How far is France willing to go in overcoming its colonial past in Africa? Dina Ezzat looks for answers at the Africa-France summit in Nice "This is a matter that needs time. Historians need time to work out things." This was the abrupt answer of a slightly irritated French President Nicolas Sarkozy to a question on relations between Paris and Algiers, and tensions due to the reluctance of France to apologise for crimes committed against Algerians during the long and brutal French occupation of the North African country. The question was raised during a press conference held in the southern French city of Nice during Tuesday's conclusion of the two-day, 25th Africa-France summit. The summit, that only recently changed its name from France-Africa to Africa-France, was intended to signal a new phase in relations between the former colonial power and Africa. Nor was it, as Sarkozy repeatedly said, focussed only on Africa's Francophone states. "Poverty, wars and [other] problems are not confined to these states," the French president pointed out, but they are problems that Africa "with the support of France and all of Europe" needs to face up to. The French host struggled to overcome an earlier faux pas, his suggestion that Africans had not made enough of a niche in history. This week, in Nice, he exercised an uncharacteristic modesty, telling the heads of 51 out of Africa's 53 states, that "France has faith in the future of Africa... and believes that Africa has gained political and economic maturity". "France loves Africa. France respects Africa," he told the heads of delegations on Monday night. Stressing the willingness of France to overcome its colonial past -- more often than not referred to in the hackneyed formulation of "the long and complicated history of France and Africa" -- Sarkozy promised that France would throw its weight behind securing the required finance, approximately 300 millions Euros, needed to establish stronger African peace-keeping forces to work under the umbrella of African organisations and the UN to strengthen stability in the African continent. To judge by the views expressed during the three closed sessions on global governance, security and climate change, France -- and, for that matter, the European Union -- is willing to help Africa emerge from contexts of sometimes harsh underdevelopment, either through direct aid or new investments and technological transfers. The final declaration adopted by the Nice summit reflected the commitment of France to work towards greater African representation in the G20 and World Bank. Africa contains 18 per cent of the world's population and is home to 27 per cent of the UN's member states. France also promised to use its tenure in the rotating chairmanship of the G8 to push the "Africa outreach" mechanism. But when it came to the specifics of African representation on the boards of world bodies, especially the UN Security Council, France, like many other Western states, was less forthcoming. The debate over African representation on the UN Security Council consumed an extra three hours of the foreign ministers meeting convened to prepare for the inauguration of the summit on Sunday evening, and resulted in the cancellation of a press conference by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who expressed his understanding of the wish of his guests to include clear language on the scope of African representation on the UN Security Council but declined to go along with the proposed vision. "We cannot let the world institutions of today be run by rules set during the 1940s," said President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutaharika, whose country is currently chairing the African Union. He insisted that better representation meant African countries having the right to access permanent, as well as rotated, seats on a reformed UN Security Council. "We have agreed that Africa needs a strong voice," Mutaharika stressed during the closing session of the summit. African calls for fairness some 50 years after many African countries gained their independence from France and other colonial powers. "What we need are partners, not masters," commented Paul Kagame, president of Rawanda, in an interview with the French press. African delegations present in Nice demanded clear finance and follow up mechanisms for the implementation of a wide range of projects promoting stability and socio-economic development -- "the obvious response to the issue of migration" as Sarkozy said -- and tackling deforestation, drugs, terrorism and piracy. In the opening session of the summit, President Hosni Mubarak called for the prompt establishment of a follow up mechanism between the French government and African embassies in Paris. And in the closing sessions, President Mutaharika of Malawi stressed the need to move from words to action. Things will not happen overnight, insisted the French president. This week's summit, he said, is "a step forward" at a time when the interests of North and South have become, inevitably, more complementary. African delegates in Nice suggested that a quarter of a century's worth of Africa-France summits had little to show by way of concrete results. The Nice summit was missed by two African states: Madagascar, in the throes of a political crisis which Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, promised would end soon, and Zimbabwe, whose President Robert Mugabe is barred from entering the European Union. President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan was not invited after being accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Among the obvious absentees at the summit were the Congolese President Joseph Kabila and the President of Cote d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo. The overall attendance of heads of African states was 33. Five countries were represented at the level of prime ministers. The rest had a lower representation. The next summit is expected to take place in two years time, in Egypt.
