FOREIGN POLICY
The highlights this week: John Dramani Mahama wins the presidency in Ghana, Belgium is ordered to pay Congo reparations, and Cameroon’s Koyo Kouoh takes the helm of the Venice Biennale.
Nigeria’s President Goes to Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in Paris last week, marking the first state visit to the country by a Nigerian leader in more than two decades as France looks to pivot to Anglophone Africa after recently being booted out by several of its junta-led former colonies—such as Mali and Niger.
Over the past decade, Paris has been courting the continent’s biggest non-Francophone economies, including South Africa, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Macron made his first official visit to South Africa in 2021, and in 2019, he had made the first ever visit by a French president to Kenya since its independence from Britain in 1963.
On Nov. 28, both Chad and Senegal—historically staunch French allies—announced their intention to terminate military cooperation agreements with France.
France began withdrawing its military assets from the capital N’Djamena on Tuesday with the return of two warplanes, but Chad’s decision can be viewed as politicking. Chadian military leader Mahamat Idriss Déby made a similar move in April, when he asked U.S. troops to leave weeks ahead of a presidential election. It was widely perceived as a negotiating tactic and a ploy to win public favor in the election, in which Déby was running.
Déby, whose legitimacy is disputed, faces various challenges to his presidency and continues to play a game of chess with Western leaders in order to remain in power. Chad has recently forged an alliance with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, while U.S. officials have reportedly agreed to a return of military cooperation.
Chad has implemented a media blackout on legislative elections scheduled for Dec. 29. The head of the country’s media authority banned the broadcast and production of audiovisual content by online outlets that had not applied for authorization, which the Chad Electronic Media Association denounced as “illegal and arbitrary.” About 15 opposition parties have refused to take part in the vote.
In contrast, Senegalese leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye shares similar views on France as the Sahel’s coup nations of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. That’s why he was put in charge of negotiating the three nations’ return to the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc. Faye had also pledged during his election campaign in March to fight France’s “economic stranglehold” on the country.
“Today, China is our largest trading partner in terms of investment and trade. Does China have a military presence in Senegal? No. Does that mean our relations are cut? No,” he said last month.
During Tinubu’s state visit, a mostly white French military band gave a viral rendition of Nigerian Afrobeats star P-Square’s song “Taste the Money,” complete with fake Nigerian accents. The French cover band seemed to miss the irony: The musical twins known as P-Square backed third-party candidate Peter Obi rather than Tinubu in last year’s disputed presidential elections.
Tinubu, an unpopular president dealing with a nosediving economy and a currency in free fall, signed a critical minerals deal with France much to the ire of many Nigerians, who felt that the French had a poor record when it comes to offering fair deals to African nations despite Paris having long been a key trade partner. In recent months, many international businesses have exited Nigeria…
