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Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe speaks during a joint news conference with Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara.
The French (dis)connection: One big theme is saying au revoir to foreign (read: French) influence. In just the past four years, a number of former French colonies where Paris still wielded power – such as Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Gabon, and Chad – have experienced military coups in which the overthrown governments were cast, at least in part, as being puppets of Paris.
Lawmakers at the summit accused France of failing to contain rebel groups, pressuring local governments, and making it harder for local leaders to tackle national issues independently.
The meeting comes as France is losing ground in the region anyway. In 2023, it had to pull its troops out of Niger and Burkina Faso following military takeovers by juntas hostile to Paris. Mali has banned French media amid rising hostility to perceived French meddling. And through it all, Russia has been expanding its security influence in the region by using its Wagner Group mercenaries to provide security for local governments.