France committed to Africa's security, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday declared his country would support Africa's need for security as he embarked on a three-nation tour aimed at renewing France's relations with the continent.

Touching on a long-standing grievance in France's former African colonies, Macron also announced French archives on its colonial era in Cameroon would be opened up so that historians could "shed light" on "painful moments".

In a speech in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, Macron promised France "will not relinquish the security of the African continent", where a jihadist campaign in the Sahel is now shaking countries to the south.

"France remains resolutely committed to the security of the continent, acting in support and at the request of our African partners," Macron told a gathering of French expatriates.

He met with Cameroon's 89-year-old president, Paul Biya, an iron-fisted ruler who has been in power since 1982.

In his speech, Macron said the reconfigured mission will extend "beyond the Sahel, to the Gulf of Guinea and second-layer countries which now have to face terrorist groups which are expanding and shaking up the whole region".

Macron also pledged French support for countries fighting jihadists in the Lake Chad region, where an older insurgency launched by Nigeria's Boko Haram is also raging.