Africa/Wikileaks: the willingness to break with the “Francafrique”

By on December 8, 2010

By displaying his willingness to “break down” with the old “Francafrique” perception, Nicolas Sarkozy has attracted Washington attention towards the French policy in Africa.

This new orientation had pleased the Americans for one simple reason as revealed by Wikileaks diplomatic telegrams obtained and analysed by the French newspaper, le Monde: by reducing its presence and normalising its relations with the African continent, France will give the United States more opportunities to extend their influence in Africa without meeting any resistance from the French. The Americans also analyse the ambiguities of the attitudes of the French president against the former French colonies. They find that most of the African leaders, who profited from the “Francafrique” ties, were also among the obstacles to bring the change in Africa. The Wikileaks’ telegrams also reveal the tightness triggered by certain words of Nicolas Sarkozy over Africa in his speech at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. They reveal the genesis of the Dakar speech delivered in July 2007, by declaring that “the tragedy of Africa is that the African man has never really entered history…

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