An interview with Terrence B. Wakai - publisher and online editor of TFT Magazine , a multimedia magazine dedicated to news reporting and analysis about English speaking Cameroon and its various communities.
Françafrique is a word initially coined by the former Ivorian dictator, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, in 1960 to describe and invoke a special kind of austere, sophisticated and mutually beneficial relationship between metropolitan France and her African periphery.
However, the understanding of the term today is largely due to the work of the late French economist, François-Xavier Verschave, who turned the original meaning on its head. Mr. Verschave posits that if the relationship between France and Africa is an iceberg, 90% of the iceberg is below the surface, and that is what constitutes françafrique. The 10% above the surface is the French propaganda of France being Africa’s “best friend” and “protector”.
Françafrique represents an apparatus that was setup by Charles de Gaulle on the eve of de-colonization of former French colonies and protectorates in Africa as a means to negate their independence and sovereignty. This apparatus amongst others included secret Cooperation Agreements that allowed the presence of the French military in these states, the right of France to intervene militarily in these states, gave France exclusive access to strategic natural resources of these states, allowed the French control of the economies of these states through monetary arrangements like the CFA franc currency etc. Basically françafrique is a system that maintains France's continuous colonization of most French-speaking African states. This has enabled French governments, of the left and the right, to have a free hand in their “former” colonial empire. Françafrique enables France to carry out political assassinations, pillage resources, support bloody dictatorships, sponsor coup d'états and undermine progressive regimes that seek genuine independence.
http://www.thefrontiertelegraph.com/content/012908/slavery.html
Why did your magazine—one dedicated to English Speaking Cameroon communities—become involved in reporting and analyzing the Ivorian crisis?
We are fully engaged in the reporting of the Ivorian crisis because it is a struggle about the true independence of an African state and the survival of françafrique. It will determine if françafrique collapses or is given another lease on life to continue its destructive role in the lives of many Africans.
Our interest is also because of the involvement of various institutions like the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Our readership is very concerned about the question of the self-determination of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, and there is a significant segment of our readership looking up to these institutions to address this issue. The performance of some of these institutions in the Ivorian crisis is something we believe our readership should be informed about.
What is at stake in the Ivory Coast?
The stake in the Ivory Coast is whether the sovereignty of an African nation is respected. Are the institutions set up to cater for the wellbeing of citizens in an independent African nation respected by the west and the institutions like the UN, IMF and World Bank? Does the UN Charter apply to African populations and African states? Does international law apply to African populations and African states? These questions go to the very essence of the humanity of the African person.
What is at stake is that we have seen some African heads of states, under the instigation of Mr. Sarkozy, the president of another country called France, who are willing to harvest African body bags in a sovereign state, Ivory Coast, to fulfill Mr. Sarkozy’s whim. They will rather count bodies than count votes, as one of the officials of the Ivorian government said this week. Is this how electoral disputes will be handled in Africa going forward?
Who are some of the main characters [people/states/institutions] in this drama?
Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, the current president not recognized by France and her western and African allies.
Mr. Alassane Ouattarra, the alleged Father of the Rebellion that partitioned the country in 2002; Holed up in a Hotel in Abidjan under the guard of the rebels and the UN, he has been recognized by France and her western allies as the president-elect.
The UN, whose mission in Ivory Coast was to disarm the rebellion, reunite the country in preparation for the polls, and accompany the Ivorian people to peace. For over eight years since 2002, the UN mission in Ivory Coast is yet to disarm a single rebel.
The African Union and ECOWAS have initiated mediation efforts, which are yet to produce any tangible results.
What lessons can be learned from this conflict?
The most important lesson has been that, to countries like France and the United States, institutions like the UN can be used for their self-serving interests; Africa does not merit strong institutions of her own, particularly, when those institutions serve the interest of Africans.
Another lesson is that the reporting and analysis in the western media speaks to the interest of the west on the one hand or that of China and Russia on the other hand. The African is not part of this script. The African is nothing. Africa is nothingness in their view. There can be French and American interests, Chinese and Russian interests, but no Ivorian or African interest?
These are perspectives that de-humanize Africans.
Aren’t the efforts to oust President Gbagbo being led by an African institution, ECOWAS, and the likes of Nigeria’s Goodluck E. Jonathan and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso?
No, France is behind these efforts to oust president Gbagbo and is doing so through Africans like presidents Jonathan and Campaore. But individuals like Compaore and Jonathan will be held accountable for their actions.
