France to take tougher line with African leaders at Congo summit
Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:11pm GMT
* French president says Congo rights record "unacceptable"
* Summit to address Congo rebellion, Mali crisis
By Jonny Hogg and John Irish
KINSHASA/PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande looks set to
make African leaders sweat at a gathering of French-speaking nations in
Democratic Republic of Congo this week, when he attempts to cut murky ties
with France's former colonies.
More than 70 French-speaking countries, many of them African, will arrive in
Kinshasa for the 14th annual Francophonie summit Oct. 12-14, with Congo's
eastern rebellion and the Islamist takeover of Mali's north to top the
agenda.
Hollande has vowed to promote democracy in a continent known for flawed
elections and 'sit-tight' leaders, and, unlike his predecessor Nicolas
Sarkozy, he will travel to Africa without any company executives, something
that would "muddy the waters", one adviser said.
In a sign he means business, he put pressure on the summit's host by saying
democracy in Congo, a former Belgian colony, and its rights record is
"totally unacceptable", an apparent swipe at 2011 polls that won President
Joseph Kabila a second term.
"I will address those within French-speaking countries to tell them that
this is their language, but there is also the language of values and
principles. Among those values and these principles is democracy, good
governance and the fight against corruption," Hollande said in Paris late on
Tuesday.
Yamina Benguigui, France's Minister for the Francophonie said the summit
would be an opportunity to set Hollande apart from Sarkozy, who caused
outrage in 2007 in Dakar in a speech laced with allusions to colonialism and
the suggestion that Africa had failed to embrace progress.
The shift in French-African relations is arguably due to France's changing
economic priorities - away from Africa and toward the burgeoning markets of
China and Latin America.
Still, France remains a top investor in Africa. Foreign direct investment in
the continent hit $5.5 billion in 2008, up from $75 million in 2003, and was
$1.4 billion in 2009 as the global crisis slowed investment worldwide, U.N.
trade body UNCTAD said.
While its economic influence has waned, France remains a major player in
military terms, with troops stationed in several African states from the
tiny nation of Djibouti to bases in Senegal, Chad and Ivory Coast.
FAILED STATE?
Congo's government was hoping the arrival of dozens of heads of state would
help an international reputation tarnished by an out-of-control insurgency
and a dire human rights record.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the summit was a chance for Congo to
close the book on its turbulent past, marked by a war that killed millions
and decades of state-level graft that has left most of its people in
poverty.
"For many years we were seen as a failed state. But people will come here
and see we are not failed, we are a state like any other," Mende said.
Kabila's government has deployed gangs of street sweepers to clean up the
dusty capital, decorated lampposts with colourful flags, and opened a new
lavishly lit five-star hotel and a fake African village of grass huts in
preparation.
But in a sign the government is also aware of the risk of trouble, police
water cannon trucks this week were filling up in plain view of the public,
metres from a central roundabout festooned with Congolese national flags.
A top official for Congo's UDPS opposition party said it was planning
protests around summit venues and was hoping to arrange for a meeting
between Hollande and Congo's veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi,
who says he was cheated of victory in last November's polls.
"The Congolese, we're split in two. In the east there's a war and every
minute someone is being killed or a woman is being raped," said student
Patrick Tumba Malumba, standing near Kinshasa's squalid and chaotic scrap
metals market. "I don't think the Francophonie is going to solve that."
Human rights group Amnesty International said it called on the Francophonie
to condemn human rights violations and engage Congolese authorities to stop
the raging eastern rebellion, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee
their homes.
Congo, Africa's second-largest copper producer, is on track for 7.2 percent
growth this year according to the IMF, but the country is ranked 6th worst
in the World Bank's ease of doing business survey. Investors say social
unrest, political turmoil, corruption and worries over contract sanctity
after a mining sector review are the main concerns.
"The bad business climate unfortunately stems currently from inside the
administration, so we cannot claim to improve the business climate if you
don't work on the administration," said Bob Tumba, the president of the new
technologies committee for the Congolese Federation of Enterprises.
He said the Francophonie summit could help the world to recognise Congo's
problems. "It's important that outside eyes are watching what happens here."
The organisers of the Francophonie see the conference - the first to be held
in central Africa - as an opportunity, at least, to get closer to a solution
to the ongoing rebellion in Congo's eastern hills.
Congo has accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing the rebels in order to
maintain control of a blackmarket trade in Congo's rich minerals deposits -
a claim vehemently denied by Kigali.
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Wed Oct 10 2012 - 17:11:53 EDT
