Sarkozy’s Visit to Africa: Paris diplomacy of recovery

Elmostafa REZRAZI

Expert in Strategic  Studies

President Nicolas Sarkozy accomplished his visit to Africa last week. He visited Gabon, where he stayed 24 hours then moved the next day to Mali and Rwanda. His visit to these three countries was similar to the speed of someone who is anxious to be over soon, but did not light heart, because in each country, it has different problems to solve. He made a detour to Bamako, Mali’s capital, where he stayed only two hours to “recover” the former French hostage Peter Camatte, kidnapped for almost three months by Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
There has been intense speculation that France had put pressure on Mali to free four suspected Islamic fighters from jail to guarantee the safety of the French hostage.
In Mali, Sarkozy thanked the president Amadou Toumani Toure for his efforts to free Pierre Camatte, 61, saying that without him, Camatte “would not be here today”.
The Mali court decision to convict the four suspects on arms charges and sentence them to nine months behind bars, which they had already served, resulting in their release, has angered Mali’s neighbours.
Algeria and Mauritania say they are worried that the move will encourage “terrorism” in the region.
Sarkozy’s choice to make a stop in Rwanda aims to dispel the misunderstanding between the two countries after that Rwanda has accused France of having played a role in the genocide of Tutsis in 1994. As for his visit to Gabon, it is of major importance because  Sarkozy engineered to take this opportunity to welcome the “remarkable maturity” of democratic process in the  country and to express its support to Ali Bongo (  the son of former President Omar Bongo, passed away in June 8, 2009)  who was elected last September at the head of the country and especially to conclude with Gabon a new defence agreement concerning the maintenance in Libreville of the French military base, after the simultaneously announcement of the shutting down of France’s military base in Dakar.

Moreover, the decision to announce the closure of the French military base in Dakar has been proposed prior to this visit. But if French media has adapted the scene to show Paris desires to  set up  a new type of  partnership with African countries, The changes in ties between France and several African countries should express also  how France is forced to do so while concealing its  antagonism.
Many African countries which were colonized by France in the past continue always in the sphere of influence of Paris. A situation that reserved to France to keep the prestige and the priority to  install military bases in several African countries  such in Djibouti, Dakar, N’Djamena, Libreville and Abidjan, with an additional basis for action in Togo. France has maintained for many years armed troops in Africa to protect its vital interests. Among the French military bases mentioned above, the one established in Dakar, which faces the Atlantic Ocean and the Goree Island is of great strategic significance. That is why the French Minister of Defense Herve Morin insisted last year on the importance for France to keep it. The sudden and unexpected announcement of its decision to close the military base has undoubtedly caused a large concern of public opinion in both Franca and Africa.
According to latest reports, the withdrawal decision taken by the French military headquarter is completely passive, because it is perceived as a forced action after a long time command.
Senegal has asked France to withdraw its troops from the country. In 2005, during the visit of former French President Jack Chirac in Senegal, his Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade informed him about it.
The arguments advanced by Senegal on the withdrawal of French troops are as follows:

• Firstly, the Senegalese government plans to recover the land in use by the French military base. If France wants, she can transfer its base to Thies, the third largest cities, located at a distance of 70 kilometres from Dakar,
• Secondly, Senegal intends to play the card of its sovereignty. President Wade said that over five decades have passed since the independence of his country and the French army were still maintaining an armed force, which creates a sense of incomprehension among Senegalese public opinion. He hopes that “in Africa, Senegal should not be the last country which would remain a French military base. France has expressed its rejection of the application of Senegal, but both parties still have reached agreement on the closure of the base April 4 to mark the celebration of Independence Day Senegal. And the military exchanges between the two countries will be replaced by a “platform of regional cooperation.”

Evidently, after the appointment of Nicolas Sarkozy as the president of the republic, he immediately paid a visit to Senegal. During his stay in Dakar, he delivered a speech at the University Cheikh Anta Diop and said: “The current problems of Africa are not entirely due to colonialism. The colonialists are not responsible for the fratricidal conflict and genocide in Africa. The dictatorship, despotism, corruption, graft, waste and pollution, while are also not due to the colonialists. . Then he added: “For thousands of years, African farmers set to work with the day and sleep with the sun. They repeat every day the same work and speak the same language. They are unable to get rid of the restriction of their natural situation. Therefore it is impossible for Africans to hold their destiny in their own hands. The outspoken Nicolas Sarkozy has deeply hurt the feelings of the broad African audience and was the subject of much criticism and protests and negative reaction from various circles.  This speech was in fact a significant incident that has accelerated the process for the closure of the French  military base in Dakar.
The other incident remains in the inconvenient context during which Sarkozy
Has announced his intention to shut down French military basis in Africa. For Wade who did not hide his anger find it mismatched that the president Sarkozy made such statement from South Africa.
The context in which the French president endeavoured to get out of trouble are mainly the serious economic situation inside the country, and the serious weakening of national power and more concretely with the failure of France in Côte d’Ivoire due to conflicts in its military base in Abidjan, which has greatly burdened the defence budget and caused all sorts of objections and doubts from the French public about the necessity of quartering French troops in Africa. All these elements together have produced a catalytic effect on the closure as soon as possible by the French Army in its military base in Dakar.
But to go beyond details, French policy making has to review its blueprint foreign policy if Paris wishes to maintain its prestigious position in the black continent. The connotation of a new type of partnership between France and Africa should be in fact focused on a new build-up of mutual respect, mutual interest, within the formula WIN-WIN

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