D+C Development and Cooperation (No. 3, May/June 2001, p. 20 - 21)

French speaking countries in Africa have always enjoyed a special relationship with their former colonial master. French influence in those countries remained strong even after independence, with currencies tied by a fixed exchange rate to the French franc, military agreements allowing the stationing of French intervention forces in Africa, and a strong presence of French companies in Francophone territories. The biennual Franco-African summit - held in Yaounde, Cameroon, in January 2001 - offered an opportunity to look at this special relationship and what the future will hold for it.

“France is only out to reap huge gains out of Africa, and not to do or initiate anything that can help the continent.” That is the description of France’s interest in African affairs by 22 year old Wilford, a law student in the University of Benin in the Togolese capital Lomé. For Martine, an Ivorian store keeper, “France is ready to impose her will on Africans; dictating which leader should stay in power and which should be thrown out even against the people’s will”. Two views on two domains, the economy and politics, which offer a glimpse of how French involvement in Africa is perceived by the local people. There is indeed, a lot of ill feeling in former French colonies across Africa at the start of the new millenium.

The days when Africans from many former French colonies used to talk of “going home” when travelling to France are gone and long forgotten. Television pictures of African refugees (Les Sans Papiers) being thrown out of churches in France as well as scenes of Africans being repatriated to various countries in the 1990’s, have contributed to generating hostility towards France. From the campaign for the boycott of French goods launched by Cameroon opposition parties in the mid 1990’s through the adoption of English as the official language in Algerian educational instutitions to the student demonstration in front of the French embassy in Abidjan calling for no interference in their country’s affairs, the level of disenchantment could not have been higher.

“People have come to realise that France has not paid back even half as much as it should for what she has received from Africa” is the explanation given by Professor Maurice Tadadjeu of the Yaounde University for the growing resentment against France across Africa today. “Paying back for Cameroonian wood, decades and centuries of benefitting from Africa’s resources” he argues “is only a matter of justice.”

Struggle over resources

Africa’s relations with France have been characterised by a struggle over resources. French companies in most of Francophone Africa, have taken full control of the principal sectors of the economy, including banking and tourism. In the oil sector, the French multinational ELF, is conspicuous on drilling platforms as well as in filling stations in most cities. French companies are present even in service sectors such as public transport where they compete with resource-deprived local entepreneurs. Economic exploitation is just one of the aspects of the struggle for resources that has characterised ties between African countries and colonial France. Another is the spate of bribery and corruption scandals that has erupted in the process. Author Claude Waltier, who has written two books on French policy in Africa wonders “what really keeps the relationship going” after running a tiny fraction of the catalogue. He points out that French President Giscard d’Estaing lost the presidential election in 1981 after a scandal over a gift of diamonds from Emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic. He says it is “no secret” that French elections were financed in part by African leaders in exchange for political support for their regimes. On the eve of the 21st Franco African summit in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde in January 2001, another scandal erupted involving the son of one of the architects of French African policy, the late President François Mitterrand. The 54-year-old Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, is still in court fighting charges of involvement in arms trafficking, influence peddling and embezzlement in the sale of Russian arms to Angola in the early 1990s. He was his father’s adviser on African affairs from 1986 to 1992 and is know in France as Papa-m’a-dit or ‘Daddy told me’. Waltier suggests that although these scandals have tarnished France’s image at home and abroad, the most serious consequence may have been to make France “to become reluctant about too much involvement in Africa.”

But what Waltier perceives as reluctance, Nfor Susungi, a financial consultant working in many Francophone African countries, describes as “France’s letting go of countries that have simply become too poor.” Bad economic management, a lack of vision and an unattractive investment environment, are responsible. From Algeria, Chad, Central African Republic, through Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo to Congo Brazzaville, one form of armed conflict or another is pushing already weak economies into a knee-deep recession. Susungi says even Ivory Coast, which as recently as six years ago was still being presented as ‘the economic miracle of West Africa’ has gone bust with the highest per capita debt burden in Africa.

