The French Embassy (Pretoria)
29 February 2008
document
Cape Town — As we look back over the twentieth century we see that it was one of history's most brutal: it generated two world wars; it invented genocide and the Holocaust; it saw dictatorial regimes set up repressive systems unprecedented in their scale and their victims. Untold numbers of people became refugees, were deported, were forced to flee their homelands and go into exile.
South Africa was seared by the violence and the horror of this grim century. It endured colonialism; it was not spared the consequences of the great world conflicts as its sons paid the price by fighting for the colonial powers. Then came the victims of the struggle for decolonisation and the African conflicts that accompanied the Cold War. And last but not least, South Africa too experienced genocide.
In addition, Africa, more than other regions, was the victim of scorn and racism.
Yet just as the twentieth century was drawing to a close, this often humiliated and downtrodden continent, and more particularly South Africa, taught the world a magnificent lesson in humanity. At a time when apartheid and its attendant violence prevailed here, at a time when so many humiliations could have given rise to revenge and further oppression, the people of South Africa, guided by outstanding men, decided to break with the long chain of grief.
This extraordinary human achievement owes much to the man who after 27 years in prison said to those who had long deprived him of his freedom: "The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."
The South Africans deliberately chose to set their country on the path of reconciliation and transformation?. In choosing to embark on this path, you also redeemed the century, as it were; so that the century, despite its atrocities, ended on a powerful note of hope, coming from Africa, for mankind as a whole.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is thus with deep respect for your Nation that I stand before you, the Representatives of this great people of South Africa, who herald a more just, a more fraternal and hence more humane society. It was to pay tribute to this people, through you, and to pay tribute to the hope that this people has given us, that I asked to address you today; and I thank you for your acceptance.
Because Africa has managed to ignite this hope, we want to work with Africa today to nurture it. Our world henceforth draws inspiration from this example to build a more just and humane system. France brings to this task its own faith in liberty, equality and fraternity, which constitute its motto and which it derives from its own Revolution.
Sharing the same values, cherishing the same hopes, France and South Africa, working together, are I believe in a better position than others to contribute to the emergence of a peaceful world.
We take up this common challenge first so that Europe and Africa can at long last forge new ties; ties that are no longer based on inequality, exploitation and resentment but instead, as I said in July in Dakar, on equality, equity and respect.
As you know, relations between France and Africa go back a long way in time.
These relations have at times been painful. I have spoken elsewhere of the crimes that were committed and the mistakes that were made. They must not be forgotten.
Nor should we forget what France owes to Africa. I refer here particularly to the invaluable help Africa gave us during the two world wars. I refer especially to South Africa, which fought side by side with us.
The strength of these ties is not just a part of our past. It is also part of the French identity: nearly 10% of the French population can claim African ancestry.
It is also part of the African identity, through the French language, one of the official languages of the African Union.
Although these ties are deep and long-standing, relations between France and Africa, and more particularly sub-Saharan Africa, are loosening as time goes on.
The number of French citizens living in Africa, as well as the volume of French exports to Africa and French investments in Africa, have declined.
This has resulted in our traditional partners in Africa sometimes feeling that France has abandoned and lost interest in them.
The relationship is complicated because reason has always been mingled with feeling and passion, because the relationship has always been fraught with emotion and because it is at odds with what the Africans want and what the French perceive.
Today, the old pattern of relations between France and Africa is no longer understood by new generations of Africans, or for that matter by public opinion in France.
I know that within this Assembly some of you who were activists in the struggle for freedom still perceive these French-African relations through the prism of colonialism.
We find ourselves in a situation in which our political, military and economic engagement alongside Africa is seen by many not as a well-meant helping hand but as neo-colonial interference; and in which, at the same time, indifference, withdrawal or lack of engagement on our part is criticised as abandonment or lack of gratitude.
Africans have had enough of being lectured to about morals and good governance. They perceive such lectures as arrogant and condescending; but at the same time, African civil society and public opinion want us to become directly involved alongside them, for example in denouncing corruption and poor governance.
There is today a sort of African exception in public opinion: what is considered normal in relations with other world regions generates suspicion about the French government's intentions in relations with Africa.
African youth has an ambivalent relationship with France, comprising both up of attraction and protest.
