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ISTANBUL – Leaders of Turkey and France are pledging to ease tensions after months of trading insults, but tensions between them remain over their competing interests in Africa.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian declared Turkey and France are in what he described as “recovery period” after the French and Turkish President met on the sidelines of the NATO summit earlier this month and pledged to resolve their differences.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan had engaged in a war of words as the two leaders competed for international influence. Sinan Ulgen of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies says there has been a diplomatic breakthrough but he voices caution.
“We can talk about a reset with France, but it’s a question about how deep that reset will go. This is part of a broader reset that Turkey has been trying in terms of its foreign relations with the West. However, none of the areas of disagreement with France have been resolved,” said Ulgen.
Libya remains a crucial point of tension. France and Turkey backed rival sides in the Libyan civil war, and Paris is at the forefront of an international call for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the north African country. Last year, Turkish and French warships almost clashed off the shores of Libya over French claims that Turkey was violating a Libyan arms embargo. But Ulgen says both sides now recognize the need for diplomacy.
“There is realization both Ankara and Paris that some progress can be achieved, if the two are less confrontational and work diplomatically towards some sort of negotiated formula,” says Ulgen.
A Turkish presidential advisor has suggested France and Turkey could extend cooperation beyond Libya to the rest of Africa to contain China’s growing influence.

Ankara is building up its presence on the continent, especially in the Sahel region. But Turkish moves to develop ties with former French colonies like Niger and Mali is causing alarm in Paris, says  Jalel Harchouai, a senior fellow at the Geneva-based Glob
Harchaoui says the Sahel could become an increasing point of tension rather than cooperation.
“There is a real rivalry,” he said. “There is an actual competition in the Sahel. Because Turkey wants to be present militarily, it is already very present diplomatically, and it’s very ambitious commercially. We are talking about a time horizon of fifteen years or thirty years. So if France sees an adversary in that, I think that France [is] correct because there is not enough room for both former colonizers of the area.”
For now, both French and Turkish Presidents appear interested in downplaying their differences. But that could change with next year’s French presidential elections, where the role of Islam in French society is a campaign issue.
Erdogan portrays himself as a defender of global Muslim rights and has in the past accused Macron of Islamophobia — an issue Erdogan also uses for leverage in majority-Muslim African countries, much to Paris’ unease.

Source: Voice of America

MOSCOW – The Kremlin on Monday strongly rejected claims that Russian military instructors in the Central African Republic have been involved in killing civilians and looting homes.
During a heated discussion at the U.N. Security Council last week, the United States, Britain and France accused Russian military contractors of committing human rights abuses in the conflict-stricken country. On Sunday, The New York Times cited a report to the Security Council that accused the Russians of killing civilians and looting homes during fighting earlier this year.

Asked about the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov categorically denied the assertion.
“Russian military advisers couldn’t take part and didn’t take part in any killings or lootings,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “This is yet another lie.”
The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013. A peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but large-scale violence has continued.
The country’s Russia-backed president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, won a second term in December’s election, but he has continued to face resistance from rebel forces linked to former President Francois Bozize. Russia has deployed military advisers in CAR training its military at the invitation of the government.
Last week, the U.S., Britain and France accused Russian personnel in CAR of committing abuses against civilians and obstructing U.N. peacekeeping — accusations Russia angrily denied.
The Western powers linked the Russian personnel in CAR to the notorious Wagner Group, a private security company allegedly tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who has been indicted in the United States on charges of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Companies linked to Prigozhin also have reportedly secured lucrative mining contracts in CAR. In 2018, three Russian journalists were killed in CAR while investigating Wagner’s activities there, and no suspects have been found.
Prigozhin earned the nickname “Putin’s chef” for hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign guests at his restaurant and catering important Kremlin events.

Source: Voice of America

BENI, CONGO – Congo banned public gatherings for two days starting Monday in Beni, after the eastern city was hit by two explosions.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a busy intersection in Beni on Sunday, the same day another explosion rocked a Catholic church, authorities said. Neither bomb killed any civilians, but the government closed major gathering spaces for two days and imposed restrictions on public meetings as a precaution against further explosions.
The suicide bomber has been identified as a Ugandan who was a member of the Allied Democratic Forces, according to Congolese army spokesman Lt. Anthony Mwalushay.
The suicide bombing was the first such attack in Beni, worrying authorities who noted the longtime ADF rebel group has in the past few years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
“We arrested two suspects and intercepted their communications,” Mwalushay said Monday. “I call on the population to be calm and to be very vigilant.”
Schools, markets and churches are closed for 48 hours in Beni, he said.
“We do not want a crowd of more than 10 people for security reasons to avoid falling into the trap of the new modus operandi of the Ugandan ADF rebels in Beni,” he said.

A bomb had also exploded early Sunday at a Catholic church in Beni’s Butsili district. No one was killed, but two people were seriously injured.
“We were about to open the doors of the church to allow the faithful to participate in mass. We heard a bomb inside the church. Two people were already there for morning prayer,” said Mathe Kombi Victoire who works at the church.
This is the third attack in 2021 on a religious target, according to military and government authorities who noted that two imams were killed by ADF rebels earlier in the year.
Many Beni residents stayed at home in fear on Monday.
“We would like the Congolese government to strengthen the military presence in certain places of the city of Beni so that these kinds of explosions do not appear again,” said Mumbere Mafuta, a Beni resident. “It is serious because these kinds of explosions resemble that of a terrorist and here in Beni we have never seen such things. Today it is a bar, church and market. We don’t know if tomorrow it will be a school. May God help us.”
The ADF originated in neighboring Uganda and has been a threat in eastern Congo for more than 20 years. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for some attacks carried out by ADF rebels, but the exact relationship between the groups is not clear.
A Congolese military campaign was launched against the rebels last year, and fighters have since dispersed and fled into various parts of eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups fight over control of the mineral-rich territory.
The rebels have responded to the military offensive with increased attacks, especially in Beni and the surrounding area.

Source: Voice of America