Once again, the France-Africa ritual is on, Eva Dadrian and Habibou Hamadou Maiga review the Francophone press The 23rd France-Africa Summit opened on 3 December, in Bamako, the capital of Mali -- and one of the poorest countries of Africa -- on the theme of "African youth, its vitality, its creativity, and its aspirations". However, the recent race riots in France placed the issue of immigration at the heart of the summit, which remains a subject of comment and analysis in papers in France and throughout French-speaking African countries. Titling its main article "The France-Africa high mass" the Congolese daily Le Potentiel, referred to Bamako as the "two-day" capital of both France and Africa. As the French Le Monde explains, "These informal diplomatic meetings, created in 1973 by George Pompidou, are held every two years, alternatively in France and Africa." Of course, the summit highlighted the issue of is French-African friendship, and as always, there is history, but what next, asks Le Potentiel . The objective of the summit is to create, or perhaps to consolidate, a space for dialogue, reflection and democracy in view of improving North-South relations. Yet, says Le Potentiel, France, like other Western powers, is continuing to overlook the fact that colonialism, slavery and racism have reduced the African continent to poverty and its peoples to despair. The summit took place against the backdrop of a series of problems that continue to unsettle the African continent, including global warming and its effects on Africa, food security, famine in Niger, the shift from aid to development, the cancellation of Africa's debts, the political uncertainty in Cote d'Ivoire, the extradition of former Chadian president Hissene Habre and Ben Barka's file in Morocco. Yet, as was the case during the Euro-Med summit of Barcelona, held a week ago, France chose to focus on internal security and problems of migration. Under the title "France-Africa, or the remainders of colonisation" Algeria's La Tribune writes in its editorial of Saturday 3 December 2005, that the ills of Africa -- under-development, unemployment, poverty and endemic illnesses -- comprise the "daily" ration of disillusioned young Africans who have only one dream: to "leave the black continent". The editorialist believes that regardless of whether these conditions are viewed by many Africans as the dire effects of colonialism, the fact remains that such ailments have reduced Africa to a mere "dependent" of its former colonisers and other Western powers. In a front-page headline which read, "The voice of Africa must be heard", the French communist daily L'Humanite asks, "is it seriously believed that the critical state in which the African continent has been plunged over in the past half-century has nothing to do with the tragic history that Europe made it undergo? Who will dare tell Sarkozy and De Villepin that to target the world of immigration is both a political fault and a moral shame in the heart of the old colonising country?" Furthermore, says La Tribune, by deciding against the abrogation of Article 4 of its law pertaining to the "apology of colonisation", France has regressed from being the "birthplace of Human Rights" to a mere "power exploiting the weaker". It is such decisions that have given the likes of Michel Sarkozy, the French minister of interior, the freedom to label African migrants as "scum". Under this cloud of French contempt, the 50 or so African heads of states and governments and senior officials present in Bamako focussed on youth, employment, migration and conflict. More than 60 per cent of the 860 million Africans living in Africa, are under the age of 25 and youth unemployment in the continent is a huge problem. Unemployment is also linked to underdevelopment and poverty which forces many Africans to immigrate to Europe, as illustrated by the tragic events of Melila and Ceuta two month ago. Mali is a country where migration is a tradition, says Le Figaro in its issue of 3 December 2005 and while President Chirac insisted that certain means, namely, education, health, training and jobs, will have to be put into motion in order to fight poverty, while African youths should also be given the right to "remain at home". Indeed, anxious to keep Africans at bay and keen to close the doors to their migration to Europe in general and France in particular, Le Figaro quotes Chirac's very clear "stay- away-from-us" recommendation to Africans as he declared that "the future of Africa lies in its youth and the future of African youth is in Africa." As Chirac was making this declaration, Le Monde published the story of Fousseny Kanté, a 26-year-old Malian who tried a year ago to "do France". However, the young Malian adventure ended in Spain and a forced return to his village in Kabaté via Mauritania. To migrate to France is more than a challenge; it is a "struggle between France and us" confessed Malian youth who are adamant that even the "Berlin Wall" would not stop them from trying. "We have been colonised by France, and so to France we shall go." "Even if they say it's hard, I'll still leave, because it's my duty and because here in Africa we have nothing," said another young Malian to Le Monde, while a young Chadian candidly confessed to Libération (Paris, 3 December 2005) on the very day the summit commenced, that if he had means, he would go to France, because the Chadian government "is not interested in us, the youth", adding that, "the youth in Chad are scoffed at. Education does not exist, everybody is corrupt. It's very discouraging. We have no libraries, no [educational] resources, and no material." Often allocated less than one per cent of national budgets, education in Africa suffers from inadequate systems, a lack of materials and classrooms and poorly paid educators. Earlier last month, Chad announced its intention to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Law that was designed by the World Bank and other international financial institutions to ensure that the country's oil revenues would help finance badly needed development and poverty-reduction programmes for today's population and for future generations. The Chadian government is expected to earn about $2 billion over the next 25 years from the heavy oil projects developed by an Exxon Mobil-led consortium. According to its Oil Minister Mahamat Nasser Hassan, however, the country is not reaping the rewards of the oil and the government is struggling to pay salaries and pensions. Since the beginning of 2005, every Western head of state has declared himself to be "passionate" about Africa or has claimed to be a "champion of Africa". Le Figaro says that President Chirac, who considers himself "the conscientious champion of Africa", has only gone as far as denouncing the pillage of the continent, slavery and exploitation. To this list of past and continued quandary, President Chirac has added the "brain drain" that is depleting the continent of its most competent people. Yet, the contradiction in Chirac's position vis-à-vis Africans is reflected in his condescending declaration which Le Figaro views as "the important measure" regarding the issue of "special long term and multiple entry visas for researchers, professors, artists, professionals, and entrepreneurs". Is this not a more devious way of sustaining the brain drain of Africa? Indeed, President Chirac's offer of "an entry visa to the best brains" confirms that "France's relation with Africa will never be trite". France's Le Monde notes that this first trip of Chirac out of Europe marks the end of an era: "it is his last participation in a France-Africa summit on African soil". Quoting a French diplomatic source, the "globalisation" of relations with Africa, is bringing about a change which the French diplomacy is being forced to accept because of the rise to power of regional actors such as Nigeria and South Africa, and as the United States and China who have expressed renewed interest in the continent.
