Zakharova calls Macron's 'end of Francafrique' remarks 'attempt to disguise same consumer approach'

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about "the end of Francafrique" are just "an attempt to disguise the same consumer approach."

"We hear one thing, but in fact we see that behind all these loud statements there is a banal attempt to disguise the former consumer approach to the region and reformat the work on the ground in such a way that it is possible to achieve the same results by other, more advanced, and sometimes more sophisticated methods than it was before," she told Anadolu at a press briefing in Moscow.

According to Zakharova, Paris continues its efforts aimed at preserving an "exclusive place in Africa" and creating obstacles for other participants there, primarily Russia and China.

"Paris still identifies selected African countries where it is ready to turn a blind eye to military coups and numerous human rights violations as long as they blindly follow the official course of France.

"The states that pursue an independent policy -- without orders from the Elysee Palace -- protect first of all their own interests, want to diversify cooperation partners in the field of economy, security and culture and in general would like to abandon the dubious honor of participating in the African club of France, the backyard of the Fifth Republic, they turn out to be the main violators of freedom both democracy, as they say, and the notorious rules-based order, and are subjected to enormous pressure," she added.

Zakharova noted that the African public, modern youth and the political elites of most African countries are increasingly seeing how "contradictory and arrogant Paris' attitude towards this continent is."

She said "many supporters of neocolonial approaches" fail to understand that the peoples of Africa, "with their distinctive history and struggle for independence, have long earned the right to be friends with those countries and civilizations with whom they want, to defend their national interests as they see them, to develop and democratize their society without anyone's prompting from the outside."

"They (African nations) clearly showed their desire for genuine sovereignty to the current French President Macron, going out to mass anti-French demonstrations along the route of his African tour," Zakharova added.