"... It’s not up to France to play the gendarme in Africa,”

Via FLC

"... Sarkozy, on his 2007 election to the French presidency, further embellished the theme, promising that his country would no longer unduly interfere in the affairs of its former African colonies. “Times have changed and it’s not up to France to play the gendarme in Africa,” he said on a 2008 trip to South Africa, despite Paris having a host of military agreements, defence pacts and bases on the continent.

An investigation into the source of millions of dollars in assets held in the country by three long-serving African oligarchs was allowed to go on — additional proof of France’s readiness to let Africa run its own show sometimes at the expense of its former stooges....

“Libya was a different scenario. The French did not have pre-positioned forces in the North African country, but Libya was a location French aircraft and ships could reach from the homeland,” said Mr Schroeder. "France’s intervention in Libya was to demonstrate, particularly to the rest of Europe, and especially Germany, its independent ability to project military force, and to use that sense of confidence to project its influence as a European power that should be recognised,” he added... ...

“Though France dresses up its actions in the language of human rights and liberty, it is an extremely blunt player of the realpolitik game, and has protected what it sees as its interests in Africa with a ruthless singularity over the past half-century of the post-colonial era,” The Africa Report’s managing editor Nicholas Norbrook told Al Jazeera news station in an April 7 interview.

“France never fully dropped its ability to intervene abroad when its national interests required it to do so. But its capability to do so is limited. It will retain its ability to intervene in West Africa, where it still holds extensive geopolitical interests, as well as in the Mediterranean environment, an area it has focused on to help project its influence on a broader stage,” said Mr Schroeder."But beyond those regions, France’s ability to intervene is much more limited, and in these other areas its involvement will be restricted to political realms.”Clearly then, claims of the demise of Françafrique, that influence peddling network of France and its former colonies, are grossly exaggerated."

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