President Jacques Chirac pledged a renewed commitment to Africa on
Thursday as controversy swirled over the presence of Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe at the Franco-African summit.
"Africa lies at the heart of France's priorities," Chirac said at the start of the biennial gathering once limited to former French colonies but now open to the entire continent.
France wishes to "renew its commitment to stand alongside the peoples of Africa" within the framework of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a home-grown African initiative for renewal in cooperation with the West, Chirac told some 45 African heads of state and government.
NEPAD is a hybrid of initiatives from English-speaking South Africa and Nigeria -- sub-Saharan Africa's two economic powerhouses -- and former French colonies Algeria and Senegal.
The two-day summit comes against the backdrop of an Anglo-French showdown over the Iraq crisis, with African leaders expected to endorse Chirac's staunch opposition to a rush to war urged by Britain in alliance with the United States.
At the same time, London and Paris are at odds over the attendance at the summit of Mugabe, who got around an EU travel ban with the help of a waiver secured by Chirac.
The French president, who defended the invitation as an occasion to confront Mugabe face-to-face over the political and economic turmoil engulfing his southern African country, greeted the Zimbabwean leader with a stiff handshake.
Chirac then warned Thursday's opening session: "The days of impunity, or when people were able to justify the use of force, are over."
"The world has welcomed the commitment of Africa's leaders in favor of the principles that underpin the peace and prosperity of peoples everywhere, namely democracy, good governance, an open economy and respect for sovereignty," he said.
Also casting a shadow over the summit was the threat of renewed war in Ivory Coast, once a star French former colony in west Africa.
Rival sides have yet to agree on implementing a shaky French-brokered peace accord reached in January to end a five-month rebellion which has split the country in two.
Embattled Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo stayed at home, sending his new Prime Minister Seydou Diarra to represent the divided state, where France has deployed 3,000 peacekeepers.
Chirac urged both sides to respect the deal, saying: "It is now up to all Ivorians, and in particular their representatives, to work with determination and good faith to revive a society at peace with itself once more." Meanwhile, two dozen activists from the media watchdog group Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned 23 African countries whose leaders are present here for failing to ensure press freedoms.
French riot police, who outnumbered the demonstrators, kept them far away from the venue in western Paris, and took away their giant banner calling for freedom of the press across Africa.
"We want to tell President Chirac that we've had enough of this doublespeak: our country presents itself as a model defender of human rights and we're welcoming sinister characters who are dictators," RSF secretary general Robert Menard told reporters.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made an impassioned plea at the summit for redoubled efforts against AIDS, which he called "a governance and development crisis of catastrophic dimensions" on the world's poorest continent.
He said women should be placed at the center of the battle against a scourge affecting Africa more than any other continent, with nearly 30 million people living with HIV or AIDS and some 11 million children orphaned by the disease.
"If you want to save Africa, you must save the African woman first," Annan told summit delegates.
AIDS is "killing the most productive members of society" including teachers, doctors, managers and civil servants -- "the very people responsible for planning and implementing programmes to address society's key concerns," Annan said.
Warning that the number of AIDS orphans is set to balloon to 20 million by 2010, Annan said: "In makeshift households, far from schools, far from opportunities -- indeed suddenly far from childhood itself -- they face the bleakest of futures."
On the other side of Paris, an alternative summit was under way among representatives of African civil society, who staged a demonstration late Wednesday drawing at least 1,000 people - Sapa-AFP
"Africa lies at the heart of France's priorities," Chirac said at the start of the biennial gathering once limited to former French colonies but now open to the entire continent.
France wishes to "renew its commitment to stand alongside the peoples of Africa" within the framework of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a home-grown African initiative for renewal in cooperation with the West, Chirac told some 45 African heads of state and government.
NEPAD is a hybrid of initiatives from English-speaking South Africa and Nigeria -- sub-Saharan Africa's two economic powerhouses -- and former French colonies Algeria and Senegal.
The two-day summit comes against the backdrop of an Anglo-French showdown over the Iraq crisis, with African leaders expected to endorse Chirac's staunch opposition to a rush to war urged by Britain in alliance with the United States.
At the same time, London and Paris are at odds over the attendance at the summit of Mugabe, who got around an EU travel ban with the help of a waiver secured by Chirac.
The French president, who defended the invitation as an occasion to confront Mugabe face-to-face over the political and economic turmoil engulfing his southern African country, greeted the Zimbabwean leader with a stiff handshake.
Chirac then warned Thursday's opening session: "The days of impunity, or when people were able to justify the use of force, are over."
"The world has welcomed the commitment of Africa's leaders in favor of the principles that underpin the peace and prosperity of peoples everywhere, namely democracy, good governance, an open economy and respect for sovereignty," he said.
Also casting a shadow over the summit was the threat of renewed war in Ivory Coast, once a star French former colony in west Africa.
Rival sides have yet to agree on implementing a shaky French-brokered peace accord reached in January to end a five-month rebellion which has split the country in two.
Embattled Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo stayed at home, sending his new Prime Minister Seydou Diarra to represent the divided state, where France has deployed 3,000 peacekeepers.
Chirac urged both sides to respect the deal, saying: "It is now up to all Ivorians, and in particular their representatives, to work with determination and good faith to revive a society at peace with itself once more." Meanwhile, two dozen activists from the media watchdog group Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned 23 African countries whose leaders are present here for failing to ensure press freedoms.
French riot police, who outnumbered the demonstrators, kept them far away from the venue in western Paris, and took away their giant banner calling for freedom of the press across Africa.
"We want to tell President Chirac that we've had enough of this doublespeak: our country presents itself as a model defender of human rights and we're welcoming sinister characters who are dictators," RSF secretary general Robert Menard told reporters.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made an impassioned plea at the summit for redoubled efforts against AIDS, which he called "a governance and development crisis of catastrophic dimensions" on the world's poorest continent.
He said women should be placed at the center of the battle against a scourge affecting Africa more than any other continent, with nearly 30 million people living with HIV or AIDS and some 11 million children orphaned by the disease.
"If you want to save Africa, you must save the African woman first," Annan told summit delegates.
AIDS is "killing the most productive members of society" including teachers, doctors, managers and civil servants -- "the very people responsible for planning and implementing programmes to address society's key concerns," Annan said.
Warning that the number of AIDS orphans is set to balloon to 20 million by 2010, Annan said: "In makeshift households, far from schools, far from opportunities -- indeed suddenly far from childhood itself -- they face the bleakest of futures."
On the other side of Paris, an alternative summit was under way among representatives of African civil society, who staged a demonstration late Wednesday drawing at least 1,000 people - Sapa-AFP
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