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By Stephen Smith
BBC Focus on Africa Magazine
This year, 50 years on from the independence of most former French colonies in
Africa, relations between France and its erstwhile possessions south of the
Sahara remain murkier and more confused than ever. Never mind.
In the summer, Paris plans to host a so-called "renovation summit" to revamp
Franco-African relations. But many critics, both in France and in Africa, say
the gathering will be more a sign of business-as-usual rather than something
that will encourage reform.
Paradoxically, protests against Francafrique (the Franco-African shadow state
which perpetuated French influence south of the Sahara after 1960) have been
far more vocal in the wake of the massive French disengagement from the region
after the end of the Cold War than during the three decades - les trente
glorieuses - of French neo-colonialism from 1960-1989.
France has been reluctant to play the role of the gendarme of Africa
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of East-West geopolitical rivalry
encouraged public debate about France's role in Africa.
Just how many first- and second-generation immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa
are living in France today remains an open question, as French law prohibits
statistics based on racial criteria. However, it is estimated that up to 5% of
the country's 65 million inhabitants originate from the region.
Many have acquired French citizenship and form, together with long-standing
French nationals from the Antilles, what the national media refers to as "Black
France".
But since racially tainted riots erupted in major French cities at the end of
2005, many French people of African descent - perhaps alienated from the
powers-that-be in Paris - consciously define themselves as "hyphenated"
citizens: Franco-Africans with divided national loyalties.
Renewed, balanced and transparent
On the eve of this year's Bastille Day, the heads of state of former French
interests in Africa are due to gather around President Nicolas Sarkozy "to
highlight and to bear out the evolution of Franco-African relations which are
to remain privileged while being renewed, balanced and transparent".
Using less convoluted language than the official communique, the president
explained in December that the purpose was "to turn the page of the debate on
[French] colonisation and post-colonisation".
Exhibitions, round-table discussions, publications and academic conferences
have been scheduled throughout this year.
The high point of the festivities is to be the 14 July parade on the Champs
Elysees where French and African troops will march in lock-step saluting
President Sarkozy and his guests of honour.
The military show is meant to be a reminder of Franco-African fraternity of
arms, notably against Nazi occupation in World War II.
The African heads of state will also attend the traditional garden party at the
Elysee Palace following the Bastille Day parade. The event's theme is
"Diversity - the human reality which links the colonial past to present-day
immigrant France," according to the Elysee communique, but this in particular
is causing a few ructions.
The person appointed by Mr Sarkozy to run this year's events is Jacques Toubon
whose previous political career is quite telling.
Not only is he a die-hard Gaullist - an ideology named after former President
Charles de Gaulle who insisted on maintaining as much control as possible over
France's African interests - but he is also a former minister of culture and,
since 2005, has been at the helm of a new museum dedicated to the history of
immigration in France.
The museum occupies a pavilion erected for the Colonial Exhibition in 1931,
which marked the acme of French imperialism.
As a result, criticism has been voiced against the mixed messages being sent by
the government on the subject.
Renegotiation
On the one hand there seems to be a direct line drawn between la plus grande
France - the "Greater France" of colonial times - and immigration.
But, on the other hand, since Mr Sarkozy's election in spring 2007, the French
government has intensified efforts to conclude bilateral treaties with states
south of the Sahara aiming at a "joint management" of migratory movements.
Yet while small and relatively privileged countries like Gabon have signed such
agreements, more important reservoirs of sub-Saharan immigration, namely Mali,
have so far refused to "co-police" migration.
Mr Sarkozy's government has been more successful in renegotiating the defence
treaties which were signed with all former colonies in 1960 (except for Sekou
Toure's Guinea which cut the umbilical cord with Paris in 1958, achieving
independence two years earlier than all the other former French colonies).
The revised treaties clarify mutual obligations and, in particular, no longer
contain "secret clauses" for French military intervention in case of internal
conflict.
Making discretionary use of its right to intervene, France has staged over 40
military operations to save, or sometimes topple, African regimes since 1960,
mostly during the Cold War.
But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and especially after the debacle in
Rwanda in 1994, France has been reluctant to play the role of the gendarme of
Africa.
FOCUS ON AFRICA
As a result, the number of French military advisers on the continent has been
slashed from 925 in 1990 to 264 in 2008; in the same period the budget for
military assistance was halved.
There are still about 10,000 French soldiers deployed south of the Sahara, down
from 15,000 in 1989. But half of them are serving on temporary missions, often
under UN mandates.
Also, in the past 20 years, Paris has closed three out of six permanent bases
on the continent.
France's foreign direct investment in Africa has also plummeted since the
Berlin Wall crumbled. While the African share stood at just over 30% in 1989,
it has been consistently below 5% since the turn of the century.
Furthermore, the bulk of France's overseas capital investment has been shrewdly
diversified beyond former colonial boundaries in favour of non-francophone
countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and South Africa.
Shady middlemen
Yet, despite France's disengagement from its former colonies, political mores
between Paris and the francophone capitals of the continent remained
characterised by back-door arrangements and shady middlemen.
As a presidential candidate, Mr Sarkozy committed himself to cleaning up les
reseau: the informal Franco-African networks. "We must rid Franco-African
relations of the networks of a bygone age," he declared in a speech in Benin in
2006.
But since he took office, President Sarkozy has perpetuated France's
time-honoured tradition of parallel diplomacy in Africa.
One set of advisers presides in public over the official business with Africa,
while high-ranking Elysee staff, in tandem with unofficial middlemen, is in
charge of the lucrative and highly personalised politics that Mr Sarkozy
denounced during his presidential campaign.
The French media regularly expose the broken promises and the new lease on life
given to Francafrique.
The elite collusion of Francafrique has become an anachronism, at odds with the
stark realities of shrinking French engagement - both government and private -
with its former territories south of the Sahara.
For example, Mauritania's General Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz continued to visit
the Elysee Palace after the coup that brought him to power, despite being
denounced in capitals across Europe.
Hence, if they care at all, most French belittle the 2010 "renovation summit"
as a political gimmick, actually not all that different from the so-called
"independence of the flag" granted to the African colonies in 1960.
Stephen Smith is a visiting professor at Duke University in the United States.
His new book - Le Nouveau Monde Franco-Africain - was released in April.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8639874.stm
Published: 2010/05/21 08:08:21 GMT