Word: fran
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Blame it on Françafrique, the name given to the relationship between successive governments in Paris and the client regimes that arose across Africa as France swapped colonial control of nations in exchange for arrangements conducive to French political and business interests. For decades, Françafrique produced corrupt and brutal yet stable African partners for France and helped Paris fend off the rival influences of Britain, the U.S. and more recently China. Typically, the authoritarian African leaders who gained from this relationship grew magnificently rich as their people, inversely, became impoverished. And no ruler was more iconic...
...that reason, the Bongo succession was viewed as a test of the repeated promises French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made to turn the page on Françafrique by treating African partners as equals - and allowing their voters to decide their destinies for themselves. "If you choose democracy, liberty, justice and law, then France will be with you to construct them," Sarkozy told a crowd of university students in Dakar, Senegal, in July...
...Easier said than done. The following year, Sarkozy replaced his minister dealing with developing nations after the official had infuriated Bongo by promising he'd "sign the death certificate" of Françafrique. Since then, Sarkozy has made several controversial visits to African nations, involving agendas like attending Bongo's funeral, that indicate Françafrique is still alive and well...
...fact that France has stayed silent in the face of loud claims in Gabon that Ali Ben Bongo's election victory, with 41.7% of the vote, was gained by fraud further suggests that Sarkozy is finding it easier to live with Françafrique than to end it. And he's not the only one. Just hours before the announcement of the election results on Thursday, French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner said he'd been in contact with Ali Ben Bongo and his two main rivals, all of whom were claiming victory. "I hope they will come...
...Areva's rise was built on that national commitment, but the company has also benefited from the ambitions of Lauvergeon, who, as a member of France's civil-service élite, first gained public attention as Socialist President François Mitterrand's sherpa during the 1980s. After taking control of the key state-owned nuclear companies, she merged them to create Areva eight years ago. Her early success in convincing foreign clients that nuclear was the power source of the future earned her a remarkable degree of independence from political meddling. "If you look at what she's done...