FRANCE CO-OPERATION WITH AFRICA: CASE STUDIES OF SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES

FRANCE CO-OPERATION WITH AFRICA:  CASE STUDIES OF SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES

                                       

                                             BY

                                    Olufemi.P.Adelusi (Ph.D)

ABSTRACT

France as a former colonial power in Africa has had long years of relationship with Africa. To describe that relationship a-priory as cooperation is another matter. Since African countries assumed political independence in the wave of 1950’s and 1960’s, there has been another phase in the relationship between France and Africa. That phase of post independence has been described by many scholars as an era of “special relations “between France and her defined Africa. France cooperation with Africa in the last decade 1999 till the present has presented us with new perspectives. How France has carried on with her cooperation with enlarged Africa constitutes our pre-occupation in this study. That many factors have intervened in how France conducts her relations with Africa during this decade is an understatement. The study has captured some of these factors in France’s relations with some selected African countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Tanzania and South Africa.

I-               INTRODUCTION

To most scholars of France’s Policy in Africa, there is need to distinguish two concepts involved in France’s relations with Africa. Akinterinwa. Bola (2001:578) drew our attention to the observed differences between these two concepts namely. ‘aid’ and ‘cooperation ‘. Citing Jeanneney Commission which was set up by a Decree on March 2, 1963, he offered that “aid is that totality of intellectual and material contributions which involve the sacrifice made by the countries that make them. Cooperation on the other hand is viewed principally as a contribution through coming together”. France’s cooperation with Africa started with a defined character. It was the establishment of the concept of ‘a zone of influence’. This meant that France had to sign many bilateral technical cooperation agreements in areas of defence and military cooperation on one hand and cultural, scientific and educational cooperation on the other hand. The situation continued for many decades. In fact, this special relationship with the ‘pre-caree’ made France’s cooperation with Africa to be synonymous with Franco-African relations. Certainly, this relationship started to evolve gradually over the years. The opening was made towards Nigeria in West Africa and gradually to Ghana, and South Africa. At the turn of the 21^st century, France cooperation with Africa has embraced the whole of Africa. By this we mean, the Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone, and Arabophone.

In this study, it is our intention to examine the evolution of France cooperation with Africa. Without repeating the historical milestones in France’s relationship with the Continent, efforts would be made to examine the types of cooperation that exists between France and Africa, shortly after independence and the reforms that brought shifts in the policy thrusts. Accordingly, we are dividing our work along four major parts, namely the introduction, France Cooperation with Africa shortly after independence as the second part, while the third part looks at the various shifts in France’s cooperation with Africa, Conclusion and recommendation will take up the fourth part.

II-            FRANCE COOPERATION WITH AFRICA POST INDEPENDENCE

France’s cooperation with Africa shortly after the independence of African States was characterized largely by a very close relationship with her former colonies in Africa. This relationship was highly structured and also largely informal. Many cooperation agreements were signed between France and these countries. The cooperation agreements range from Military/Defence agreements to Technical cooperation agreements. What sustains this close relationship between France and the French-speaking countries? France and its African partners have a number of institutions, historical experiences, and cultural conceptions in common.( Martin Staniland,1987:51 )

 A picture of the defined Africa to which France cooperation was directed would be in order. Of the 20  Franco-phone states, 15-Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, the Cote D’ivoire, Niger, Benin, Chad, the Central African Re-public, Gabon, the Congo, Madagascar, Djibouti, and the Comoros-were previously direct dependencies of France; 2-Togo and Cameroon-were French-administered U .N. trust territories; and 3 were ruled by Belgium-Zaire as a colonial territory, Rwanda and Burundi as trust territories.

Cote D’ivoire and Senegal stand out as two countries that have had leaders whose political careers were intimately involved with French political history throughout the Fourth and Fifth Republics. . (Martin Staniland, 1987:52). Roughly 50,000 French citizens now reside in the Ivory Coast and 20,000 in Senegal. Both countries house French bases and still have defense agreements providing for French intervention in case of internal or external threat; both continue to receive high levels of aid and investment.

Between 1960 and 1975 France's share in the external trade of the Franco-phone countries declined from 80 per-cent to approximately 4 5 percent. But Francophone states in the mid-eighties were still depending on France for between 40 and 60 percent of imported goods and services. (John Chipman, 1985:2; Philippe Hugon, 1982).

