Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra in Bangui, December 30, 2025. ANNELA NIAMOLO / AFP
It had been seven years since a French foreign minister last set foot in the Central African Republic. Jean-Noël Barrot's visit to Bangui, the capital, on Thursday, March 12 and Friday, March 13, underscored Paris' determination to show that the rift of recent years, fueled by anti-France disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russian Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic, had been set aside. Paris no longer intends to cede ground to its Russian rival.
As tensions flare in the Middle East and France strives to make its voice heard there, maintaining this trip "demonstrates that the Central African Republic matters to France," a French diplomatic source said. In the capital of the former French colony, Barrot held talks with President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, in power since 2016, and with his counterpart Sylvie Notéfé and Prime Minister Félix Moloua. Speaking to the press on Thursday, the minister spoke of "the full restoration of relations between our two countries after a period of cooling off."
He attended the inaugurations of a center supporting women's rights and a laboratory fighting polio, as well as a visit to a start-up incubator. Through this program, the foreign minister sought to embody the "renewal championed by France in its relations with African countries," according to the same diplomatic source.
