ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day visit to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar on Wednesday 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’s in 2005.
The trip also delved into disputes between the nations 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 Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina in the capital, Antananarivo, and 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 Thursday a summit of the Indian Ocean Commission in Madagascar, a bloc made up of Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Reunion — 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 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 June 30 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 favors a system where the islands would be jointly managed by the two countries, but the U.K.’s decision last year to hand over control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius has spurred some in Madagascar to push for full control of the Scattered Islands — which are known as the Eparses 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.
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