{"id":80195,"date":"2024-06-24T17:04:11","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T17:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/24\/many-african-nations-want-france-out-this-country-wants-it-in\/"},"modified":"2024-06-24T17:04:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T17:04:12","slug":"many-african-nations-want-france-out-this-country-wants-it-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/24\/many-african-nations-want-france-out-this-country-wants-it-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Many African Nations Want France Out. This Country Wants It in."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/18\/multimedia\/18rwanda-france-gmjw\/18rwanda-france-gmjw-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Many African Nations Want France Out. This Country Wants It in.\" title=\"Many African Nations Want France Out. This Country Wants It in.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After decades of wielding political, military and economic power across Africa, France is scaling back its presence on the continent as it faces significant resentment in many African countries. Yet one nation has emerged as an exception: Rwanda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As other African nations <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/05\/world\/africa\/niger-coup-france-west-africa.html\" title=\"\">seek to reduce France\u2019s influence<\/a>, Rwanda is embracing it, celebrating French culture, language and food, despite decades of frosty relations with Paris over its role in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/07\/world\/africa\/rwanda-genocide-thirty-years.html\" title=\"\">the 1994 Rwanda genocide<\/a>. In return, French companies are scaling up their investments in Rwanda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The d\u00e9tente, which is being championed by Rwanda\u2019s longtime leader, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/06\/world\/africa\/rwanda-genocide-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">Paul Kagame<\/a>, has garnered France a much-needed security partner in Africa and secured Rwanda millions of dollars in development and trade funds. The warming relations are also rare good news for the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/14\/world\/africa\/france-macron-africa-colonies.html\" title=\"\">faced a wave of indignation across Africa<\/a> and was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/12\/world\/europe\/macron-france-elections.html\" title=\"\">crushed by the far right<\/a> in the European parliamentary elections this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have a partner in Kagame,\u201d Herv\u00e9 Berville, a French minister of state, said in an interview in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For decades, diplomatic rancor and hostility characterized relations between the two countries. Mr. Kagame accused France, and especially the government of Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand, then president, of enabling the Rwandan officials who oversaw the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The relationship frayed so much in the early 2000s that Rwanda abandoned French for English in classrooms, expelled the French ambassador, shuttered the French international school and cultural center, and blocked the French state radio broadcaster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But events began to shift when Mr. Macron came to power. In 2021, a report he commissioned <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/26\/world\/europe\/france-rwanda-genocide.html\" title=\"\">concluded<\/a> that, while France was not complicit in the genocide, it bore \u201cserious and overwhelming\u201d responsibility for it. Rwanda <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/19\/world\/africa\/france-rwanda-genocide-report.html\" title=\"\">published<\/a> its own report weeks later and accused Paris of providing \u201cunwavering support\u201d to the government that carried out the genocide in order to maintain its own influence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Macron <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/27\/world\/africa\/france-rwanda.html\" title=\"\">visited Rwanda<\/a> soon after the reports were released, beginning a cascade of events that brought about the rapprochement between the countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By mid-2021, France had appointed a new ambassador to Rwanda. The French Development Agency inaugurated a new office in Kigali. France <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diplomatie.gouv.fr\/en\/country-files\/rwanda\/news\/article\/rwanda-donation-of-nearly-400-000-doses-of-pfizer-vaccine-oct-27-2021\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">donated<\/a> hundreds of thousands of doses of Covid vaccine during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">French conglomerates poured in millions of dollars in investments in real estate, technology, entertainment and tourism. Last month leaders from more than 50 French companies attended the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theafricaceoforum.com\/forum-2024\/en\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Africa CEO Forum<\/a> in Kigali, French officials said. Some of them, including the head of TotalEnergies, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UrugwiroVillage\/status\/1791437080075157790\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">personally met with Mr. Kagame<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Rwanda, French has been reintroduced in schools. Mr. Macron opened a newly built French cultural center. Young Rwandans now dine in restaurants offering French cuisine. Rwandan artists and fashion designers <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/theatre-chaillot.fr\/fr\/archive\/2023-2024\/chaillot-experience-8-rwanda-ejo-0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">perform and exhibit their works<\/a> at major French cultural institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEverywhere you look, there\u2019s French and France,\u201d said Mashauri Muhindo Memcan, a teacher in Kigali. A few years ago, he was the only French-language instructor at his school, he said, but he now leads a growing department with six French-language teachers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For France, the new engagement with Rwanda reflects Mr. Macron\u2019s efforts to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/africa\/1573217\/french-president-macron-visits-djibouti-ethiopia-kenya\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">find allies and business partners<\/a> on a continent where rival nations like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/06\/podcasts\/the-daily\/kamala-harris-us-africa-china.html\" title=\"\">China<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/26\/world\/africa\/putin-africa-russia-war.html\" title=\"\">Russia<\/a> are <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/24\/world\/africa\/central-african-republic-russia-wagner.html\" title=\"\">vying for influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But it\u2019s also aimed at engaging the younger generations in