Currently more than 100,000 Africans are studying at French institutions of higher learning. Contrary to what is often believed, there have never been more African students in French universities. Nevertheless, African young people have the feeling that France is closing its doors to them.
These misapprehensions and inconsistencies reflect a situation that is obviously not satisfactory. For this reason I have many times called for the establishment of new, transparent, straightforward relations – relations based on contemporary realities.
I believe that French-African relations hold out much promise for the future if we lend them new impetus.
Just as South Africa epitomises a new Africa, the relationship between France and South Africa should serve as inspiration for new relations between France and Africa as a whole.
It is true that our relationship is not weighed down by the past. Our common history is limited.
France and South Africa do not have the same language, the same history or the same culture - and yet they understand each other.
Devoid of preconceptions, relations between our two countries are exemplary, balanced, transparent and straightforward.
South Africa has become our leading partner in Africa in many areas.
It is our leading trading partner and it also leads in French investments. Nearly 160 French companies are developing industrial partnerships and creating jobs there.
The agreements we signed this morning, covering such areas as energy, transport, science and tourism, bear witness to the diversity of these ties.
The relationship can be further strengthened.
The level of development achieved by South Africa does not by itself explain the nature of our relations. Between us, there is only room for a balanced relationship, a true partnership; in other words a relationship based on equality, transparency and mutual interest.
In this sense, our common relationship must serve as inspiration for the relations we wish to establish with all the countries in Africa.
Mr. President, dear Thabo, you are in the habit of saying that "South Africa cannot be an island of prosperity in a sea of poverty". We think likewise in Paris.
Let me state once again before you that the security and the prosperity of France and Europe are indissolubly linked with the security and prosperity of Africa.
Europe and Africa are next-door neighbours, separated by only 14 kilometres at the straits of Gibraltar.
As I said during my previous trip to Africa, in July of last year, the only purpose our policy in Africa can have is the unity of Africa and the African Renaissance. The latter will partly determine the stability of Europe and the advent of a more just world.
France hopes for this Renaissance, with all its heart and soul, it hopes for this Renaissance for the sake of everything that unites it with Africa.
South Africa wants this Renaissance. It has given the signal. It has set the example.
The Renaissance is not first and foremost a matter of resources. It is above all a matter of mindsets. A Renaissance man is a man who believes that everything is possible. A Renaissance man is a man who believes in Man, who believes that man can change the world, a man whose dreams are greater than what he himself can accomplish.
To help bring about this Renaissance, France wants to place its relations with Africa on a new footing. It does not want its involvement in Africa to perpetuate, in different forms, the unequal relations that belong to a past that is over and done with. The relationship between France and Africa can no longer be based on agreements and policies that hark back to a time when the world was very different from what it is now.
If France is to place its relations with Africa on a new footing, it must start by recognising and taking on board its interests in Africa.
Peace and security in Africa, the struggle against poverty, the economic growth of the continent and the continent's inclusion in the process of globalisation are interests that are shared by both our countries.
Yes, France, like South Africa, has an interest in African development. The growth potential of your continent, its natural resources and its promising market make it a part of the world that we cannot ignore.
Yes, France, like South Africa, has an interest in the security of Africa. First, because peace and stability are pre-conditions for development; and then because wars, pandemics, trafficking and terrorism in Africa have direct impact on France.
And last but not least France and South Africa share a common interest in better-regulated globalisation. Whether one agrees or disagrees with it, globalisation is now here to stay. And it would be completely unrealistic and dangerous to attempt to manage the affairs of the world without Africa.
Europe and Africa together account for nearly half the world's countries. Together - but only together – can Europeans and Africans influence the course of globalisation.
Africa has what it takes to take better advantage of globalisation and become a greater part of it. Africa is already globalised. But like South Africa, the continent as a whole must become an active, rather than being perceived as a passive, participant in the process.
South Africa is already our partner in globalisation.
The common declaration we adopted this morning on climate change exemplifies this partnership.
There is also our common approach to the democratisation of world governance. I refer to the G8, which should be transformed into the G13 and within which South Africa has a full role to play. I also refer to the IMF and the United Nations Security Council.
It is not for us to decide who should represent Africa. But I see that South Africa is forging ahead in spear-heading the continent; and that South Africa has what it takes to make its voice heard in these fora.
The French-South African partnership therefore seems to me sound.
