Macron Maneuvers To Win Favor Of Former French Colonies In Africa

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Ivory Coast on Saturday, where he joined eight West African countries in announcing major changes to the regional common currency, including severing its links with France.

In Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city, Macron said during a press conference there that colonialism in Africa had been “a grave mistake and a fault of the French republic.” He called for “turning the page” on the past, as he put it.

“The African continent is a young continent,” Macron said. “Three-quarters of your country never knew colonialism,” he added, calling on young people to “build a new partnership of friendship with France”.

It was not the first time that Macron expressed remorse on behalf of France over its haunting colonial past. During his campaign for the presidency, he made headlines by referring to France’s colonization of Algeria as a “barbaric crime against humanity”.

Macron’s trip to the Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer and France’s former main colony in West Africa, came as regional leaders gathered to announce the renaming of the CFA franc currency.

The CFA franc was established in 1945, known as “Colonies Françaises d’Afrique” (French Colonies in Africa). It was later changed to “Communaute Financière Africaine” (African Financial Community) in West Africa and “Cooperation Financière en Afrique Centrale” (Financial Cooperation in Central Africa) in Central Africa.

The CFA franc, which was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for nearly two decades, will now formally be known as the Eco.