Martin Staniland (1987:54) opines that France's economic relations with Africa have been consistently useful to France in at least four respects. First, France has maintained a substantial trade surplus with Africa, compensating significantly for the deficit it suffers in its trade with other parts of the world. Although this surplus has diminished in some years, in 1981 it was equivalent to 10 percent of France's global deficit. (Daniel Bach, 1985)

Second, France's domination of Franc Zone institutions assured, at least until 1983, substantial liquidity for the French treasury. Twelve Francophone states have a common currency, the Communaute financiere africaine (CFA) franc, which is tied to the French franc at a fixed rate of 50 CFA francs to 1 French franc and is issued by two central banks, for western and equatorial Africa, respectively. While the French treasury guarantees the convertibility of the CFA franc and provides "practically unlimited over-drafts" to the central banks, (Antonio-Gabriel M. Cunha, 1984)

The third benefit is the dominance enjoyed by French companies providing services to commerce such as transportation and insurance. Finally, Africa is an important source of strategic raw materials for France, which in some cases has been granted preferential access to them.

Mention must be made of the French-African military relations. Sixteen                           countries have military technical assistance agreements with France that allow France substantial influence over the training and weaponry of African and Malgache states. France is able to shape the balance of power in the western and equatorial African regions. As John Chipman points out, "Careful not to over endow African armies, the French are able to ensure that it is difficult for one country to launch an attack on another."(John Chipman, 1985:2). The importance of this French-African military relation transcends the immediate purpose intended. Noticeably, this guarantees the major-power status desired by France in the comity of world powers, indeed a sphere of influence is carved out, where, as one of Giscard's foreign ministers, Louis de Guiringaud, put it, "Africa is the only continent where France has the capacity to make a difference... the only one where she can still change the course of history with 500 men."(Louis de Guiringaud, 1982; Daniel C. Bach,1985)

This claim to global status and regional leadership is symbolized by the annual       conferences, alternately in France and in Africa, of the French and Franco-phone African presidents held since 1973(Jean-Luc Dagut , 1981: 304-25). Attendance at these conferences has increased to include leaders from ex-Portuguese, ex-Spanish, and even ex-British   territories, in accordance with the wish of all French presidents since de Gaulle to expand French influence beyond the inherited core of ex-French colonies.

III-         SHIFTS IN FRANCE’S COOPERATION WITH AFRICA

‘Plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme chose’ is a common French dictum. The more it changes, the more it remains the same. The English equivalent is that the more you look the less you see. Talking about shifts in France’s Cooperation with Africa is to underline some noticeable developments in the way France conducts her cooperation with Africa after 3 decades of relationship with African countries.

The Presidential speech given at La Baule France, in 1990(Le Monde, 1990: June) sets up the way for revision in France cooperation with Africa. It has come out as a doctrine that purports to link foreign aid to development with democracy. More importantly was the implications of May 1997 Socialist victory in the Legislative elections. This threw up a Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

At this point, talk about shifts in France’s cooperation with Africa concerns the issues of the reforms of French military presence in Africa, immigration and methods of cooperation. As Prime Minister, he signaled the end of French interventionism in Africa, thus strengthening the reform policy. He indicated also that all defence agreements are to be reviewed in order to cancel articles that request French troops to intervene in internal strife. It must be noted that France has defence treaties with about 8 African countries and military cooperation agreements with 26 others.(  Roland Marchal,1998:365) In this context, the 1998 renaming of the bi-annual Franco-African summit-from the Conference of Heads of State of France and Africa, to the Conference of Heads of State of Africa and France  as more than a cosmetic change.  Rachel Utley(2002:136)

Lionel Jospin as Prime Minister promised a radical reappraisal of French policy towards Africa, emphasizing co - development and partnership. The reform of cooperation structures which are numerous and belong to various ministries like economy and finance ministry and the ministry of foreign affairs was on the cards.   (Roland Marchal, 1998:368). A related aspect of the reform expected under the administration of Jospin was the review of the actual content of the cooperation programmes . It was observed that the 71 countries that signed the Lome Convention were potentially interested, because the ministry of cooperation formally covered all these signatories. Bilateral aid directed to countries still represented 70% of all France’s total aid budget. The role of this aid needs to be clarified, should the aid be regarded as a way of doing business which is inherent to all bilateral aid or should it address development problems? (Roland Marchal, 1998:369).

