How will Africa play out in a French presidential election year? On 21 June 2021, the AAPA was pleased to welcome Pascal Airault, staff writer and columnist for L’Opinion and co-author with Antoine Glaser of Le Piège Africain de Macron: Du Continent à l’Hexagone. The same Emmanuel Macron, drawn in by his nation’s role as a former colonial power in places like Chad and Mali, wants to display that he’s a reformer from a new generation, says Airault: when he revisits France’s role in Rwanda or talks debt relief and Covid vaccines in South Africa, Macron knows that in a nation where millions of citizens are of African descent or dual nationals, the 2022 election may come down to courting the right constituencies, he adds. The return of “le en même temps”?
François Picard