Macron faces anger of young Africans

French President Emmanuel Macron faced the frustration of young people from across Africa on Friday over a range of issues, including migration and the vestiges of colonialism, at a summit aiming to turn the page with the continent. 

Billed as a chance to prove France's commitment in particular to young Africans, the Africa-France

summit gathering some 3,000 business leaders, artists and athletes in the southern city of Montpellier was largely dominated by the region's crises.

"I can no longer stand to see African youths dying in the sea" trying to reach Europe, a woman told Macron as he visited the dozens of round tables at the vast Sud de France arena overlooking the Mediterranean.

A young Guinean urged him to "support the transition" after the military coup that deposed the West African country's long-time president Alpha Conde last month.

Sibila Saminatou Ouedraogo, a Burkina Faso participant at the conference, said that African nations -- many of them former French colonies -- still laboured under a "relationship of dependency" towards France that was holding back their development.

More than 1,000 youths were at the gathering which, though dubbed a "summit" by the French hosts, pointedly excluded leaders other than Macron.