Macron made some incredibly offensive comments about Africa in a speech

Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron was the golden boy on the international stage up until a few days ago.

A journalist from the Ivory Coast asked Mr Macron at the G20 Hamburg summit why there was no Marshall Plan for Africa, a reference to the economic aid the United States poured into European countries ravaged by the Second World War.

Macron responded with a patronising rant about "civilisational problems":

The challenge of Africa is completely different, it is much deeper.

It is civilizational today.

Failing states, complex democratic transitions, the demographic transition.

One of the essential challenges of Africa ... is that in some countries today seven or eight children are born to each woman.

First off the bat - his birth rate statistic is misleading.

Niger has the world's highest fertility rate - 7.6 children per mother. The number of children per woman in most other African countries is declining - the average sub-Saharan African mother gives birth to 4.9 children.

To many, it seemed like he threw out an extreme number to paint a stereotype.

While Macron also pointed to the differences between a postwar reconstruction programme and a regional development programme, and also called for the creation of partnerships to tackle trafficking, corruption and demographic challenges, he largely ignored the role of colonialism in Africa's history.

Which Twitter pointed out to him:

It's not a good look, for a President so concerned about optics.

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