Darfur dominates the Africa-France summit, reports Doaa El-Bey Although the two-day summit in the Riviera resort of Cannes, held under the theme "Africa and world balance", aimed to protect African resources by ensuring they are tapped responsibly it was political problems, particularly the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Darfur, that topped an agenda. The summit brought together 40 African heads of state and government and the summit's host, French president Jacques Chirac. "We want the idea that Africa is rich and Africans poor relegated to the past," said President Hosni Mubarak, though whether the meeting made much progress in that direction is a moot point. Perhaps the most important achievement of the summit was the conclusion of an agreement between Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic. They pledged to respect each others' sovereignty and refrain from supporting rebels on each other's territories. After pressure from France and Egyptian mediation, the agreement was signed by the heads of the three states. Egyptian mediation was underwritten by Cairo's conviction that unrest within the three states can only be contained by active regional, African and international cooperation. Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, said that Mubarak had stressed that security in the region is linked and that in the absence of cooperation between the three states instability would grow. "The meeting provided a positive atmosphere for dialogue and for a frank exchange between the three states in order to contain and resolve border problems," said one diplomat who attended the meeting. Chirac attended the meeting, held on the sidelines of the summit to discuss Darfur and the border between the three states, alongside Ghanaian President John Kufuor, the chairman of the African Union, and President Omar Bongo of Gabon. Simply bringing the presidents of Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic together was no small achievement. It contributed towards breaking the ice and building confidence between the three states though there were those who pointed to an earlier agreement, signed between Sudan and Chad in Libya last year. In the absence of action on the ground it failed to hold. Although Chirac opened the summit by asking Khartoum to accept the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur, there were no signs during the summit that Sudan was ready to comply. Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir reiterated his rejection to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur and insisted he would not grant visas to the UN human rights team who want to visit the strife- torn region to assess the situation on the ground. Any international force in Darfur, he said, must remain under the supervision of the African Union with the UN's role confined to technical and logistic support. In a separate meeting African leaders agreed to dispatch two delegations, one from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the second mission from the African Union, to Guinea following President Lansana Conte's imposition of martial law last week. Rioting and clashes between protesters and security forces have left tens of people dead. The summit provided a forum for Egypt to exchange points of view with other African leaders. Mubarak held bilateral talks with the presidents of Sudan and Chad as well as the Somali prime minister. He called on the Sudanese government to open dialogue with warring factions in Darfur in order to end the conflict in the region. As the host of the next Africa-France summit, Egypt "will start by fixing the date and theme of the meetings," said an Egyptian diplomat. The one sure thing about the future summit is that Chirac, who leaves office in May, will not be in attendance. Presidential contender Nicolas Sarkozy, of the governing rightwing party, said he wants a renewed partnership with Africa, based on healthy, balanced relations, while socialist candidate Segolene Royal has attacked Chirac's Africa policy as driven more by personal ties than mutual interests. Both the US and China have expressed growing interest to the continent. Washington is drawing up plans to establish a regional command centre for Africa while Beijing gathered 41 African leaders in the Chinese capital for a groundbreaking summit last November.
