Emmanuel Macron - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Donors raise more than 2 billion euros for Sudan aid a year into war

DONORS pledged more than 2 billion euros ($2.13 billion) for war-torn Sudan at a conference in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said, on the first anniversary of what aid workers describe as a neglected but devastating conflict. Efforts to help millions of people driven to the verge of famine by the war have been held up by continued fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), restrictions imposed by the warring sides, and demands on donors from other global crises including in Gaza and Ukraine. Conflict in Sudan is threatening to expand, with fighting heating up in and around al-Fashir, a…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Macron says intelligence shows Islamic State was behind Russia concert attack

WORLD

FRANCE joined the United States in saying intelligence indicated Islamic State was responsible for an attack on a concert hall outside Moscow that killed 137 people, while Russia continued to suggest that Ukraine was to blame. In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying bullets during a concert by the Soviet-era rock group Picnic. Alongside the dead, 182 people were wounded. Four men, at least one a Tajik, were remanded in custody on terrorism charges. They were led separately into a cage at Moscow's Basmanny district court. Islamic State…

Feb

2024

By STEPHANIE LECOCQ and MANUEL AUSLOOS

Angry French farmers storm into agriculture fair in Paris

WORLD

A group of French farmers stormed into a major Paris farm fair ahead of a planned visit by President Emmanuel Macron amid anger over costs, red tape and green regulations. Facing dozens of police officers inside the trade fair, the farmers were shouting and booing, calling for the resignation of Macron and using expletives aimed at the French leader. "This is our home!", they shouted, as lines of French CRS riot police sought to contain the demonstration. There were some clashes with demonstrators and the police arrested at least one of them, a Reuters witness saw. Pascal Beteille, one of…

Jan

2024

By ELIZABETH PINEAU and YIMING WOO

Gabriel Attal becomes France’s youngest prime minister as Macron seeks reset

WORLD

GABRIEL Attal promised to be bold and act fast to help the middle class weather the rising cost of living, after President Emmanuel Macron, seeking to breathe new life into his second term, on Tuesday made him France's youngest-ever prime minister. The appointment of Attal, 34, a popular and media-savvy rising star of French politics, signals a desire by Macron to move beyond divisive reforms and improve his centrist party's chances in the European Parliament elections in June. "Dear @GabrielAttal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalisation and regeneration that I announced,"…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

France plans to close embassy in Niger following coup, letter shows

NEWS

FRANCE is planning to close its embassy in Niger for an indefinite period as it is unable to carry out diplomatic tasks due to restrictions imposed by the ruling junta, a French embassy letter to its Niger staff dated Tuesday and seen by Reuters showed. Relations between Niger and France, its former colonial ruler, have broken down since army officers toppled President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power in a coup in July. Following the strategy of juntas in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, they ordered police to expel France's ambassador Sylvain Itte and called for the departure of French troops from its territory. France…

Dec

2023

By DOMINIQUE VIDALON and GILLES GUILLAUME

Paris attack near Eiffel Tower leaves German tourist dead and two hurt

WORLD

A German tourist died and two other people, including a British citizen, were hurt after an attack by a man armed with a knife and hammer near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in what President Emmanuel Macron described as "a terrorist attack". Police quickly arrested the 26-year-old man, a French national, after subduing him with a Taser stun gun, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters on Saturday. The suspect had in 2016 been sentenced to four years in prison for planning another attack, and had been on the French security services' watch list, the minister said, adding that he was…

Nov

2023

By SARAH MARSH and ANDREAS RINKE

G20-led summit for Africa highlights renewed interest in fast-growing continent

NEWS

LEADERS from more than a dozen African countries are heading to Germany for the G20 Compact with Africa conference, which aims to help bolster private investment in the world's poorest, but fast-growing, continent. Underscoring renewed interest in Africa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be among those attending the summit in Berlin, hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to German government officials. Scholz, who has visited Africa several times since taking office in late 2021, will hold bilateral talks with several African countries on Sunday, before hosting a German-African investment summit…

Oct

2023

By PASCAL ROSSIGNOL, LAYLI FOROUDI and MICHEL ROSE

Teacher killed in Islamist attack on French school, Macron says

WORLD

A 20-year-old knifeman fatally stabbed a teacher in an attack at a school in the northern France city of Arras that President Emmanuel Macron condemned as "barbaric Islamic terrorism". Two other people were seriously wounded and fighting for their lives, Macron said after visiting the school. "The teacher who was killed stepped in and undoubtedly saved a lot of lives himself," Macron said after paying his respects to the dead teacher, whose body still lay under a cover and surrounded by a pool of blood. Saying the school would reopen on Saturday, he added: "Our choice is made not to give in…

Jul

2023

By TASSILO HUMMEL

African killed in France: Macron cancels trip

NEWS

MORE than 1,300 people were arrested in France during a fourth night of rioting and President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a trip to Germany as the funeral took place of teenager Nahel M, whose shooting by police sparked nationwide unrest. Macron's government deployed 45,000 police officers as well as armoured vehicles overnight to tackle the worst crisis for his leadership since the "Yellow Vest" protests which paralysed much of France in late 2018. A similar number of police would again be on the street into Saturday night, interior minister Gerald Darmanin told a press conference, with reinforcements sent to major cities…

Jul

2023

By LAYLI FOROUDI and CHARLOTTE VAN CAMPENHOUT

Murder of an African sparks riots in France

NEWS

FRANCE'S interior minister said the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working-class suburb of Paris. The violence, in which buildings and vehicles have been torched and stores looted, has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the gravest crisis of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests that started in 2018. Unrest has flared nationwide, including in cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris where Nahel M., a 17-year-old of Algerian and…