Robert D. Grey (I990) says that “it is quite clear that France remains the most active and 'weighty' outside actor. No matter what indices are used - economic assistance, technical advisers, military bases, even armed interventions - let alone such unique phenomena as la zone franc and the annual conference between the President of France and the Heads of State of francophone Africa, all show the magnitude of the continuing French presence”. Reflecting on the purported shift in France’s Cooperation with Africa, Akinterinwa, B,(2001:577),  argued that there was no change in terms of objective, but tactically, new strategies were considered.

What were the observed policy initiatives that characterized the 1998 Policy shift? Ten of such were underlined by Akinterinwa, B,(2001:579-581),  Firstly, the French encouraged official visits to African countries. It is also on record that, it was the French President Jacques Chirac who was the first visiting President to Nigeria at the inception of President Obasanjo’s administration  in 1999. Secondly, France adopted the policy of making new friends while keeping the old. Thirdly, greater emphasis is to be placed on political and military relationship. Explained further, France wished to encourage democratization, rule of law and good governance without intervening in the domestic affairs of her African partners. Fourthly, France favoured multilateral approach to security matters but would honour her defence agreements with her partners. Caution should be exercise here, as her policy on non-interference does not imply “pulling out” of Africa.

Fifthly, France proposed a friendlier policy attitude towards foreign students and immigrants subject to availability of resources. Sixthly, it was also slated that the machinery for cooperation and development assistance was due for re-organization. The est-while existing services of the office of the Minister Delegate for cooperation and Francophone and those of the Foreign Minister were slated for merger. Seventhly, France was placing emphasis on “loyalty and openness”. Eighthly, France does not want her special relationship with the Francophone African countries to be interpreted as a deliberate neglect of other African countries. Ninthly, France decided to increase the official Development Assistance to Africa, and tenthly, France considered opening a regional branch of the French Development Agency in Nairobi. Akinterinwa, B,(2001:581).

It is in order to examine the current state of France’s cooperation with Africa. A good point to start is by recognizing what is the position of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, It is on record that President Nicholas Sarkozy, before his election in 2007 had expressed a desire to make a break with ‘France’s old ways of doing business in Africa’. In his own words, “The old pattern of relations between France and Africa is no longer understood by new generations of Africans, or for that matter by public opinion in France. We need to change the pattern of relations between France and Africa if we want to look at the future together,” Mathew Tostevin, (2009).

Nicolas Sarkozy, as French Interior Minister, has told leaders in the West African state of Benin that Africa and France must remold their relationship(BBC News, Africa:May,2006 ). He proposed a French Immigration Bill which the French MPs voted for. The main highlights were that “only the qualified get "skills and talents" residency permit, Foreigners only allowed in to work, not live off benefits. Foreign spouses to wait longer for residence cards. Migrants must agree to learn French. Migrants must sign 'contract' respecting French way of life. Scraps law on workers getting citizenship after 10 years (BBC News, Africa: May, 2006).

A look at France -Tanzanian relationship will show some of the steps taken by France’s cooperation with Africa. While France maintains its international contributions, it has decided to substantially increase its bilateral cooperation programmes with Tanzania and the East African Community. (France Embassy, 2002)
That is why Tanzania has been included in the new French "Priority Area of Solidarity", the composition of which was made public in February 1999. The ZSP (the French acronym for "Zone de Solidarite Prioritaire") includes the countries where France is concentrating its development assistance (61 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, including 30 Less Developed Countries). While it was once restricted to mainly francophone African countries, its recent enlargement is proof of Frances desire to provide bilateral development assistance to all countries of Africa, as illustrated by the four visits to Tanzania by the French Minister for Cooperation, Mr.Charles Josselin ( October I999, January,February and July 2000.) .(France Embassy,2002)

As for Tanzania, this means a reinforcement of French cooperation through the mobilisation of new specific instruments, without neglecting the traditional fields of co-operation. Indeed, there are new instruments put in place by the French government in her bilateral and regional cooperation in Africa. The AFD (French Agency for Development / Agence Francaise de Developpement) and PROPARCO

