originally published in Africa Review, Kenya
French Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner’s trip to central Africa this month had considerable highlights, among them pledges for eastern Congo, restoration of diplomatic relations with Rwanda and meetings with several heads of State.
It was a tour de force, not seen since late 2008, when eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was crumbling and France’s ability to take care of what used to be its backyard was being severely tested.
This time round, there was more to celebrate. But with Rwanda, the good tidings of renewed diplomatic ties were tempered by the news that French-speaking Rwanda had formally joined the British Commonwealth.
Relations between France and Rwanda had languished for years over disagreements as to who was responsible for shooting down the plane of President Juvenal Habyarimana that triggered a three-month genocide in 1994, and more so because of France’s intimate relations with the former government that oversaw the genocide.
Personal experiences
Despite Mr Kouchner’s personal experiences in Rwanda during the time, where he led the NGO Doctors Without Borders, France has never been able to say desole.
Rwanda and France need each other. France needs to get its groove back in the region, while Rwanda needs powerful allies of its neighbour, the DRC, to pressure its President Joseph Kabila to secure the country’s east, where fugitives from the Rwandan genocide live.
Mr Kouchner did indeed push President Kabila to secure the east when the two held talks in Kinshasa. They also discussed ways to fix the country’s security problem in the north, where ethnic violence has shifted thousands and killed hundreds, both civilian and police.
Thereafter the French minister crossed the river to Brazzaville.
Often overshadowed by its larger neighbour, the Republic of the Congo – or Congo-Brazzaville – has been a far more steady, fiscally prudent country. Built on agriculture and oil wealth, this formerly Marxist state has come alive in the last decade, with one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies.
In recent years though, its bets on its oil reserves have been off the mark, plus debt is growing.
Fleeing fighting
The DRC’s ills have not just been confined within its own gargantuan borders. They have spilled over to almost all her neighbours. Congo-Brazzaville is a case in point. Over 100,000 refugees fleeing fighting in central DRC have crossed the border since late last year, and Congo-Brazzaville, with limited means, is trying to find a place for them to live. Long-suffering Central African Republic has to deal with 17,000 refugees, over half of them children. Some parts of the country’s Mougoumba region have been virtually colonised by refugees, who outnumber the locals 200-to-1.
Mr Kouchner’s tour was about pursuing what he has done best since his early days as a medical humanitarian: delivering largesse and expanding France’s sphere of influence a little further. France has been losing ground to the Anglophone powers for cultural and political influence in Africa for years.
Rwanda’s and Burundi’s move to join the East African Community and now Rwanda’s accession to the British Commonwealth were blows to French prestige. So is the growing influence of America in the DRC, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a call last year. The reconnection with Rwanda came as a needed boost for French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s new, forward-thinking policy. But more is needed.
Giving more money
Materially, a lot has got to be done; but politically, not as much. Along with the US, France pledged over 3.5 million Euros ($5.1 million) through the World Food Programme for immediate assistance to the Congolese refugees. The US is giving more money, but France will help in on-the-ground assistance.
More importantly, France is sending a contingent of its military forces stationed in nearby Gabon to the Republic of Congo’s extreme north to bolster security.
Apart from the pressing humanitarian needs of the region, Mr Kouchner talked a lot about the environment. The Congo rainforest presents many opportunities. With oil production on the decline in the Republic of Congo, forestry is an increasingly attractive alternative.
Since 2002, France has donated about140 million euros ($201 million) to preserving the Congo Basin. The Congo Basin remains a valuable real estate for the region to leverage in this era of battling climate change.
Mr Kouchner finished his six-nation tour in Burkina Faso, a stalwart of the francophonie.
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