France Must Reassess its Relationship with Africa
On the 13th of January, more than 30 African Heads of State and French President François Hollande gathered in Bamako for a two-day Africa-France Summit. Although much was discussed about how to reinforce the business relationships between France and Francophone Africa, most of the media coverage focused on celebrating François Hollande’s legacy on the continent.
The official story is that, despite his campaign promises to banish Françafrique into the history books, the French President had to be pragmatic against terrorist threats. He has favoured “stability” to the detriment of rule of law and development. Thus, French military interventions in the Sahel and Central Africa were used as a convenient excuse to maintain the old Françafrique status quo. And this has not only been in areas under threat by the AQMI (Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb), as proven by France’s actions during the 2015 elections in Guinea.
Criticism continues to be directed at Françafrique. But not much has changed. It is not only a matter of moral values but the relationship has also been economically neglected. Currently only a very small handful of people benefit from the current relationship between France and its former territories. If it were recalibrated to include SMEs and a comprehension of African consumers, the economic advantages would multiply.
For the last 60 years, “stability” has been the sacrosanct narrative that has kept France’s policy in Africa stagnant. Since decolonisation, successive French governments have appeared unable, or unwilling, to think of any other alternative way of maintaining France’s influence in Africa.
A brief glance at English-speaking African countries is enough to realise that a much more constructive, less naïve and economically rewarding relationship is possible. And this is not a moral stance but a necessity if France is to remain a key player on the continent.
Fortunately, the Africa-France Summit in Bamako was not just a homage ceremony to “Hollande l’Africain”. It also hosted a much more promising exchange on entrepreneurship in Africa between Pierre Gattaz (President of MEDEF — the French employer’s association) and Mamadou Sinsy Coulibaly, Gattaz’s counterpart in Mali, for example, where frank assessments were given with little sympathy to those gathered in the room.
Gold, gas, forests, diamonds, ports and railways are only a minor part of the African market. Education, hospitals, 1.2 billion potential consumers, the service sector, SMEs, are a far bigger part of Africa’s potential for foreign investment. To flourish, those activities need a business-friendly environment with a respected rule of law. This means letting go of the “stability” narrative and opening the door to governance, transparency and confidence.
So far, the French presidential candidates haven’t said much about Africa apart from getting themselves stuck in the endless debate about France’s collective guilt and the hangover from colonisation. Isn’t it time to stop debating about how apologetic France should be and start redefining what the common interests of France and African nations are in the long term?
