We have an agenda that must somehow move away from obsessions with the past. I have made every effort, and I will continue to do so, to look at historical, cultural and memorial issues. I believe that we have done so with great sincerity in recent years, and from the unprecedented work that was done on Algeria with the Stora Commission, to the speech that was given by the Minister in Thiaroye for Senegal, to the policy of restitution of works of art, in accordance with the Ouagadougou agenda that I mentioned. In recent years, we have profoundly changed this software.

That is to say, France looks at its past in its entirety: it has named things and it seeks to have a scientific, historiographical approach, both uninhibited and dispassionate, and we will do so again with Cameroon, with the committee of historians that we have set up. I fully assume this policy, it is good. I say this as President, the Republic was born after decolonization: in a continent that is 75% less than 25 years old, dialogue with Africa cannot be held hostage to a contemporary pan-Africanism of good quality that uses a sort of postcolonial discourse while having back-channel support from today's imperialists.

This kind of combination, of false intellectuals, manipulating social networks, using the disarray of young people and the interests of Russia or others in Africa, let's be clear-headed, but let's not give in to it. And so, in this context, no, France is not in decline in Africa, it is simply clear-headed, it is reorganizing itself. I say that because when I read a good part of our press and many comments, people, looking through yesterday's glasses, say that it's terrible, Africa, we are disappearing. No, we have chosen to move in Africa. We chose to move because we had to move.

1) We looked at our past, memorial, cultural relationship. We factualize it, we assume it, we tell each other the truth, but we do not give in to disinformation and interference.

2) We had a security relationship. It was of two natures, in truth. There is a part, it was our commitment against terrorism since 2013. We were right. I think we forgot to thank us. It does not matter, it will come with time. Ingratitude, I am well placed to know, is a disease not transmissible to man. I say it for all African leaders who did not have the courage vis-à-vis their public opinions to carry it, none of them would be today with a sovereign country if the French army had not deployed in this region.

I have a moving thought for our soldiers who sometimes gave their lives and fought for years. We did well. We left because there were coups d'état, because we were there at the request of sovereign states that had asked France to come. From the moment there were coups d'état, when people said: "our priority is no longer the fight against terrorism", it's this or that, it doesn't matter, France no longer had a place there, because we are not the auxiliaries of putschists. So, we left. And then, we decided, this is the second part, to reorganize our military presence. Why? Because we had, in a way, a remanence, and we ourselves were feeding a post-colonial discourse. Because in French-speaking African countries, there was this history, and so, we had left a presence installed in our bases. Did it still have a justification? Not so much anymore. Was that what France's influence was? No. I salute all those who served, it wasn't there anymore. And it was no longer understood, it was used. That is to say, all the activist networks I mentioned came to say: "Look at the French, they have a camp with 2,000 soldiers there, so they're going to prepare a coup d'état." And all possible disinformation was used against us.

So, we have patiently, and I thank Jean-Marie BOCKEL, I thank him on two counts, personally and for this mission, because he is one of those who have experienced in his flesh and the flesh of his family, what I mentioned earlier. But he has patiently led, in conjunction with the ministers and the CEMA, this mission. And so, we have proposed to the African heads of state to reorganize our presence. As we are very polite, we have given them the priority of the announcement. But make no mistake, it is we who have it... and sometimes, we had to push. But it is not because we are polite, correct, and that we reorganize ourselves, that it should be turned against us by saying: "they are being chased out of Africa". I can tell you that in some of these countries, we did not want to remove the French army or even reorganize it, but we took it on together. That's what partnership is. And so, yes, we are opening a new security and defense partnership, where we will have strategic bases. Djibouti is part of it, which is why it is of a completely different nature. I mentioned it to our military, it will be long-term, stable, because it is regional, and we will ask our partners to know how to express their needs in terms of defense. We will also do more training, more equipment, more intelligence, more contracts also in the defense term. We will qualify the threat with them and we will also invent new relationships, as we have done in recent years with Benin, an unprecedented relationship, as we will do with Nigeria, where we have started a strategic dialogue that did not exist until then, which was an aberration, etc. A strategic defense partnership, uninhibited, but for the future.

Beyond that, the African continent is a continent of growth, and on that, we are too cautious. I also say this because when I always read the press, the French glasses are obsessed with French-speaking Africa. We must look at French-speaking Africa with pride. We have interests there, we have dear friendships among leaders, in civil society and elsewhere. But finally, we did well to make the first major trip in 25 years from Nigeria to France a few weeks ago, 25 years. It is only a country with 250 million inhabitants. We did well to go for the first visit to Kenya. Imagine. We did well to return for the second time to Ethiopia, a country of more than 100 million inhabitants, to have consolidated an energy and investment strategy with South Africa. Our glasses on Africa are no longer the right ones, when we talk about Africa. It is a continent where there are major emerging countries, where there is tremendous growth potential, and we are sometimes in the process of disinvesting.

We need to find boldness again, rethink our financing, and on this, we must, at the interministerial level, rethink our financing to take more risks and support more risks, rethink our European rules so that we have the capacity to finance our major players, and have a strategy with our entrepreneurs, all sectors combined, that is much more ambitious with regard to the African continent and to view it as a continent of opportunities on the commercial and economic issue, on the food and agricultural issue, on the issue of innovation in all areas, on the artistic and cultural issue, on the sporting issue, which are also areas where we have expertise, where we have shown it to the whole world, in particular with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and where there is a whole export strategy that we must deploy, because all the French players who have worked for our Games, we want them to go and work for the African Cup of Nations and other major competitions, and that this is, in doing so, a policy which comes in support of what we do in educational matters and others. And so, I trust you so that this software, which we started to change in Ouagadougou, is each time re-explained, carried, assumed, like a software of conquest.

Like all transitions, it is difficult because there are nostalgic people, because there are people who do not understand or who do not want to understand, and because we are upsetting vested interests. But believe me, it is a good thing, because the world is changing and we need to embrace this new partnership.

And, speaking of the African continent, this is particularly what we want to do with the Maghreb. For me, one of the important moments of the last few months has been what we have managed to build with His Majesty King Mohamed VI. It is of unprecedented ambition, and for me it is truly constitutive of this new approach. It must also be one of our relays with regard to a reinvented African approach. That is to say that we will have Franco-Moroccan projects on the African continent. Because it is also another way of approaching this continent and of changing the way we look at France when we approach it together. And so the Maghreb will also be in this strategy, for me at the heart of a positive agenda: the Mediterranean season, the Maghreb Fund, the Academy of Talents. And we must not resign ourselves, despite the tensions that may exist with some, to the need to have such an agenda.

By Emmanuel Macron

President of France.