ANALYSIS-Sarkozy seen shifting, not severing Africa ties
30 Jul 2007 15:24:57 GMT Source: Reuters
By Alistair Thomson DAKAR, July 30 (Reuters) - Relaunching French diplomacy with a bang, President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged a break from Paris's close and sometimes shadowy ties with Africa, but to many Africans his words and actions show little has changed. Analysts say the "rupture" the busy new administration has promised -- unravelling decades-old gentlemen's agreements, some based on French colonial links -- would take time and sacrifice, especially given Sarkozy's personal ties with business chiefs whose fortunes came from Africa. "There is no rupture," said Patrick Smith, editor of London-based newsletter Africa Confidential, following Sarkozy's first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa last week. "To go and see (Gabon President Omar) Bongo, who is under investigation for stealing his state assets and then investing them in France ... shows nothing has changed," Smith said. Sarkozy's policy speech at Senegal's main university riled many, including African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, who found his tone patronising and saw little of the promised change. Then he visited tiny Gabon, whose president is one of several African leaders facing legal action in France. "Sarkozy wants to change the way of approaching Africa even if, for his first trip, he had to start with Gabon. Sarkozy says he wants to be more pragmatic in Africa," French daily La Croix said in a front-page editorial on Monday. "By putting less people and less money there while his predecessors supported 'Francafrique' with waves of subsidies. He also wants to involve Europe more. It's at this level that the break will happen. But it will take time to go from 'Francafrique' to 'Eurafrique'," it said. "IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHIRAC" "Obviously Sarkozy wants to distance himself from the relations France had with Africa and backyard politics. Sarkozy is actually trying to create a cleavage between France and Africa," said Kissy Agyeman, a London-based Africa analyst for risk consultancy Global Insight. "That's not to say he doesn't want the relationship to continue, far from it. But he doesn't want it to be centred on this sort of backyard politics based on 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours'," Agyeman said. But talk of a break with the "Francafrique" tradition of tight political, business and personal ties with repressive African leaders carried little weight with Le Telegramme, which said Sarkozy was "walking in the footsteps of Chirac". "Did he not above all treat Omar Bongo as a friend and collude with Colonel Gaddafi? What was the point in talking about morals?" the French newspaper said. Sarkozy, a friend of billionaire Vincent Bollore whose family firm made its name in Africa, may find it hard to resist pressure to help French businesses facing growing competition in Africa from Asian and Middle Eastern companies. Days after helping secure the release of Bulgarian medics jailed in Libya, Sarkozy began his African tour last week by signing a nuclear deal with the North African country's leader Muammar Gaddafi, which itself drew sharp criticism from Germany. Yet some changes are afoot. In an interview published on Monday, French Defence Minister Herve Morin announced a review of the 11,000 troops France has garrisoned across the continent. "What numbers do we need for the security of our nationals overseas and in Africa and for the rapid intervention capacity in crisis areas? The objective is ... a complete resetting," Morin told La Croix. (Additional reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich in Paris and Diadie Ba in Dakar)