conversations about the past, so as to \u201cavoid a repetition,\u201d said Mr. Berville, the French minister. \u201cWe need to be vigilant,\u201d he told a group of French and Rwandan students in Kigali on a recent afternoon, wearing a dark tie over a white shirt, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-fashion-d6a897b10e464c90b236dc654e5b2f12\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u00e0 la Macron<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite the warming ties, the two countries still have disagreements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">France has accused Rwanda of supporting rebel fighters wreaking havoc in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which Kigali has long denied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rwanda still takes umbrage at the fact that France has not claimed more responsibility for the genocide. Those tensions surfaced during the 30th anniversary of the genocide in April, when Mr. Macron <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/emmanuel-macron-rwanda-genocide-comments-france-responsability-presidency-bungles\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">backpedaled<\/a> on acknowledging France\u2019s failure to halt the genocide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Rwanda and France have solidified their defense cooperation, even as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/07\/us\/politics\/us-terrorism-west-africa.html\" title=\"\">French troops have been expelled<\/a> from several African countries, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/15\/world\/africa\/mali-france-military-operation.html\" title=\"\">Mali<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/24\/world\/africa\/france-troops-ambassador-niger.html\" title=\"\">Niger<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/25\/world\/africa\/france-military-burkina-faso.html\" title=\"\">Burkina Faso<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Though small in size, Rwanda has used its military to leverage its influence internationally, particularly through peacekeeping missions. And France, wary of another military intervention, has looked to Rwanda as an alternative to deploying troops on African soil, said Federico Donelli, a professor of international relations at the University of Trieste, who has written extensively about Rwanda\u2019s military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This was the case in Mozambique, where France backed the deployment of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/world\/africa\/100000007760967\/mozambique-attack.html\" title=\"\">Rwandan troops to fight an insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province<\/a>. The region is home to a multibillion-dollar gas project owned by TotalEnergies of France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">France also promoted Rwanda\u2019s involvement in Mozambique at the European Union, Mr. Donelli said. The bloc <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.minaffet.gov.rw\/updates\/news-details\/rwanda-welcomes-support-of-european-peace-facility-to-joint-operations-in-cabo-delgado\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">funded Rwanda\u2019s mission<\/a> to the tune of 20 million euros, or $21.4 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFrance sees Rwanda as a perfect partner in its new African agenda,\u201d Mr. Donelli added. \u201cParis\u2019s political costs, both domestic and continental, are lower. And Kigali stands to gain both a good reputation and economic benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beyond security, France has increased its development funding to the landlocked nation. The French development agency has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afd.fr\/en\/actualites\/frances-half-billion-euro-boost-rwandas-health-training-and-climate\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">spent<\/a> half a billion euros creating jobs and renovating health facilities. In April, the two countries signed a development partnership valued at 400 million euros, or about $429 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">France is also paying for vocational training for thousands of Rwandan college students in disciplines including mechatronics, a hybrid field that combines mechanics and electronics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent morning, several French officials toured a college that France funded and built in Tumba, a town about 20 miles northwest of Kigali. Students there huddled in classes and laboratories studying industrial automation and working up robotic systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s a willingness in Rwanda to change, improve and even build systems that could benefit the wider Africa,\u201d said Arthur Germond, the Rwanda country director for the French development agency, who led the tour. \u201cWe want to help that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For some Rwandans, the shifting relations augur new opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For years, Herv\u00e9 Kimenyi, a comedian, refrained from performing in French as Rwanda pivoted away from the language and his audiences dwindled. But with relations improving, he is now setting up a comedy club that will feature standup, poetry and music exclusively in French.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By doing so, he said, he hopes to reach both older and younger Rwandans but also French-speaking students and professionals from elsewhere on the continent, mostly West Africa, who now call Rwanda home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Mr. Berville, the French minister, strengthening relations with Rwanda will entail working on challenges facing both nations, such as climate change. But it will also involve France\u2019s taking active measures to reckon with the past, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.voaafrica.com\/a\/rwanda-genocide-suspect-goes-on-trial-in-paris-\/7354614.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">trying genocide suspects still living in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That\u2019s the only way to make improving relations \u201cirreversible,\u201d no matter who succeeds Mr. Macron in the next French election, Mr. Berville said. \u201cWords are good,\u201d he said, \u201cbut actions are better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/24\/world\/africa\/rwanda-france-kagame.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After decades of wielding political, military and economic power across Africa, France is scaling back its presence on the continent as it faces significant resentment in many African countries. Yet one nation has emerged as an exception: Rwanda. As other African nations seek to reduce France\u2019s influence, Rwanda is embracing it, celebrating French culture, language [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/18\/multimedia\/18rwanda-france-gmjw\/18rwanda-france-gmjw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1863,643,9403,2376],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80197,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80195\/revisions\/80197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}