FRANCE AND AFRICA: A DECLINING RELATIONSHIP? - August 22, 2008
 

Since the end of the French colonization in Africa, France has tried to keep close links with the newly-independent countries. At the political, economic and even military levels - some bilateral defense agreements are still in force -, the French influence seems to remain strong. One could even speak of a special relationship , even though not on equal terms, due to the proximity created by a common recent history. The question is: can there be mutually beneficial cooperation when one dominated the other for so many years? How can a real partnership be built, with shared interests and objectives? Obviously, France's vision of Africa and of its cooperation with former colonies is crucial to set up a balanced relationship. After more than a year as President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy has already unveiled major trends in this regard. The French policy toward Africa does not remain static, and its evolutions may affect deeply the state of the special relationship and Africa's development now and in the coming years. In fact, the age when such a relationship could not be questioned, because former colonies were in a phase of transition, may well be over.

July 26th, 2007, was a significant date for anyone who wishes to understand France's current African policy. On that day, less than three months after his election, Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a speech at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, in which he presented his vision of Africa and its culture, and how he intended to cooperate with African countries in the future. Jacques Chirac, his predecessor, was known for being keen on maintaining a close connection with African leaders and, so he claimed, for having considerable attachment for the continent. Nicolas Sarkozy does not deny such a friendship, but the image of Africa that he stressed in his speech differs widely from Jacques Chirac's ideas. African people are opposed to the modern world, as if there were no modernity in current African societies. He clearly denies that the idea of progress can exist there, and thus implicitly refers to a sort of determinism: the world in which African people live, their society, their culture, do not enable them to improve their life. This would be the reason why these countries have to cope with so many obstacles on their way to development. The concept of determinism is reinforced by his belief that the African Golden Age never existed . He implies that Africa has never been at the same level as Europe, or other developed regions, even before the continent was colonized.

Obviously, such thoughts considerably influence the way France regards its cooperation activities with Africa. Alain Joyandet, who is in charge, within the French government, of cooperation matters and the Francophonie , said in an interview that becoming an entrepreneur from scratch, which he did at the age of 24, was more difficult than taking care of Africa. It appears that the complexity of African society, politics, history and culture are notably underestimated. In the same interview, he rightly points out the need for mutual benefits in the French-African cooperation. Indeed, going beyond development aid and assistance in order to set up balanced cooperation has been a critical issue for a long time already. However, a sense of superiority and inequality can still be felt when he specifies that France should not be reluctant to tell African people that [it] wants to help them, but that [it] also wants to grow benefits out of it . It should be noted that both Mr. Joyandet and his predecessor, Jean-Marie Bockel, claimed that France proposed a cooperation on equal terms, a partnership based on trust and reciprocity. But the elements mentioned above suggest that it is mainly a diplomatic attitude aiming to promote cooperation for both French and African development.

As the French vision of Africa seems to be evolving, some trends are emerging in the political relationship between Paris and its former colonies. When Nicolas Sarkozy tells his African audience in his Dakar speech that no one will decide for [them] and that their future is in their hands , he questions his own commitment to African development. The concepts of autonomy, ownership, and adaptation to the local context are fair and central in fostering development without unduly applying methods and doctrines from the North. Nonetheless, the President appears to use such concepts to justify a lower commitment to, or even disinterest in African development.

Such evolution may also be observed in the progressive movement from bilateral relations to multilateral relations. This is not new, but the movement continues today. In order to keep significant influence in Africa, France seems to rely partly on the European Union (EU), through technical cooperation, the organization of the EU-Africa summits (which complement, in a way, the France-Africa summits), etc. Bilateral relations will probably still prevail in the near future, but a slow shift can be observed from the historical France-former colonies relationship towards a link between, on the one hand, France and multilateral organizations, e.g. the EU, the United Nations, and Africa as a whole on the other hand. Significantly, South Africa and Kenya are becoming fervent partners of the French Development Agency (AFD).

It is difficult to say whether a lower commitment from France will result in a weaker position for Africa, or, on the contrary, is a way of emphasizing the need for Africa to build its own capacities. For donor countries or former colonists like France, finding the right orientation for its technical and political cooperation strategy is a major issue. The challenge of determining a balance between the committing to Africa's development and keeping the necessary distance to avoid any neocolonialist behavior, is probably still lying ahead in the case of France. This could be a reason for the indecision, or even contradictions (such as the claim to promote cooperation on equal terms, while the Dakar speech stresses the difference between Europe and Africa) that have been pointed out above.

But there are other more specific challenges that France and Africa are facing. The most prominent element is probably the African attitude to the “special relationship”. While the current French administration seems to take distance, some crises reveal that external factors might also jeopardize the relationship. Let us take two striking recent examples.
  