President Mbeki has done France the honour of bestowing on it "African Citizenship". This is to my mind a great compliment and I want France to live up to it.
During the Presidential election campaign I said I wanted to renew the relationship between France and Africa. I have set that process in motion.
First, in the field of security.
Three weeks ago in Chad, for example, when rebel forces were attempting to overthrow the legitimate authorities of the country, France - which, as you know, has military forces stationed there - refrained from becoming involved in the fighting.
This change of course was necessary, for a very simple reason.
The French military presence in Africa is still grounded in agreements reached just after the end of colonialism, some 50 years ago!
I am not saying that these agreements were not justified at the time. But I am saying that what was done in 1960 no longer has the same relevance today. Their wording is obsolete. It is now unthinkable, for example, for us to be drawn into domestic conflicts. The Africa of 2008 is no longer the Africa of 1960! France and its African partners will take this fact fully on board.
I would like, in this respect, to make four proposals.
The first relates to the defence agreements between France and the African countries. They must reflect Africa as it is today and not as it was yesterday. They must rest on the strategic interests of France and its African partners. I am not saying that the existing agreements should necessarily be scrapped and that everything should be erased at the stroke of a pen. But I am saying that France wants to undertake discussions with all the African States concerned, with a view to adapting the existing agreements to the realities of the present, taking full account of their wishes. France will also be open to dialogue with all those who wish to establish a new security partnership with it.
Second, I propose that we place our relations on a new footing based on transparency. Transparency is the best guarantee of sound and lasting relations, the best antidote to the misapprehensions and misunderstandings that are so readily spread when the ties that bind France and the Africans are discussed. Contrary to past practice, our agreements must be made public in their entirety. I also intend closely to involve the French Parliament in setting out the major guidelines for France's policy in Africa.
Third, I propose that the French military presence in Africa serve first and foremost to help Africa achieve its goal of building, as it wishes to do, its own collective security arrangements. The African Union wishes to have standby forces by 2010-2012? Then let that objective also be France's objective! France has no call to maintain armed forces in Africa indefinitely.
This does not mean that France is disengaging from Africa. On the contrary, I want France to engage to an even greater extent, alongside the African Union, in putting together the collective security system that Africa needs, because African security is of course first and foremost a matter for the Africans to handle.
And my last proposal is to make Europe a major partner of Africa bringing about peace and security. This is the meaning of the partnership established by our two continents in Lisbon in December of last year. It is now up to the Europeans and the Africans to build it together. This partnership is in the interest of all of us, since a strong Europe needs a strong Africa.
But France is convinced of one thing, and I know South Africa shares this conviction: the best guarantors of peace and security, in Africa as elsewhere, are democracy and justice. This is true in Côte d'Ivoire, where I hope free, fair and recognised elections will be held. The same holds true in Zimbabwe. It also applies to Chad, where all of us are called upon to immediately make further efforts to help democracy take root. Democracy and Human Rights are not a conditionality imposed from outside. Democracy and Human Rights are in no way foreign to Africa. They are aspirations of African populations that France shares.
When it comes to development, I want France to contribute more actively to the fight against poverty in Africa.
France will do so by continuing to support efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It will maintain its financial commitments in this field.
I also called for France to work in a more targeted way to foster accelerated economic growth. I want France to contribute directly to the creation of African companies that will generate jobs.
For this purpose I have launched an initiative to support economic growth that is open to other partners.
This initiative, which will be implemented by the French Development Agency, is in three parts:
The first component is a 250 million euro investment fund that will acquire holdings in other mixed or thematic funds.
The second component is the creation of a guarantee fund, which will likewise have a 250 million euro endowment. It will facilitate access to bank credit and capital for African SMEs.
The third component is a doubling of the activity of the French Development Agency in support of the private sector, with a two billion euro commitment over five years.
Overall, this initiative will mobilise two and a half billion euros over the five-year period, which will be used to directly or indirectly finance nearly 2,000 companies and create 300,000 jobs.
When this initiative is included, the total French bilateral financial commitment to Sub-Saharan Africa will thus amount to 10 billion euros over the coming five year period.
The French private sector must also play an active role in African economic growth.
I cannot discuss the future of relations between France and Africa without mentioning the issue of migration. 65% of the 200,000 foreign nationals who take up residence in France every year come from the African continent.