Close cooperation in monetary policies

The most durable element in relations between France and her former colonies in the economic domain, is perhaps the fixed exchange rate between the French franc and the franc CFA, a currency used by 13 African countries. But even there too, things are changing, and there are big question marks as to how much longer this special relationship will hold. The 50 per cent devalution of the franc CFA in 1994 was the first sign of a crack in the wall. Apart from the fact that most franc zone governments considered it a unilateral decision by France, it also came as a harsh reminder that monetary policy was not entirely under their control. While a few countries did make marginal gains from the 1994 devaluation, most are still struggling to come out of the mess in which they found themselves since they did not have the manufacture-based economies to profit from attractive export prices. Susungi warns that more unpleasant moments may still lie ahead in this financial marriage once the new European single currency, the Euro, becomes legal tender in 2002. “Watch out for the movement of the Euro against the US dollar as the date approaches” he cautions. He predicts that a stronger Euro may generate pressure for another devaluation of the franc CFA. Many franc zone member countries are taking comfort in the reassurance from the French government that the exchange rate to the Euro will be guaranteed by the French treasury at the present French franc/CFA rates.

Mutual interests

In spite of the many shortcomings in the relation between France and its former colonies in Africa, even the most adverse critics are not ready to write it off or outrightly advocate severing these ties. There is a growing awarenes that in a world of greater interdependence, every single relation counts. France is keen not to lose its influence in a continent with huge resources. In turn, French speaking African countries, and indeed the rest of the continent, need the support of France - a member of the G8 group of industrial countries, a founding member of the European Union and a veto-holding member of the United Nations Security Council - in their demand for debt cancellation and an equitable global trade regime.

Both the Francophone countries of Africa and France seem to agree that diversification of external relations is the best way forward. Claude Waltier sees in France’s decision to abandon the idea of building another single axis alliance, like the Paris-Abidjan axis which lasted a good three decades, as a pointer that France now tends to value each nation for what it is worth. But among French speaking African countries, a two tier diversification approach seems to be taking root - a venture to seek new partners outside the continent as well as a more inward looking approach.

Economic liberalisation and globalisation which French President Jacque Chirac described at the 21st Franco-African Summit in Yaounde as “a universal reality which is suicidal trying to resist” are two developments that have hastened this opening up towards new partners. The USA has made inroads into parts of French speaking Africa through the takeover of some privatised state-owned companies, particularly in the telecommunications and in the energy sectors. There is also a readiness to look beyond Europe, Africa’s traditional trading partner. Asia is gaining considerable attention in the process. But Susungi points out that there is a gradual but meaningful trend that could be overlooked, namely the move back to roots.

South Africa becomes
new player in Africa

South Africa is positioning herself as the most important player in Africa, spreading its influence and its economic net wide round the continent. Traditional imports from France such as wine, cheese and champagne, have seen a large share of their markets taken over by South African substitutes, and there is a steady growth in the heavy investment sectors, too. South African companies are now running part of Cameroon’s privatised railway, electricity supply and parts of the mobile phone network. Just returning from a trip to Nigeria, Nfor Susungi points to the fact that a South African and a Zimbabwean concern could be one of four companies “staking as much as $285 million for a slice of Nigeria’s mobile phone market” as a sign that a quiet revolution may be taking place within the continent. Speaking on the eve of the Yaounde Franco-Africa summit Claude Waltier was categoric in his assertion “nothing much will change”, for in more than 30 years, no Franco-African summit “has ever inaugurated a new era of democracy or wealth.” Longtime observers of French African policy call the 1981 Franco-African summit at La Baule, France the only summit that produced a blue print for a French-African policy on democracy. It was at that summit that then President Francois Mitterrand made the historic speech stating loud and clear that French aid to Africa would henceforth be tied to tangible strides in democracy and human rights. But unfortunately, France failed to seize the moment by following up that speech with concrete actions. Kodjo Samlan, a correspondent for the Pan-African radio station Africa No. 1, based in Libreville, Gabon, says hardly had the dust settled on that event “when Jacque Chirac could be heard wondering aloud ‘if democracy is not a luxury for African countries”.

La francophonie - a loose
network of friends

From a political standpoint the Franco-African summit is the single most important forum where France meets with its African partners in order to - in the words of President Chirac - “exchange ideas in a forum of friendship”. And indeed, from the first summit which took place in 1973 to the most recent one in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde last January, the summit has preserved its character as a loose network of friendly countries with no mandate to pass legally binding decisions. In a period where most organisations are struggling to add muscle to their adherence clauses so as to hold members accountable for their deeds, France and her African partners are enjoying the laissez-faire policy that governs this gathering which takes place every two years. Where relations between France and French speaking Africa will go to from here is very difficult to tell. The on-going economic revolution (globalisation) and Africa’s fragile process of democratisation may ultimately decide for these countries which at the moment are not willing to build closer ties.

Emmanuel Wongibe, a Cameroon national, is an editor in the English Service of Radio Deutsche Welle International. He attended the recent Franco-African Summit in Yaounde, Cameroon.