The West must approach Africa in a new light

French President Nicholas Sarkozy said it well this past week at the France-Africa summit when he said this about Africa in today's world: “Africa’s formidable demographics and its considerable resources make it the main reservoir for world economic growth in the decades to come.”

Chatham House has a new report that states the relationship between the West and Africa should be looked at in a new prism. Asian countries seemed to have caught the changing winds especially countries like China, Japan, India but many western countries have yet to fully adjust to the changing reality. Russia has a renewed interest, Brazil as well.  France due to historical reasons will always have interest in Africa and the lastest summit hosted by French President seems try and a new course with Africa.  Reuters has a similar take:

For the past ten years, fundamental change has been taking place across large parts of Africa. Growth rates and stability have increased. Political, regulatory and security reform have deepened. Increasing investment from China, but also Brazil, India, Turkey, South Korea, Argentina and other ambitious emerging powers has acted for the most part as an accelerant.

Even the global financial crisis has in some ways hastened this process, for while in the short and medium term it had a devastating impact on millions across Africa, it has also revealed the true ebb of power from East to West, and encouraged the new economic actors of the G20 to chase access to the 40 percent of the world’s mineral resources, and 1 billion consumers gathered in Africa. Almost as important is the 25 percent of UN General Assembly votes that are represented by the continent’s 53 countries.

Meanwhile, many Western countries seem trapped in a humanitarian conception of Africa.

Popular media coverage and policy judgement is overwhelmed with a perception that Africa is simply a problem continent with little strategic value, except as a space where largess is shown and good things done to make up in some small way for the messy reality of international diplomacy.

This is not only delusional and self indulgent, but damaging. For emerging power interest is showing that Africa is not a space distinct from the rest of the world. Many of their investments are valuable and welcome, but others are as exploitative and damaging as anything under colonialism.

Without a Western strategic and business engagement – bringing with it a focus on sustainability, regulation and transparency, the progress of the past 10 years is unlikely to be sustained. For the truth is that China’s development policy is first and foremost about China’s development, not Africa’s, and as yet the governments of many emerging powers are not focusing enough on ensuring their investments in Africa are sustainable, and therefore equitable.

African leaders have never faced so much choice, but they need to show more foresight as well, for it is only by combining the energy of the emerging East, with the regulation of the West, that Africa’s, and the world’s interests will be served. That needs Western strategic engagement, but more fundamentally it requires more effective leadership from within Africa itself. Post financial crisis, the opportunities for Africa and the world economy, but also the risks, have never been higher.

These are the main highlights of the report by Chatham House:

• African countries are playing a more strategic role in international affairs. Global players that understand this and develop greater diplomatic and trade relations with African states will be greatly advantaged.


• For many countries, particularly those that have framed their relations with Africa largely in humanitarian terms, this will require an uncomfortable shift in public and policy perceptions. Without this shift, many of Africa's traditional partners, especially in Europe and North America, will lose global influence and trade advantages to the emerging powers in Asia, Africa and South America.


• China's re-engagement is for the most part welcome, as is that of the increasing numbers of emerging powers such as Turkey, South Korea and Brazil that see Africa in terms of opportunities - as a place in which to invest, gain market share and win access to resources.


• Economic fortunes across Africa are now diverging, making it less meaningful to treat Africa as a single entity in international economic negotiations. Despite this, it is in the global interest that the African Union should be granted a permanent place at the G20. In turn, a more focused, sophisticated and strategic African leadership is needed.

Nothing to disagree with, as a matter of fact these are the points that we at Stratsis Incite have been emphasizing all along.

American Peace keepers in the Congo?

Analyst Michael O’Hanlon’s proposes that the U.S. send forces to Democratic Republic of Congo to kick-start a new peacekeeping organization that might help rescue the country from scores of overlapping conflicts. The existing U.N. force just isn’t working — and the DRC government wants those peacekeepers to leave.

The UN has had peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a decade. Congolese President Joseph Kabila, hoping to show he’s not reliant on the blue helmets, wants the force to go in 2011.  Almost every outside analyst thinks that this could precipitate a disaster, with militias running rampant, the hopeless Congolese army unable to cope and the country’s neighbors moving in to gobble up territory.

The UN hopes that it will be able to keep at least some troops – maybe about 6,000, compared to the current 20,000 – to protect civilians in the especially vulnerable eastern Congo. This would do some good, but how much? The peacekeepers were thoroughly outmaneuvered by militias in the east in 2008, and I’m not sure that a reduced presence could do more than stifle low-level violence. What is to be done?

O’Hanlon had pleaded his case in an interview for World Politics Review column last week:

Ideally, we’d see an entire American brigade, but that’s not realistic. Barring that, how about a battalion doing a mission along the lines of Special Forces, doing intelligence-gathering and planning? … That would enable a country like France, which is not as globally committed but is afraid to stick its neck out [to deploy troops]. We need more Western forces.

