Eva Dadrian sifts through the French papers for some information about the French interior minister's new controversial African and immigration policies French Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy aims at reshaping France's relations with Africa. As far as Sarkozy, presumed presidential candidate, is concerned, "the official networks that have caused so much harm" have to be dismantled and must disappear forever. At least that was what Le Figaro reported (18 May, 2006). During his short and controversial visit to Mali and Benin, Sarkozy gave a preliminary taste of the future relations he wants France to have with its former African colonies should he become president of France: no more "unofficial emissaries whose only mandate is the one they've created", writes Le Figaro. Le Figaro also explains that Jacques Foccart, better known as Monsieur Afrique, died in 1997 and that President Omar Bongo of Gabon remains the sole survivor of these traditional Chiraquian networks. But Sarkozy was also carrying another message in his suitcase. A few days prior to his visit to West Africa, the French interior minister presented to the French parliament his controversial "selective immigration" bill that offers residence permits only to "highly qualified and skilled newcomers from outside the European union". The immigration bill, which was approved by 367 votes to 164 at the National Assembly while Sarkozy was in West Africa, not only scraps the law on workers getting citizenship after 10 years of residence and makes it more difficult for them to bring their families to join them, but also requires all immigrants from outside the European Union to sign a contract agreeing to "learn French and to respect the principles of the French Republic". In Bamako, his first port of call, Sarkozy had planned "a pedagogical visit to dissolve the misunderstandings with Africa" as Le Figaro put it (18 May, 2006). However, the verb " lever " in French has more than one meaning: "dissolve", "resolve", "lift" or just "raise the question" and Sarkozy may have meant to be as ambiguous and controversial as ever. Sarkozy insists that his new immigration bill is meant to stop the rising of "racism" and "xenophobia" as reported by Le Nouvel Observateur (18 May, 2006). However his visit to Africa, undertaken while the National Assembly in Paris was discussing the bill, was seen by many Malians as " une provocation " reports L'Essor, the Malian government official daily (18 May 2006). Thousands of Africans turned out in the streets of Bamako and Cotonou protesting against his presence in their country. The slogans were violent and often insulting like those in Benin: "Sarkozy-Hitler" and even "Sarkozy- batard hongrois " (Sarkozy, Hungarian bastard) reminding Sarkozy that he is after all the son of immigrants as Le Figaro reports. Moreover, Le Républicain (18 May, 2006) reminds its readers that "in less than 10 years, France has modified its immigration law five times," something that in the heat of the debate about immigration, most people forget, adds the paper. Today, the French media is more concerned with the "clear stream" political scandal than what really happened in Africa. While L'Humanité in its editorial (18 May, 2006) concludes that "his [Sarkozy] visit is a real flop" the paper, however, regrets that "most of the media ignores it". In fact, if Africans are furious for being stopped from migrating to France, they are even more critical of the "selective immigration" that the law implies. Le Nouvel Observateur (18 May, 2006) reports the words of Albert Tévoèdjéré, a counsellor to the Béninois president, "we are entitled to France as much, if not more, than some Europeans who are today allowed to settle in France, from Dunkirk to Avignon, without any restrictions". This "racist" aspect of the law was strongly criticised by Abdulai Wade, the Senegalese president. In Paris to collect his UNESCO Peace Prize, Wade accused Sarkozy of wanting to "develop France at the expense of Africa". Just one day after the stormy visit of the French minister of interior to Bamako, thousands of Malians attended the funeral of Oulematou Niangadou, the 24-year-old Malian young woman killed by a skin-head in Antwerp, Belgium, earlier this month.
