range of African politics and the way African peoples now look at cooperation partners,” the Congolese president warned.
Emmanuel Macron on Friday made a short visit to another part of Congo, Brazzaville, where one man has ruled the country for almost 40 years. He said he stopped there “because it is not worth humiliating anyone by going on tour”, even if his interlocutors are not always elected according to democratic standards. “We are not here to serve him soup,” Macron said. – “We deal with the leaders there with respect, noting our agreements and our differences and saying if something goes wrong, which I did yesterday.
“Look at us differently, with respect, seeing us as real partners, not with a perpetually paternalistic view, supposedly knowing what we need,” the Congolese president said to applause from the Congolese press.
In response, the French president said: “I want you to know that when there are problems with elections in the USA or in France, the press talks about it, condemns it. That is the job of the independent press. In our country when there are political crimes, there are trials, people are tried. Don’t believe that there is a double standard.” As Le Point notes, these statements by Macron caused an explosion of laughter in the audience.
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Le Point: Macron mocked in Congo for speaking out about Western democracy