The AFD is playing a key-role in the French development aid system. As a development bank, it provides governments and public companies with credits in the form of grants or soft loans to finance infrastructure facilities and job-creating investment projects. The AFD is operating in all the countries of the Priority Area of Solidarity defined by the French government. The AFD opened a regional office in Nairobi in January 1997 and has been operating in Tanzania since 1998. (France Embassy, 2002). PROPARCO ("Investment and Promotion Company for Economic Cooperation") is the AFD s subsidiary for private sector credits. In Tanzania, Proparco’s commitments are in the financial, the industrial and the agro-industrial sectors. (France Embassy, 2002)

Under Technical Cooperation, Another new instrument of French cooperation in Tanzania and in the East African Community is the "Priority Solidarity Fund" (Fonds de Solidarite Prioritaire), allocated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and designed to finance pluri-annual development projects (especially institutionnal support and technical assistance).(France Embassy, 2002). Other areas of France cooperation in Tanzania covers the activities of French NGos in the sectors of education, health and rural development; Promotion of the French language; Promotion of franco-tanzanian cultural cooperation and University cooperation. The last but not the least is in the area of Military cooperation as co-operation between the Tanzanian Peoples Defence Forces and the French Forces in the Southern Zone of Indian Ocean (FAZSOI) has increased. (France Embassy, 2002)

Nigeria is another African country of importance in France’s cooperation with Africa. Support for French language learning constitutes therefore the main priority of the French cooperation. Three establishments (the Jos, Enugu and Ibadan centres) and the Ikeja "French Language Centre" in Lagos specialize in training teachers of French. (French Embassy, 2008). Nigeria belongs to the Priority Solidarity Zone. France’s cooperation gives priority to French instruction (three-fifths of her bilateral support) and scientific and cultural exchanges. Nigeria is home to two cultural centres, nine Alliances Françaises, a French secondary school in Lagos, a French school in Abuja and business schools in Port Harcourt and Kaduna.

In 2005, France’s official development assistance (APD) stood at €1155M, making Nigeria the leading recipient of our assistance. But this is a very cyclical situation, related to the debt relief granted by the Paris Club.

One of the essential aspects of cultural osmosis between Nigeria and France is the exchange of university students and young research scientists or scholars in significant numbers. The Institut de Recherches en Afrique (IFRA) in Ibadan offers this possibility to young French and Nigerian researchers preparing a doctorate in the social sciences; (French Embassy, 2008).  In fact, series of cultural-educational agreements were signed and renewed between them in the late seventies and in the eighties on the exchange of university students. Bilateral technical assistance focuses on agriculture and water resources management.

President Jacques Chirac’s trip to Nigeria in July 1999, a few months after the formation of a civilian government, was at the time the first visit by a foreign Head of State. This visit was a land mark in the history of France’s Political relations with Nigeria. There had been few top exchanges of visits at the top governmental level between both countries before that visit. This paved way for a return visit by an elected Nigerian President in the person of President Yar’dua on June 12, 2008.

In 2006, more than 100 French companies were taking part in Nigeria’s economic development. France has a strong presence in the industrial sector: At Port Harcourt, MICHELIN produces unprocessed rubber from its rubber tree plantations. AIR LIQUIDE operates facilities all over the country, supplies hospitals with industrial gas and oxygen. In Kaduna, PEUGEOT is still a shareholder in an assembly-plant, the largest it is involved in sub-Saharan Africa. LAFARGE is one of the two largest cement producers in Nigeria. Given the vigorous development of Nigeria’s petroleum and gas sector, wherein TOTAL plays a major role, French companies design, manufacture and assemble a wide range of specialized equipment. (French Embassy, 2008)

Moreover, French companies are predominant in infrastructural development. BOUYGUES was one of the main construction companies which built Abuja, the Federal Capital, while the large French electrical companies (ALSTOM, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC, AREVA, CLEMESSY, and SDMO, amongst others) boost the local energy capacity. ALCATEL and SAGEM were respectively involved in developing GSM telephony and the production of secured national identity cards. (French Embassy, 2008)

Since 2006, Nigeria is France’s main partner in sub-Saharan Africa, becoming its largest supplier and second largest client, respectively ahead of and second to South Africa. On a global scale, Nigeria is France’s 44th largest client and 28th largest supplier. Nigeria is a market where French companies have established a solid reputation by participating actively and successfully in the development of the local economy. One of the recent agreements signed by the two countries was that signed between Agence Francaise de Developpement(AFD) and the Nigerian Planning Commission(NPC) on October 26, 2006.(French Embassy, 2008).

