The French President to visit Djibouti and Ethiopia aiming boosting French ties
The Elysee announced that French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Djibouti and Ethiopia next Friday and Saturday, to discuss French relations with the two countries, as well as files related to regional and international developments.
A statement from the French presidency explained that Macron chose to celebrate Christmas this year with French soldiers deployed in Djibouti to show the nation’s appreciation for its military personnel stationed abroad.
Macron will discuss with Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh the situation in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia and Sudan.
The two parties will also discuss the defense partnership agreement concluded between Paris and Djibouti, which was renewed last July.
Under this agreement, France has a military base in Djibouti with 1,500 soldiers, which is the largest French force abroad, and it’s not among the bases affected by opposition to the French military presence in Africa.
After his visit to Djibouti, Macron will visit Ethiopia the following day, where he will meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Together they will inaugurate the National Palace, a historic building that was the last residence of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, who was overthrown in 1974.
The French Development Agency contributed 25 million Euros to the renovation of this building and its conversion into a museum.
Macron and Abiy Ahmed will discuss bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as the turbulent regional situation, and the internal situation in Ethiopia two years after the agreement that ended a devastating civil war in the Tigray region in the north of the country.
Through this tour, Macron seeks to forge new partnerships for his country in the African continent outside the traditional French sphere of influence, after France’s presence there witnessed a significant decline in recent years, especially in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and recently in Chad.