In Chad, in October 2007, a French charity, “l'Arche de Zoé” tried to send 103 orphans from Darfur to Europe, so that they can be adopted. A flight had been organized from Chad to France. Just before leaving, the members of the charity were arrested by the Chadian police for “attempted kidnapping and fraud”. In fact, most of the children, probably, were not orphans and came from Chad, not Sudan. The truth about this case is still blurred. However, it is interesting to notice that President Idriss Déby insisted on the trial being held in Chad and did not yield to France's demands before the six people from the charity were condemned by the Chadian justice. Although Idriss Déby eventually granted his grace, he certainly raised his diplomatic profile, and showed that his country would not accept any attempt to undermine its sovereignty.
  

Similar tensions affect the diplomatic link with Rwanda, mainly because of the specter of the 1994 genocide, for which no responsibility has been proven yet. President Paul Kagame, in 2006, was accused by Paris of taking part in the attack of the former President's plane. Mr. Kagame recently retaliated by revealing a report that stresses the involvement of French officials, including former President and Prime Minister François Mitterrand and Edouard Balladur, in the genocide. Although the report, commissioned by the government of Rwanda, lacks independence and legitimacy, this is a second case in point of African countries strengthening their position with regards to France.

Furthermore, France is not the only country wishing to build or keep firm ties with Africa. In November 2006 was organized the first China-Africa summit, on the model of the traditional France-Africa summits. The presence of China is getting more and more acute, both at the economic and diplomatic levels: according to Philippe Leymarie, it is now the first provider of goods and services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, in spite of still quite prosperous bilateral relations with its former colonies, France needs to face, so to say, emerging political and diplomatic competition. In the case of China, albeit the uncertainty about the quality of investments (benefits for economic and social development, job creation, etc.) and the threat of such cooperation turning into a new kind of dominance, the volume and growth of its economy and its capacity of investment may induce numerous African countries into reinforcing their link with Beijing. All the more since China, so far, has not voiced any concern on possible democratic flaws in some African regimes.

This is a major difference with France, which has always, since the independences, maintained a political connection and sometimes intensely influenced local politics. Nonetheless, France was accused, in some of its interventions, of undermining democracy and supporting authoritarian regimes. François Lafargue states that democracy in Africa has never been a priority, as compared to political stability and security, which is why the constitution of a strong state power was advocated. During the 24th France-Africa summit in 2007, Jacques Chirac hinted at the need to respect national sovereignty, i.e. to support, actively or passively, the current regimes against armed movements. Difficulties arise, of course, when the government is not legitimate or when democracy is clearly thwarted. Thus stability and partial democracy were preferred to systematic pressures for advanced democracy. Fighting against corruption was not an imperious matter either. In July 2008, several heads of African states were sued by Gabonese and Congolese citizens, with the support of Transparency International, regarding the acquisition of real estate and financial capital. This kind of cases can prove very embarrassing for France, given its past support to some of these leaders.
In fact, corruption and personal links are often mentioned by Nicolas Sarkozy and his government as the main element to eradicate in the French African policy. Jean-Marie Bockel said in January 2008: “one of the first obstacles to development is bad governance, the wasting of public funds, the negligence of flawed administrative structures, the predation of certain leaders”. However, this attitude appears as a justification for the lower commitment to cooperation with Africa. Indeed, the reverse idea appears in the same speech when Mr. Bockel points out that “peace and security are prerequisites for development”. These views are presented as two equally true facts, which saps the coherence of the African policy laid out in the speech.
The insistence on democracy being the main concern, even a condition for France's aid, brings rigidity that weakens diplomacy. Mr. Sarkozy's highly moral speech in Dakar and Mr. Bockel's very technical language do not consider the necessity to build personal ties to promote mutual confidence and cultural proximity, in order to be in a better position to press for political development. They target the whole diplomatic relationship instead of aiming at specific malfunctions in the system to progressively improve it.

Some of the evolutions in the French-African relationship may be long-term – sometimes initiated by previous administrations -, other short-term. But the firmness of Nicolas Sarkozy's positions on issues related to aid for development and technical cooperation will probably affect Africa significantly. The new attitude of France, the apparent rejection of personal connections, corruption, and cultural proximity, might be as harmful for Africa's development as for France. Rehabilitating friendship and enhancing France's commitment to fighting both poverty and corruption will be a crucial challenge to keep fruitful cooperation alive.
 

Michel Gary

-------------
Author of the article holds a Masters degree in International Relations from Marc Bloch University, France. He presently works as a consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.
-------------