France’s cooperation with Ghana is another example of France’s cooperation with Africa. This cooperation between Ghana and France was hinged on The France-Ghana Framework Partnership Document (DCP), this represents a guideline for French cooperation initiatives in the country for five years (2006-2010). Indeed, it seems to be the most comprehensive document on France cooperation with an African country in recent times. As posted by French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (2008), it has the following intrinsic characteristics, Firstly; it includes all public, private and associative stakeholders with regards to French cooperation. Secondly, it is inspired by the main strategic directions of French cooperation (CICID and OMD). Thirdly, it presents a logical operational framework from the ‘demand’ to the means of deploying operations. Fourthly, it is based on national priorities, and fifthly, it has been established on a partnership basis. France’s cooperation with Ghana remains modest compared to that of other donors but its global volume is increasing significantly further to the undertakings of the AFD in the form of loans to the State further to completion of the HIPC initiative and the signature of the C2D,
 France’s cooperation with Ghana is visible where France enjoys a good image, notably further to the level of aid in the region, it still suffers from a lack of comprehension with regard to its initiatives. . (French Embassy, 2008)

As a consequence France’s entire cooperation system (the AFD and SCAC) has been rebalanced around three sector based programmes directly based on achieving the Millennium Development Goals: . (French Embassy, 2008)

1. Infrastructure;

2. Agriculture and food security;

3. Water and water treatment; plus three transversal programmes

4. The promotion of cultural diversity and the French language;

5. Law, decentralisation and local governance;

6. Higher education and research.

In each of these priority sectors the intervention strategy consists of:

  Responding to needs explicitly expressed by the government in its strategy documents (GPRS and others);
  Bring together local project management and deployment capacities (consultancies, companies, local NGOs) as systematically as possible;
  Systematic detection of synergy between French operators: public-private partnership, CIRAD, IRD, AFVP, ID...;

  Take advantage of complementary areas with other donors, notably the World Bank (infrastructures), DFID (public sector), Germany (decentralisation);
  Include the sustainable development dimension in every operation (environment, equality);
  Ensure, if possible, that the project is applied within the framework of a regional perspective (agronomic research, French language, culture).

In addition, France has decided, further to a request by the Ghanaian government, to allocate the full amount of its C2D (Debt and Development Contract), which amounts to 63 million Euros over 9 years, to the MDBS system. This focus of French cooperation efforts, in addition to meeting Ghanaian government requirements, offers a privileged framework for testing a more efficient and improved coordination of our interventions.  (French Embassy, 2008).

Cote d’Ivoire has by her colonial legacy, had justified rich political relations with France giving rise to exchanges and assistance at many levels (43rd BIMA in Abidjan, defence agreements, significant civil cooperation) (French Embassy, 2008). France intervened in Côte d’Ivoire following the coup attempt on 19 September 2002 in order to protect its nationals. Julio Godoy (2002). France’s role evolved toward an interposition between the armed forces of the Côte d’Ivoire government and the rebels. This action prevented the country from being thrown into chaos with its succession of massacres and destruction. But in so doing, France was criticized by the two parties for its role, with both parties believing that they were deprived of a military victory because of France’s presence (French Embassy, 2008).

 On the contrary, the international community - the United Nations in particular - endorsed the process to end the crisis defined by the Marcoussis Agreement (January 2003) at France’s instigation, while the Security Council authorized the Unicorn (Licorne) force to support the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI). The Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and Francophony has participated in the meetings of the International Working Group (IWG) every month since 8 November 2005 in Abidjan. She was received by President Gbagbo on 12 January 2007 in Abidjan (French Embassy, 2008).

The events of November 2004 have caused French cooperation to remain far behind, giving priority to the implementation of plans for outside operators to put an end to the crisis. However, France ensured that provisional measures have been taken to maintain institutional cooperation at a level that makes the administration redeployment programme and the restoration of state of law (public safety, restructuring of the armed forces, and support to essential social services) quickly and easily practicable. Since December 2002, the AFD (French Development Agency) has discontinued all actions in the RCI (Republic of Côte d’Ivoire) because of the suspension of payment of arrears Côte d’Ivoire owes France (i.e. 40% of the arrears the RCI owes all lenders) (French Embassy, 2008).

