In the light of the summit meeting on Monday in Nice of the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, with 50 African heads of state the Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) has sharply criticised France's Africa policies. "Paris supports many regimes in Africa which are ruled over by dictators and in spite of its important influence takes no action to foster lasting peace in the worst crisis regions”, said the STP Africa consultant, Ulrich Delius, on Friday in Göttingen. "Sarkozy's promise to make a break with the old Paris Africa policies has to the present date not been realised. It is the securing of access to minerals, considerations of power, nepotism and corruption which still take precedence in France's Africa policies over human rights.”

"France's unconditional support for the autocratic ruler of Chad, Idriss Déby, has cost tens of thousands of Darfuris their lives in the embattled neighbouring western part of Sudan because Déby continues to foment the war in Sudan. Yet Paris refuses to accept any criticism of the arbitrary regime which could make any decisive contribution with the democratisation of Chad to putting an end to the genocide in Darfur. "Paris keeps silent even on the disappearance without trace of opposition politicians in Chad”, criticised Delius. "In this way France's government is turning itself into an accomplice of the arbitrary regime which tramples on human rights.”

Sarkozy did swear on taking power in the year 2007 to make his Africa policies more transparent, to end military interventions and to withdraw most of the French troops stationed on the continent. "However these boasting announcements have hardly been followed by any action.” In February 2008 there was military intervention from Paris in Chad. Although there is a civil war raging in this country France increased in the year 2008 its sale of arms to Chad by 50 percent to 13 million euros. The second largest recipient of French arms in the world is Morocco, which imported arms to the value of 874.3 million euros to secure its occupation of the western Sahara in contravention of international law.

President Sarkozy regularly receives in Paris dictators from Libya, Tunisia, Djibouti, Algeria, Togo, Gabun and Cameroon. He also went himself to Niger in March 2009 to secure the control of the reserves of uranium for the French nuclear power conglomerate AREVA. The Tuareg have been complaining for years of radioactive contamination and accuse the AREVA of systematically disregarding health regulations. Up to the present day the role of France and the energy company in the overthrow of the President of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, in February 2010 has not been clarified. Tandja had drawn the anger of Paris upon himself in conceding rights on uranium to Chinese companies.

Ulrich Delius can be reached at asien@gfbv.de