I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, although I applaud O’Hanlon’s advocating an idealistic but unpopular line.

France is trying to cut back its presence in Africa, and there are huge obstacles to it playing a role in the Great Lakes region — the locals haven’t forgotten the questionable French part in the Rwandan genocide.

But I think that there may be a broader fallacy here: the idea that getting new combat forces into the Congo is what’s needed in the first place. Yes, the U.N. has struggled with 20,000 troops — but as I think O’Hanlon himself once noted, you might need up to 200,000 to stabilize somewhere on the scale of Congo. Rather than focus on numbers, I’d try to see if there are any light-weight ways the U.S. can affect the  political decision-making of [DRC President] Kabila and his neighbors (especially the hawkish Rwandans).

Here’s one possible formula. While the U.N. should maintain the 6,000 troops on active protection duties, the U.S. should deploy around 100 military observers to operate in the U.N. framework. Why? The U.N. already has a bunch of observers in Congo, and the U.S. is said to have spooks and special forces in the east. But American colonels and captains publicly monitoring the situation would send a clear message to the Congolese and their neighbors that Washington wants calm. This American mini-presence would also play a tripwire role: it’s one thing to outflank and embarrass standard U.N. infantry, but quite another to play games in front of U.S. observers.

What makes this option half-credible is that the Obama administration has already thought about sending more military staff officers on UN missions – the President said so himself last year – so this idea is not too far from current policy.  That said, the U.S. has just 10 military experts in UN operations at present (the figures are here).  2 of them are in the Congo.  The Pentagon is rumored to be unenthusiastic about  helping the UN – but 100 personnel is not beyond the realms of the possible.  They don’t need to be O’Hanlon’s green berets… though that would be nice.

I don’t think that 100 Europeans would have the same effect.  China, which has invested a lot in the Congo, could send more observers or regular troops and reinforce the American message.  I can see this proposal running into lots of quibbles, but it might be just the low-cost, high-profile help the UN needs in Congo now.

The U.S. Congress has also recently passed a law requiring the U.S. military to craft a strategy for defeating one of Congo’s most dangerous rebel groups.

African nations seek reform in major world institutions.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="411" caption="French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke at a press conference with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma."][/caption]

African nations voiced a need for change in world major institutions like the World Bank, United Nations, & International Monutary Fund.

More than 50 African countries and France called on Tuesday for an urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council and other institutions so the continent can better be represented in global governance.At the close of the 25th Africa-France summit, France announced plans to ensure African nations are better represented at the G-20 when France takes its turn at the helm of the group.

France and the 39 heads of state and government and 12 other national delegations which met for two days in the Riviera city of Nice called for African states to be fully integrated into the global economy.

The summit reviewed issues from peace and security to climate change but added a new dimension by inviting more than 200 business leaders to encourage development through free enterprise. A charter for good business was adopted to encourage transparency among French businesses operating in Africa and, it is hoped, serve as a model for companies from elsewhere.

France agreed to support the African Union in strengthening security on the continent, including the African Standby Force, and pledged ¤300 million ($369.1 million) for 2010 to 2012 and agreed to train 12,000 African troops for peacekeeping by the African Union and U.N.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that France, once a colonial ruler on the African continent, wants to strengthen its role on all parts of the continent where countries that are traditional outsiders, notably China, are profiting from multibillion dollar projects.

"France doesn't just want to be friends with francophone countries ... What we want is for France to talk to all of Africa," Mr. Sarkozy said at the closing session. The French president did away with the traditional "dinner among friends" featured at Africa-France summits in which only leaders of former colonies are invited. He held a dinner for all attendees Monday night.

"You are all friends, all of you, and we can build together," he said.

France has been pressing for a greater voice for Africa in critical international forums, such as the G-20 and the Security Council, where there are five permanent members with veto rights—and where Africa, which makes up some 25% of U.N. members, wants a voice.

South African President Jacob Zuma called the summit "very useful."

"We believe strongly that times have changed," he said. Climate change was a major issue at the summit, and the leaders linked it to development.

They agreed to support creation of a renewable energy plan for a sustainable electricity system "based on concrete projects and innovative financing." Among such projects would be use of solar power.

France announced creation of the African Agriculture Fund, an investors' fund, for food distribution and other projects, to initially raise $120 million and that could reach $300 million, according to a final statement.

The next summit is to be held in 2013 in Egypt, where the just-ended meeting was initially meant to be held. Because of concern that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur, would be invited, France persuaded Cairo to allow the gathering to convene in Nice.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, facing EU sanctions travel restrictions, also wasn't invited. The nation of Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island where a 2009 coup toppled an elected president, was excluded from the summit.

More background on previous post about the France-Africa summit.

