Dov Zerah is a former Director General of the French Development Agency, and a great connoisseur of the African continent. He has just launched a think-tank on Africa, La palabre sous le Baobab, to stop feeling sorry for the state of France’s relations with the continent.
Why this think tank on Africa? How would you like it to contribute to the debate on France and African issues?
Our initiative is based on a simple observation. Recent events between Africa and France have given rise to a deep sense of failure. My friends and I have devoted part of our professional lives to promoting Africa’s economic development and defending African countries in French and international government forums, and we have the impression that it’s all been for naught!
At the same time, the mobilisation of social networks against France and the spread of a certain disenchantment with France have left us feeling hurt and challenged.
This feeling is accentuated by the absence of debate on the subject. Perhaps wrongly, the subject of Africa does not seem to interest many people, except on the one aspect, which could not be more reductive, of immigration.
I was born in Africa, in Tunis, and I got to know African countries, both in the Maghreb and in sub-Saharan Africa. I love Africa. I didn’t see myself as a mere spectator of events. With friends who share this feeling, this need, we’re going to try to provide food for thought and debate.
We cannot ignore the people of Africa. Obviously because of our historical responsibility, our cultural links…, but above all because they are our next-door neighbours.
To move the debate forward, there is a need for truth: to name the ills and dysfunctions. How do you intend to do this?
We simply want to ask questions and encourage collective debate. Let’s take a concrete example.
In recent years, several countries in the Sahel-Sudan strip – Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger and Chad – have experienced one or more coups d’état.
Why did we accept some and reject others?
Was this the right approach?
How can “realpolitik” be reconciled with a concern to defend human rights and democracy?
Should we continue to try to change modes of governance?
Why did we leave Niger when the United States and many European countries accepted the coup d’état?
Can sanctions be applied to an African country when many other countries, including China and Russia, do not apply them?
Can we describe all troublemakers as Islamist terrorists? We have and are confronted with Islamist terrorist movements, but also with nationalist, independence-seeking and mafia groups. Can we act as i…