YAOUND?, July 26, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - President Emmanuel Macron arrived late
Monday in Cameroon at the start of a three-nation tour of western Africa as
he seeks to reboot France's post-colonial relationship with the continent.

Macron was welcomed at the airport in Yaounde at around 10:40 pm by
Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

The first trip of his new term outside Europe, which will also take him to
Benin and Guinea-Bissau, should allow Macron 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.

Macron is due to hold talks Tuesday morning at the presidential palace with
his counterpart Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for
nearly 40 years.

They are expected to discuss 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 seen attacks by Boko Haram jihadists.

Macron had provoked Biya's indignation in 2020 after declaring he would apply
"maximum pressure" on the president over "intolerable" violence in the West
African country.

His visit comes at a time when former colonial power France has seen its
influence decline in the face of China, India and Germany, particularly in
the economic and commercial sectors.

After lunch with Biya and his wife Chantal, Macron will meet representatives
of youth and civil society.

He will end the day in "Noah Village", hosted by former 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.

Macron will move on Wednesday to Benin, which has faced deadly attacks from
jihadists, 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
last half-decade.

On Thursday, Macron will finish his tour in Guinea-Bissau, which has been
riven 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.

All three countries have been criticised by activists over their rights
records, but the Elysee has insisted that governance and rights issues will
be raised, albeit "without media noise but in the form of direct exchanges
between the heads of states".