Sarkozy seeks fresh start and better trade at Africa summit

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="262" caption="French President Nicolas Sarkozy greeted Rwanda's President Paul Kagame."][/caption]

Over 250 African and French business leaders rubbed shoulders with African heads-of-state in Nice on Monday, as the 25th France-Africa summit, which for the first time will focus on both trade and politics, got under way.

NICE, France—Africa has the potential for exponential economic growth and must have a louder voice in world politics, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday, opening a summit with 38 African leaders.

Paris wants to use the gathering as a springboard for business deals and to bury bitter memories of colonial rule.

It is "completely abnormal" that no African country has a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, Mr. Sarkozy said, calling for reform of the body in an address to the Africa-France summit in the Riviera city of Nice.

"It is not possible to talk about the great questions of the world without the presence of Africa," Mr. Sarkozy said. "Our destinies are indissolubly linked." He said "Africa is our future" and will be a principle reservoir for world economic growth in the decades to come.

The 25th Africa-France summit coincides with the 50th anniversary of independence for 14 former French colonies. It marks a new era of ties—for Mr. Sarkozy a partnership of friends able to discuss commerce or stickier questions like human rights.

Breaking away from tradition, France has invited nearly 200 business leaders from France and Africa to this year's summit.

The dictatorships, conflicts, corruption and poverty that have plagued African nations for decades and define their image in the West have been reduced to sideline events at the two-day summit.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stressed the need to change "African realities" through commerce and new infrastructure. He asked that the summit put the accent on developing African economies, including strengthening the role of the private sector.

"We want at all cost to end the marginal status of the African continent," he said.

A harsh reality for nations like France is the growing presence in Africa of China, India, Brazil and Iran, and to a lesser degree the U.S. Many of those nations are moving full speed ahead to scoop up Africa's natural resources, make trade and win contracts to build infrastructure.

In French-speaking countries, mainly in north and west Africa, France must live down its past as a colonial ruler. An Elysee Palace official said Mr. Sarkozy is more interested in bilateral talks with leaders of countries not in the circle of former colonies.

Only one African country wasn't invited to the summit—Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island where a 2009 coup toppled an elected president.

Notable absent leaders include Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, facing EU sanctions travel restrictions, also wasn't invited.

This happens in the context of China's increase and economic-political expansion in Africa. Trade between Africa and China has increased 10 fold since 2000.

France is seeking to renew its ties with Africa at the two-day gathering that will touch on global governance and Africa's campaign for more of say at the United Nations Security Council, the UN's top decision-making body. France wants to increase the number of African states represented and also have two permanent African nations on the UN security counsel, but not let them have no veto power. Of course the lack of veto power was not welcomed by African delegates.



The summit is viewed by many as an attempt by the Elysee Palace to boost its dwindling influence in the region in the face of stiff competition from China, India and other emerging economic superpowers. China is now Africa’s biggest trading partner, and has invested billions over the past decade to tap into the continent’s raw materials to fuel its own fast-growing economy.

When he took office in 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkzoy vowed to break with the past and end what he described as the paternalistic relationship between France and its former colonies, a relationship based on privileges and hand-outs popularly referred to as “Francafrique”.

France has been frequently criticized for ignoring human rights violations in its former African colonies and propping up autocratic leaders in its quest for business privileges in the resource-rich continent.

In recent months, Sarkozy has attempted to mend France’s tense relations with Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. During a landmark trip to Kigali in March, Sarkozy said France would do everything possible to ensure that "all those responsible for the genocide are found and punished." Diplomatic relations between France and Rwanda were restored last year, three years after Kigali severed ties with Paris.

Has France really turned over a new leaf in Africa?

But critics say that 50 years after several African nations gained independence from France, not much has changed in the country's relationship with its former colonies.

While Sarkozy impressed when Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first African head of state to be invited to the presidential palace after he took office, he disappointed many when his first visit to the continent was to Gabon: then-President Omar Bongo of Gabon was a central figure in the ‘old’ ‘Françafrique’ style of diplomacy.

The disappointment turned to outrage last year, when the French government appeared to support Bongo’s son, Ali Bongo, in the August 2009 polls, sparking criticism among Gabonese opposition figures and igniting street protests across Paris.

Sarkozy’s cozy relations with Paul Biya, whose 28-year rule in Cameroon has been criticised by international rights groups, has also raised eyebrows in Africa circles. Last year, when Sarkozy welcomed the controversial African leader by praising Cameroon for its moderation, demonstrators in Paris sported placards that read, "Biya murderer, Sarkozy accomplice."

At this year's summit however, Sarkozy aims to focus on business. To mark the start of the much-trumpeted new era in French-African relations, a charter is set to be signed at the end of the conference which will pledge greater cooperation in training, jobs and environmental issues.

And while the annual summit has traditionally focused on former French colonies, the only two heads of state to hold face-to-face talks with Sarkozy at the conference's sidelines are South Africa's Jacob Zuma and Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, both leaders of former British colonies