Opening the 24th France-Africa summit in the southern French town of Cannes, Chirac praised the stance taken by the African Union in Addis Ababa in January 'to refuse the inevitability of the humanitarian disaster the threatens the entire region. The international community and the African Union are committed to this'.
'I call upon all belligerents and the government of Sudan to listen to their voices', urged Chirac. 'To agree to the deployment of a peace force.
To cease the attacks, to protect the civilian population and humanitarian workers'.
Chirac called on all parties to the conflict 'to understand that policy based on the worst possible line of action can lead nowhere butto horror, and therefore to choose the option of reconciliation'.
France was also concerned at the spillover from Darfur, which is threatening Sudan's neighbours. 'Stability means ensuring that territorial integrity is preserved: this is a core principle for France', said Chirac.
'We are, for this reason, providing our support to Chad and to the Central African Republic, which are threatened by the dangers arising from Darfur'.
Chirac added 'experience teaches us that the stability of any state is dependent above all on a democratic calendar and fair and free elections.
Crisis often springs from dubious polls that undermine the newly elected'.
The French president praised the AU for its 'determined commitment to condemn military coups, to push for dialogue and the holding of valid elections'.
The future of Africa lay not just in its governments but in what Chirac called its 'increasingly organized and increasingly influential' civil society, which 'expects greater fairness, greater transparency and greater freedom'.
'An ever stronger movement is seeking respect for human rights, proper management of public affairs, and solidarity for the most disadvantaged', he added. 'Good financial, social and democratic governance will bring stability to institutions and violence-free development of civil society, without which there can be neither confidence nor growth'.
As for the African economy, Chirac noted 'Africa is rich, but Africans are not'. This contradiction was despite the fact that Africa holds a third of the world's mineral resources. Chirac insisted that these resources 'must be neither pillaged, nor sold off cheaply'.
But Africa could not go on relying on exporting primary products. 'An economy must be built that is not excessively dependent on commodities and their volatility by increasing the competitiveness of agricultural and industrial supply chains, and by developing a modern service sector integrated with global networks', Chirac urged.
A note of anger entered his speech when he turned to trade, and particularly the trade in cotton. 'It is time for the rich countries to stop subsidizing their cotton producers to the detriment of those in the Sahel for whom it is their sole source of income', he said. 'It is time to admit that African countries would be the first to lose from the Doha Round (of the World Trade Organisation), if we set out to remove the advantages enjoyed by the least developed countries'.
Chirac's remarks about cotton were clearly aimed at the cotton subsidies of the United States - he had nothing to say about the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, which also poses major problems for African producers, and of which French farmers are the major beneficiaries.
Chirac reiterated France's commitment to increase its Overseas Development Aid, bringing it up to the United Nations approved figure of 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product by 2012. Africa's share of total French development aid would be 'more than two thirds'.
He also claimed that the commitments made to Africa at the time of the UN Millennium summit of 2000 were too large to be met exclusively from the aid budgets of developed nations. Hence the need for 'innovative financing mechanisms'.
The French contribution to such mechanisms had been 'the solidarity levy on air tickets' in force since July 2006. This is a tax on all air tickets sold in France, and it raised 50 million euros in 2006 for UNITAID, an initiative supporting the supply of drugs against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for Africa health services.
Chirac wanted such solutions applied to other areas 'such as water supply, forest management and education for al - particularly for girls'.
As for Africa's place in the world, the theme of the Cannes summit, Chirac argued that there were two ways forward. The first was 'the easy option of short-termism and selfishness', under which 'Africa can once again be pillaged, left by the wayside of prosperity, left aloneto face its problems'.
But that would represent 'an enormous risk for the world', and so Chirac pledged French support for second option under which 'Africa will take its rightful place in globalization to become a focus of peace and prosperity'.
No final decision had been taken, and Chirac was confident 'that Africa has every advantage and chance for success'.
'Aware as we are of the challenges, we also know that everything is possible in this world, where no situation is set in concrete, and where the tables are constantly being turned', declared the French President.
SOURCE: AIM