South Africa is another country which we are going to examine. France considers South Africa as belonging to the Priority Solidarity Zone. On 11 September 2006, French Minister, Ms. Girardin signed the framework partnership document (FPD), the main priorities (concentration sectors) of which are the development of infrastructures (promoting the populations’ access to essential services, specifically water, sanitation, education and affordable housing), support for the productive sector and the environment (fight against climate change). (French Embassy, 2008).

 In terms of impact, AFD funding has enabled more than 1.5 million people to take advantage of connections to the power grid and given 800,000 people access to potable water. In terms of affordable housing, a target of 5 to 10,000 households able to access housing has been set, thanks to operations funded as from 2005. Nearly 7,000 jobs have been created or saved thanks to the AFD’s involvement in SMEs (Proparco’s acquisition of interest in BEE - Black Economic Empowerment - companies). The AFD’s continued activities in the productive sector should involve about a hundred SMEs and create 6,000 additional jobs.

The bulk of France’s assistance takes the form of non-sovereign concessional loans (that is, not granted to the government or with the government’s guarantee) granted by the AFD to different public and non-public players. The FPD sets loans within an indicative range of between €351M and 412M against €25M-27M in donations (i.e. more than 93% in loans for 7% in donations), conveying a genuine partnership with an emerging country. The total bilateral commitment is set in an indicative range of €376M to 439M over five years (2006-2010), thereby making France the leading lender in South Africa. The AFD’s total commitments since 1994 stand at €565M, and have been accelerating quickly since 2002 (€120M in 2005, €86M in disbursements in 2006) (French Embassy, 2008).

In terms of donations, France is involved in traditional development programmes (FSP health, which aims to train high-level hospital executives and the FSP police in a country where insecurity remains a major handicap). But France is also involved in state-of-the-art programmes that are often co-financed, as South Africa’s growth strategy is based in part on high technology (biotechnology, nanotechnology, space) and the knowledge economy. Finally, France seemed poised to meet the growing demand for French instruction at government level (decision to train all diplomats in January 2005) and in big companies. It conveys the growing interest of South Africans in French-speaking Africa (French Embassy, 2008).

IV-         CONCLUSION

In this study, we recognize the enormous task that faced us in analyzing France cooperation with Africa. We examined the major thrusts of France’s cooperation with Africa, a brief about the policy thrusts in immediate post independence era; we went on to examine the perceived shifts in the policy thrusts of France’s cooperation with Africa through the decades. We were conscious of various studies carried in this area by specialists. We avoided duplicating them but employed their findings.

We arrived at the following conclusion, that France has enduring interests in Africa. Her cooperation with Africa is to serve these interests. The interests were shaped initially by the legacy of colonialism, as a former colonial power, with changes in the international system such as the independence of erstwhile colonies, a reshape of such policies came with re-negotiation of bilateral agreements earlier entered into.

 There were also attempts at reforms of France’s policy on Africa. Various shifts indicated by the proposed reforms were highlighted. The major and discernable shift being a widening of the cooperation belt from exclusive Francophone countries to cover all the regions of Africa. The patterns of the France’s cooperation with Africa were discussed using Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa. 

France’s cooperation with Ghana and Tanzania respectively stands out. There seems to exist a thorough consideration of the areas to be covered by the cooperation. This state of affairs led to an elaborate set of New Instruments for French Bilateral and Regional Cooperation in Tanzania. In the case of Ghana, there was framework partnership document France-Ghana (2006-2010). This document was extensively examined in this study. It seems very elaborate that it could pass for a development plan drawn up by Ghana. If there are no other reasons offered, these elaborate agreements between France and these countries indicate their willingness to cooperate in an orderly fashion and towards agreed end.

France’s cooperation with Nigeria and South Africa is straight forward. There are well defined sectors marked for intervention and both France and each of these countries find benefits mutually accruing to the parties. However, France’s cooperation with Cote d’Ivoire was stalled or slowed down due to the political instability that almost divided the country into two. France continues to maintain her relationship and cooperation with her beloved former colony.

Generally, it is important to draw attention to the Immigration Bill passed in France. This bill empowers the ministry of interior to deport any illegal immigrant by force back to their home country. Malian immigrants tasted this under the minister of interior- ship of Nicholas Sarkozy. More interesting in the bill seems to be the emphasis on highly skilled consideration and affirmation by the immigrant to dissolve into French culture before any such applicant could be successful. This certainly is a great departure from the known lines of France’s cooperation with Africa. It is expected to shape her relationship with Africa in the years ahead.

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