Yet this is not exclusively a North-South issue. The bulk of the migratory movement takes place within the African continent itself.
South Africa alone receives nearly one-quarter of all migrant populations in Africa.
The reality of immigration is not satisfactory today. It is not satisfactory for us; it is no more satisfactory for you. Europeans and South Africans face the same challenge. While 500,000 people enter Europe illegally every year, the scale of the phenomenon in South Africa is also forcing that country to deport a very large number of people.
I am not saying that immigration is a phenomenon that must be combatted. I have always rejected the idea of zero immigration, an idea that is as unrealistic as it is dangerous. France and South Africa are two nations that owe a part of their momentum to the contribution of migrant workers.
No country in the world can afford to receive a number of migrants exceeding its ability to extend to them a decent welcome, offering them work, housing, education and health care. Upsetting this balance leads to massive unemployment among the foreigners, to exclusion and to ghettos. Ultimately, it fosters violence and xenophobia.
It is the responsibility of every Government to decide how many migrants it is prepared to receive on its territory and under what conditions it is prepared to receive them. The principle applies to Europeans and Africans alike.
France is preparing a major reform of its immigration policy. An annual quota of new migrants to be welcomed to France will be debated and voted on each year by Parliament. The ceiling will be broken down into sub-categories defined by grounds for immigrating – work or family reunification. It will be negotiated with the countries of origin as part of agreements covering coordinated migratory flows.
The time has come to build a European-African partnership on migration, covering three crucial issues:
First the brain drain. A WHO report drawn up in 2006 highlights the fact that Africa bears 24% of the world's burden of illness and has only 3% of its health-care personnel. This situation is not viable. We must organise return migration; we must avoid African elites emigrating for good.
Second, organised crime: it is time for the international community to crack down on the odious crime of trafficking in human beings.
And finally, co-development, which involves mobilising migrant populations to support the development of their countries of origin.
This new project is part of a broad package of measures adopted at the 2nd EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon. I am pleased that that summit took place in December of last year. France supports this enhanced European engagement in Africa.
But this new relationship does not render the specific ties that exist between France and Africa obsolete.
Beyond State-to-State relations, these ties also exist between Members of Parliament, local authorities, trade unions, civic organisations, academics and economic operators.
These ties are strong, and they prompt me to call for the continuation of the Africa-France Summit meetings. Of course, I have heard the criticism. These meetings began in 1973 but they are not intended to simply continue a tradition. It would not make sense to abandon them at a time when many other countries are copying them.
However, they must be adapted in terms of their purpose and their organisation.
The methods and objectives of these meetings must be updated. Their preparation should be better coordinated; the discussions should be structured differently; their timing should be better matched to that of other meetings organised by the European Union and the International Organisation of the Francophonie, for example. Last but not least, we could consider giving these summit meetings a more practical focus, tasking them with taking stock or formulating guidelines.
I suggest that the next ministerial review that precedes the forthcoming Summit scheduled in Cairo in 2009 take a common position on new arrangements.
At the start of the 21st century, our generation bears the heavy responsibility of forestalling a repetition of the previous century's disasters. South Africa's message of humanity and reconciliation must serve to guide us in this effort.
In my office there is a photograph of Nelson Mandela, which he gave me when he came to Paris last year. When I look at this face, which for the entire world has become the face of forgiveness, I always think of two things he said.
The first was during the 1994 election campaign. He said to those for whose dignity he had fought so hard: "If you want better things, you must work hard. We cannot do it all for you; you must do it yourselves."
The second is the magnificent passage in his memoirs in which he says: "No one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin, religion or background. Hatred and intolerance have to be learned and, if they can be learned, so can love and tolerance."
Your history teaches us that men are only fully human through and thanks to other men. Your country is a constant demonstration of this; you have achieved coexistence of the descendents of slaves and of masters; the descendents of farmers from England, the Netherlands and France and of Zulu conquerors and Xhosa warriors; the descendents of tenant farmers from Gujarat and of miners from all over southern Africa.
Your history demonstrates that the values of your revolution, like those of the French Revolution, will always make it possible to transform the world. Together, we believe in equal rights and equal dignity.
It tells us that in order to succeed, the world needs Africa and its voice - a proud, vibrant and free Africa.
Long live South Africa,
Long live France.
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