President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday promised that France remains resolutely committed to the security of Africa amid a militant campaign in the Sahel.
Mr Macron made his pledge while in Cameroon, the first stop of his three-nation tour of West Africa.
He arrived in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde late on Monday night, when he was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister
"France remains resolutely committed to the security of the continent, acting in support and at the request of our African partners,” Mr Macron told a gathering of French people in Yaounde.
France is reconfiguring its position in the Sahel after falling out with the military junta in Mali, the epicentre of a bloody 10-year-old militant campaign in the region.
Mr Macron held talks on Tuesday morning with President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.
They discussed security in Cameroon, which has been riven by ethnic violence and an insurgency by anglophone separatists who have been fighting for independence for two English-speaking provinces since 2017. Northern Cameroon has also suffered attacks by Boko Haram militants.
Mr Macron had provoked Mr Biya’s indignation in 2020 after declaring he would apply “maximum pressure” on the president over “intolerable” violence in the West African country.
Mr Macron’s first trip outside Europe since being re-elected will also take him to Benin and Guinea-Bissau. It should allow him to “show the commitment of the president in the process of renewing the relationship with the African continent”, said a French presidential official, who asked not to be named.
His visit comes at a time when former colonial power France has had its influence decline in the face of China, India and Germany, particularly in the economic and commercial sectors.
After lunch with Mr Biya and his wife Chantal, Mr Macron met representatives of youth and civil societies.
He ended the day in “Noah Village”. This is hosted by the 1983 French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah, who is developing a leisure and education centre in a popular district of Yaounde, where he lives for several months a year.
Mr Macron will on Wednesday head to Benin, which has faced deadly attacks from militants, who have spread from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea nations.
Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy. But critics say its democracy has steadily eroded under President Patrice Talon over the past five years.
On Thursday, Mr Macron will finish his tour in Guinea-Bissau, which has been divided by political crises at a time when its president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African States.
