French president in Madagascar for two-day visit

ANTANANARIVO

President Emmanuel Macron kicked off a two-day visit in Madagascar on Wednesday aiming to strengthen bilateral ties and consolidate France's presence in the Indian Ocean, despite ongoing colonial-era disputes.

It is the first official trip by a French president to the former French colony off Mozambique since Jacques Chirac visited in 2005.

Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted at the main international airport by flag-waving children before heading into the capital Antananarivo for meetings with President Andry Rajoelina and business leaders.

The city has been cleaned up for the occasion, with the homeless cleared off pavements and tunnels where they sheltered, and street vendors told to move off.

France will use the visit to reassert itself in this part of the Indian Ocean, where it faces challenges to its sovereignty of several territories in the face of the growing ambitions of China and Russia.

Madagascar, a French-speaking island of 30 million people, disputes France's ownership of several small islets nearby called the Scattered Islands that stayed under French rule when its other African colonies became independent.

Similarly, the neighboring archipelago nation of the Comoros claims the right to the island of Mayotte, a French department.

Both territories occupy a strategic position in the Mozambique Channel, a major transit route for international trade and rich in gas and oil.