Macron hosts Africa summits on Sudan, post-COVID finance

Macron hosts Africa summits on Sudan, post-COVID finance

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron this week hosts African leaders and chiefs of global financial institutions for twin summit meetings that will seek to help Sudan into a new democratic era and provide Africa with critical financing swept away by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A conference today attended by several heads of state will aim to rally support for the Sudan government under Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in the transition after the 2019 ousting of longtime strongman Omar Al-Beshir. This will be followed by a summit tomorrow on African economies that will try to fill a financing shortfall of almost $300 billion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both meetings, held in a temporary exhibition center under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, will be a chance for Macron to show himself as a statesman on Africa whose influence goes beyond the continent’s francophone regions. With some two dozen African heads of state due to attend Tuesday’s summit, it will be one of the biggest in person top level meetings held during the COVID-19 pandemic. It should also see a rare visit to France by Rwandan President Paul Kagame as Paris presses for reconciliation with Kigali after a historical report made clear