allAfrica.com: Africa: Franco-African Relations - Who is Tired of Whom? (Page 1 of 2)

The news may have come as a surprise to the French, whose leaders are always talking about the influx of Africans, and the threat this "invasion" poses to their economy and culture.

However, to Africans it was merely a confirmation of what they already know: France no longer attracts them.

Gone are the days when the greatest dream of Francophone artistes, intellectuals, students and politicians was a trip to Paris or settling there.

Le Monde, one of the leading French newspapers broke the story, which was based on reports filed to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs by its diplomats. Their common thread? France's image in Africa is "very tarnished."

The fact "has been established in a series of dispatches written at the request of the Quai d'Orsay (The French ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the autumn of 2007 by 42 ambassadors posted in Africa," the paper said on April 27, 2008.

The request was made following the "devastating" speech delivered in Dakar by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on July 26, 2007 which prompted outrage across Africa, including a book, L'Afrique répond à Sarkozy (Africa Answers Sarkozy).

More than 20 prominent African scholars and writers contributed to the work, which was published in March 2008 under the direction of writer and former Senegalese Minister for Culture Makhily Gassama.

In Dakar, Mr Sarkozy accused Africans of being stuck in a mythical past and refusing to embrace modernity. He also praised the benefits of colonialism, while saying he would not apologise for mistakes or crimes he did not commit.

Commenting on the diplomatic reports, Le Monde described the relationship between France and Africa as "two old acquaintances tired of each another".

Africa and France "cannot understand each other any more. Not only is Paris losing ground on the continent, but its image has also been tarnished," it added.

The newspaper saw this as justification of the new African policy the French president is trying to promote.

But the problem with Mr Sarkozy is that he has no African policy but is only just trying to have a coherent one, hence his many contradictory attitudes and statements when it comes to the continent.

Before the French election last May, Mr Sarkozy believed he did not need Africa. But once in power, he quickly realised that his country had too many economic interests in the continent, particularly in Francophone Africa. So, he came up with the concept of "rupture" (change or shift), to define a new African policy for France, which will do away with what has been known as La Françafrique.

French left-wing activist and writer Jean François Xavier Verschave coined the term to describe and criticise a combination of parallel diplomacy, shady business deals, diverted aid and flawed investments that helped promote individual interests and enrich members of a few "networks" in Africa and France.

Since African states were granted independence, it is La Françafrique rather than official diplomacy, which has shaped Franco-African relations although everything was officially conducted in the name of the "good relations" between France and Africa, particularly with its former colonies. And Such ties run

When a junior minister in charge of cooperation in Mr Sarkozy's government, Jean Marie Bockel, recently said it was time La Françafrique was killed, he was immediately transferred to the ministry of defence.

The media attributed the change to pressure from President Omar Bongo of Gabon, considered one of the barons of La Françafrique.

However, Mr Bockel was "scapegoated" because he was only implementing policies inspired by Mr Sarkozy. Remarkably, the change promised by President Sarkozy began taking place unofficially long before he came to power.

In the past decade or so, many things have been changing in political cultural and economic relations between France and Africa.

Figures released in France in 2001 showed that the number of African students in French universities had been falling, with most students, including those from Francophone Africa, preferring the US or Germany, or any other destination where getting a student visa was much easier than in France.

The percentage of foreign students from Africa in France fell from 58 per cent in 1985 to 45 per cent in 1999 of whom 40 per cent of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa. It is believed that this number has fallen even lower in the past five years.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories