During the Presidential election campaign I said I wanted to renew the relationship between France and Africa.

Three weeks ago in Chad, for example, when rebel forces were attempting to overthrow the legitimate authorities of the country, France which, as you know, has military forces stationed there, refrained from becoming involved in the fighting. This change of course was necessary, for a very simple reason. The French military presence in Africa is still grounded in agreements reached just after the end of colonialism, some 50 years ago!

I am not saying that these agreements were not justified at the time. But I am saying that what was done in 1960 no longer has the same relevance today. Their wording is obsolete. It is now unthinkable, for example, for us to be drawn into domestic conflicts. The Africa of 2008 is no longer the Africa of 1960! France and its African partners will take this fact fully on board.

Four Proposals

The first relates to the defence agreements between France and the African countries. They must reflect Africa as it is today and not as it was yesterday. They must rest on the strategic interests of France and its African partners. I am not saying that the existing agreements should necessarily be scrapped and that everything should be erased with the stroke of a pen. But I am saying that France wants to undertake discussions with all the African states concerned, with a view to adapting the existing agreements to the realities of the present, taking full account of their wishes. France will also be open to dialogue with all those who wish to establish a new security partnership with it.

Second, I propose that we place our relations on a new footing based on transparency. Transparency is the best guarantee of sound and lasting relations, the best antidote to the misapprehensions and misunderstandings that are so readily spread when the ties that bind France and the Africans are discussed.
 Contrary to past practice, our agreements must be made public in their entirety. I also intend closely to involve the French Parliament in setting out the major guidelines for France's policy in Africa.

Third, I propose that the French military presence in Africa serve first and foremost to help Africa achieve its goal of building, as it wishes to do, its own collective security arrangements. The African Union wishes to have standby forces by 2010 to 2012? Then that objective should also be France's objective! France has no call to maintain armed forces in Africa indefinitely.

This does not mean that France is disengaging from Africa. On the contrary, I want France to engage to an even greater extent, alongside the African Union, in putting together the collective security system that Africa needs, because African security is of course first and foremost a matter for the Africans to handle.

And my last proposal is to make Europe a major partner of Africa bringing about peace and security. This is the meaning of the partnership established by our two continents in Lisbon in December of last year. It is now up to the Europeans and the Africans to build it together. This partnership is in the interest of all of us, since a strong Europe needs a strong Africa.♦

(*) The full text of President Sarkozy’s speech is at http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2008/08030311451001.htm