Let me explain: A couple of weeks ago, it was reported in the French media that president Sarkozy of France called president Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria eleven times in a single day.
Last week, president Compaore of Burkina Faso, in power for 23 years, was received by president Sarkozy on the eve of UEMOA Heads of State conference in Bamako. Ivory Coast was on the menu of their deliberations.
On January 12, France announced the cancellation of 10.8 million Euros of Malawi’s debt. Malawi currently holds the presidency of the African Union.
Today, January 24, 2011, Sarkozy is quoted as saying that "The colonial power always lacks legitimacy to pass judgment on the internal affairs of an ex-colony … I do not want France to be likened to a country that has kept its colonial habits." Sarkozy was reacting to the fall of Tunisia’s dictator Ben Ali.
However, 48 hours before Ben Ali’s fall, France, through her foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, generously offered France’s “policing savoir faire” to help the Tunisian dictator quell the protests that was gathering steam. Is it a coincidence that on the same day president Sarkozy of France makes this statement of meddling in the internal affairs of ex-colonies, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, pens an editorial calling on the UN to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force to oust president Gbagbo?
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/5665306-184/story.csp
The image of French troops and snipers killing unarmed civilians in Abidjan in November 2004 is one France wants to avoid. France now seeks to provide the “logistics” and “intelligence” for black folk to kill each other in order to oust president Gbagbo.
France was behind the coup attempt and rebellion of 2002 that failed to oust president Gbagbo. France wants Africans to do what they failed to accomplish in 2002.
What do you make of Angola and South Africa’s position?
I find it to be a sensible position: Ivory Coast’s sovereignty must be respected, and another debilitating war is the last thing the continent needs.
Did growing up in Cameroon have a role in your involvement in understanding this françafrique phenomenon, and how so?
The françafrique phenomenon is unique to French colonies in Africa, and those familiar with the Cameroons know that there is a French Cameroun and a former English or British Southern Cameroons. Many from the former British Southern Cameroons hold the view that French Cameroun with the connivance of Paris, London and the UN, annexed the former British Southern Cameroons. I alluded to this earlier, and it is important that I provide this context.
My exposure to the francophone way of doing things because of this association of the former British Southern Cameroons with French Cameroun, a country I consider still a French colony, led to my interest in French policies in Africa.
It is timely we read interviews as good and succinct as this one. A homework welldone. The Ivorian crisis to a discerning & honest african must be a reasonably passionate affair. it sheds many lights on our betrayals, sabotages, defeats & confused autoflagellations. Now we understand the intrigues of powerful nations, their manipulation of UN, IMF, WB, AU etc to safeguard their interests: southern cameroon was denied the 3rd option thru a UN conspiracy, lumumba was assasinated with UN/US/France & belgian conspiracy, FIS was denied victory in early 90s & u know what became of algeria, Hamas election victory 2005/2006 thwarted by US & israeli colonial machine in, the more popular aristide of haiti scandalously exiled to africa by US/UN/FR in favor of the powers incompetent lackeys, democratically elected manuel zelaya of hunduras ousted & exiled with US/UN disquieting complacency & acquiescence...the lists can go on ad aeternam. yes, while they call on force to be used on Gbagbo for mere electoral disagreement, no one in the EU dares flexes his muscle with the belorussian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka whose election farce stinks right before their nostrils as the north korean' dictator provokes with live bombs ban ki mon & choi in their bacyards: thats where real force shld be used or shld gbagbo go for his own nuclear deterrent to raise his objection? that is if nigeria has not been fooled & cajoled with th permanent security council seat (as against a more meritorious & independent-minded south africa whom the west cant easily manipulate) to drop bombs on abidjan b4 we cry shame!
Posted by: Wirndzerem GB | February 04, 2011 at 10:27 AM
No we don't understand. Mr. Ouattara was robbed of his electoral victory but we now say he has no right to the Presidency because he is part of Francafrique - no different from the US saying that Hamas in Palestine or the Muslim Broitherhood in Egypt, or the FIS in Algeria in the 1990s, cannot be allowed to win elections or must be punished for winning elections because they are "fundamentalists". Hogwash!
One can be a "pawn" of the west and still win elections. Similarly even African "nationalists" steal elections just like their Francafrique friends. We are busy chasing the shadow rather than the reality...
Posted by: Otumoridi Iruba | February 09, 2011 at 02:04 PM
Otumoridi, i disagree with you. Obviously, 'we',that is you and i, are not chasing the same reality.
Posted by: yawning | February 09, 2011 at 05:01 PM