French President Emmanuel Macron has begun a two-day visit to the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar and spoke of the need for his country to find new markets and boost economic cooperation in the region.
Macron’s visit marked the first by a French leader to the former colony off the east coast of Africa since Jacques Chirac in 2005.
The trip also delved into disputes between the two countries stemming from the colonial era, including Madagascar’s claims over a group of small islands that are French territory and its demands that France return the remains of a local king who was killed by French colonial forces in the late 1800s.
Macron met with Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina in the capital, Antananarivo, where they signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding, including in energy, agriculture and education.
Macron also announced funding from the French Development Agency and a loan from the French treasury for the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Volobe in eastern Madagascar, which has been planned for nearly a decade.
Macron is due to attend a summit of the Indian Ocean Commission on Thursday, a bloc made up of Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Réunion, which is a territory of France.
China, India and the European Union are among a group of countries and international bodies that have observer status at the commission.
“We need to conquer, at least, the market of the (Indian Ocean Commission),” Macron said on Wednesday.
“And then, more widely, East Africa and the Indian Ocean.”
On some of their disagreements, Rajoelina said there would be a new round of meetings on 30 June over the fate of the Scattered Islands, five small islands around Madagascar that fall under France’s overseas territories but are claimed by Madagascar.
France favours a system where the islands would be jointly managed by the two countries, but the UK’s decision last year to hand over control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has spurred some in Madagascar to push for full control of the Scattered Islands, which are known as the Éparses Islands in France.
Madagascar and France “are determined to find a solution together,” Rajoelina said.
Macron said he would work with Madagascar over the agreed return of three skulls that were taken from Madagascar more than 125 years ago and displayed in a Paris museum.
One of them is believed to be the skull of King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was beheaded by French troops in 1897.
