Macron: France must show "profound humility" in Africa

French president heads off on a four-nation tour of central African countries from Wednesday as Paris seeks to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. Emmanuel Macron presents his strategy in Africa before a trip to the continent. Speaking from Paris before his departure, he said France must show a "profound humility.

"I would like to draw from this one requirement: that of showing profound humility in the face of what is at stake on the African continent. A situation without precedent in history, dealing at the same time and urgently with a sum of vertiginous challenges: from the security and climate challenge to the demographic challenge... With the young people who are arriving, and to whom we must offer a future for each of the African states."

Macron also said he refused to be drawn into an outdated competition between powers for control of Africa.

Macron announced a law to regulate "new restitutions" of works of art to Africa

"We will go further, since a framework law will be proposed in the coming weeks by the Culture Minister (Rima Abdul-Malak, Eds.) to our Parliament. And based on the recommendations of the work carried out by Jean-Luc Martinez, whom I would like to thank, this framework law will make it possible to establish, with our national representation, the methodology and criteria for proceeding with new restitutions, for the benefit of African countries that request it and based on a cultural and scientific partnership to receive and preserve these works."

Macron is to visit Gabon for an environmental summit, followed by Angola, then the Republic of Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville, and finally the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.