First it was the US. Now France wants into Africa

[alvin]

I think you overestimate the appeal of the continent

China, the US and now FRANCE? Seems like the whole world is falling over themselves to get a piece of the pie.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070216/wl_csm/ofrancox

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Following hard on the heels of Chinese President Hu Jintao's eight-nation tour of Africa last week and the US announcement that it will create a new military command for Africa, the Franco-African summit in the swanky city of Cannes, France, shows that the scramble for Africa is picking up pace.

But at a time of increasing competition from Chinese, American, Indian, and South African players in search of African resources, France is finding that "la francophonie" - the language, culture, and history it shares with its former colonies - is a harder sell. France is also fending off increased criticism over its tendency to put relations with allied African regimes above good governance.

Started nearly 50 years ago as a continuing dialogue with its former French-speaking colonies, the Franco-African summits once were gatherings of newly independent leaders and their former colonial masters. France often promised material and military aid to prop up unelected leaders, some of whom ruled for decades, in return for a continuation of trade relationships that allowed French companies to remain in Africa.

Prop up the leaders with guns to control the populace and split the proceeds between the dictators and the corporations.

Now we are trying to build these summits around the idea of how Africa figures into the balance of the world," says a French diplomat in Africa, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The issues that pertain to most Africans are how you deal with mineral wealth of Africa, to make sure that it is not going into shady deals or funding wars, but instead make sure that a percentage of it gets back to the populations.

The CIA isn't the only group funding wars to keep Africa in a perpetual state of destablilization. Africa has been carved up worse than a Thankgiving turkey.

"France is not innocent, both in terms of past colonial history and even in the present time, in places like Ivory Coast and Rwanda," says Peter Kagwanja, director of the democracy and governance programs at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria. "But on balance, France seems to be striking a chord with the weaker nations of the world, which feel vulnerable to the democratic militarism, the export of democracy via the gun

." Weaker nations? Ask the question WHY are they weak and who has been benefitting from these African nations being in a state of disarray. The African people? Or the global corporations which reap immense profit from the seemingly limitless resources contained on the continent?