Reuters THE murky ties that bound France to its former African colonies appear to be fraying as the geopolitical landscape changes and corruption scandals from the post-colonial era, known as “la Francafrique”, tumble into the open. Officials point to allegations this month by a former aide to Jacques Chirac concerning cash-stuffed suitcases as proof that a page has turned on the old system of patronage, set up under President Charles de Gaulle to guard French interests in Africa after decolonization. Regardless of whether the allegations hold up to a legal inquiry, the fact that lawyer Robert Bourgi could publicly accuse the former president and his prime minister Dominique de Villepin of taking $20 million in cash shows a taboo has been lifted. Yet the shift in French-African relations is less the result of a spontaneous burst of piety and more a consequence of France's shifting economic priorities – away from Africa and toward the burgeoning markets of China and Latin America, where it can find buyers for its nuclear and military technology. “The old system is breaking apart, and you can see it from the fact that middlemen whose influence is on the wane are coming out into the open,” Socialist senator Jean-Marie Bockel, who was secretary of French-speaking territories from 2007-08 in President Nicolas Sarkozy's first cabinet, told Reuters. “It is also breaking apart in the other direction – the influence that African leaders once had in France,” added Bockel, whose outspokenness on the Francafrique issue may have cost him the post of head of French-speaking regions. For years, France gave political and military support to African leaders who backed its economic plans, with a premium on stability, even if that meant ignoring rigged elections or, in the opinion of some critics, influencing them itself. In return African leaders offered France loyalty, exclusive exploitation rights for firms like oil major Elf Aquitaine, since renamed Total , and generous kickbacks that financed all sides of French political life. Bockel says the system's decline is also an admission of defeat as French firms steadily lose their African edge to foreign competition. In one example, building giant Bollore lost a $600 million deal for Dakar's port to an affiliate of Dubai World in 2010. Given Sarkozy's lack of interest in Africa – a sign of the changing times – Gueant for a time held the reins of French diplomacy, intervening personally on parallel diplomatic channels in several African states, said Vincent Darracq, an Africa specialist at London's Chatham House think tank. That view is backed up in a 2010 documentary called “la FrancAfrique”, which shows Sarkozy, Chirac, Gueant and others at the funeral of late Gabonese president Omar Bongo – one of the leaders accused by Bourgi of financing French politics. French diplomats attribute the shift to Sarkozy, referring to a 2008 Cape town speech in which he called for French-African ties to be reformed “on the basis of transparency” as a turning point. “Times have changed and it's not up to France to play the policeman in Africa,” Sarkozy said at the time. However, caution has been the byword recently: France took care to secure UN backing before helping Ivorian rebels to oust their former president Laurent Gbagbo in April. “We are well aware of the weight of history, of suspicions and perhaps of fantasies, and that is part of the reason that France has multiplied its multilateral actions in Africa,” a diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Critics, especially in Africa, see things differently. __
