au point d'en faire un art.
Ce n'est pas moi qui le dit, c'est un anglais qui l'a
ecrit.
Ca fait du bien lorsque tout le monde arrive a la meme
conclusion.
French Hone Hypocrisy In Africa
LONDON, Feb. 14, 2005
by Tom Fenton
CBS News
CBS News Tom Fenton covered the major news events in
Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Africa during his
34-year career as a CBS News correspondent. He writes
about world affairs from his Listening Post in London
and other locations around the world.
Why is it that a democratic Western country that
prides itself on being a model of civilization and a
champion of liberty can support dictators and
oppression in what we used to call backward countries?
No, I am not talking about the foreign policy of the
United States. I am speaking of France, which has long
used a double standard in dealing with its former
African colonies.
The latest events in Togo are a reminder that four
decades after the winds of independence swept through
Africa, the French government still pulls the strings
in French-speaking Africa.
The world may not have paid much notice to the sudden
death of Gnassingbe Eyadema, the longtime dictator of
Togo. But France certainly did. President Jacques
Chirac of France paid warm tribute to him as "a friend
of France and a personal friend of mine." Being a
"friend of France" covers a multitude of sins.
President General Eyadema ? a former sergeant in the
French Foreign Legion ? ruled Togo with an iron hand
ever since he seized power 34 years ago. That was
Africa's first military coup, and established a trend
that was quickly copied elsewhere on the black
continent.
Eyadema was shrewd enough to recognize the French
"sphere of influence" in Africa, and France was
cynical enough to overlook his excesses. French
advisors ran the country, and made sure he stayed in
power. In recent years, as most foreign aid donors
began to get squeamish about giving money to a
dictator, Eyadema went through the motions of holding
elections, but they were shams. The General President
? who styled himself as "the Guide" ? brutally
eliminated any opposition.
But France continued to bankroll him with $100 million
in aid each year, little of which went to the people.
Togo is a sliver of a country, squeezed between Ghana
and Benin, and has few natural resources other than
the handouts from the French government. Its GDP per
head was $243 last year, less than when Eyadema took
power.
What did the French government get in return? It got
Togo's vote in the U.N. General Assembly and its
unstinting support for French foreign policy. Whether
that was worth the money only the French can judge,
but presumably they thought it was.
Only, now that Eyadema is dead and one of his sons,
Faure Gnassingbe, has seized power, Togo has suddenly
become an embarrassment for the French government. The
problem is partly the way that his son seized power ?
rewriting the Constitution on the spot (it took 45
minutes) and shutting out the speaker of the
parliament, who should have become the interim
president. What may have bothered the French even more
is that they may have been caught short by the son's
power play. Perhaps Faure was not their man, and they
preferred another candidate.
For whatever reason, the French government is now
calling for "respect" for the Togo constitution and
free and transparent elections for a new president.
The Greeks may have invented the word "hypocrisy" but
the French developed it to a fine art.
By Tom Fenton
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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"A Black Belt is a White Belt who never quit"
Aikido.
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