Macron Returns to Gabon As Nguema’s New Regime Settles In
From 23 to 24 November 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron was on a state visit to Gabon. He came from South Africa, where he attended the G20 Summit. Before that, he was in Mauritius, as part of his African tour, which will also lead him to attend the 7th AU-EU Summit in Angola.
This marks his second visit to Gabon during his presidency, as he was there in 2023 right after Brice Nguema ousted Ali Bongo during a ‘bloodless coup.’ In the meantime, Gabon held elections earlier in 2025 to cement Nguema’s position as the new leader in Gabon.
France has substantial economic interests in Gabon, which is a strategic source of petroleum, manganese, and wood. Other than the big names such as TotalEnergies and Comilog, some 85 French companies currently operate in Gabon. France maintains a military presence in Gabon, whereas French forces have already exited from the Sahel states.
Therefore, the second visit by Macron within a short two-year period is seen as an effort to secure France’s interests in a country that has been traditionally within its sphere of influence and a key piece in the ‘Francafrique’ framework. However, France is facing increasing competition from Russia, China, and even Turkiye in Africa.
It is worth noting that President Macron has undertaken 40 visits to 26 distinct countries in Africa since he took office as President in May 2017. In terms of tours to Africa, the assiduity of Macron is only surpassed by that of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who has logged 53 visits to 31 African countries during his tenure so far.
During the present visit of Macron to Gabon, the French Agency for Development (AFD) signed a deal worth nearly EUR 200 million to renovate the country’s strategic railway line, known as the Transgabonais. Other partnership agreements covered several fields, including water security, environmental protection, and security.
Macron also took the opportunity to inaugurate the recently upgraded France Institute, to strengthen France’s ‘soft power’ through exchanges targeted at youth, education, and the arts. More than 5,000 Gabonese are studying in France, as we speak. He also toured the multi-use waterfront project under construction at the Bay of Kings.
In a joint press conference, both Macron and Nguema emphasized a ‘reinvented relationship’ geared toward the future. Nguema expressed the wish to have more Local Value Addition (#LVA), and Macron took note and echoed that it is perhaps time for the relationship to ‘graduate from extractive to transformative.’ Macron also took note of the role of the rainforest in fixing carbon and acknowledged the importance of the Congo Basin in line with the Tropical Forest Forest (#TFF) initiative promoted at #COP30.