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How high the summit

The English-speakers stayed away and the meeting was cosy but bland

President Jacques Chirac is growing ambivalent about Africa. A critical observer of Franco-African affairs, the Chairman of the non-governmental organisation Survie, François-Xavier Verschave, has called the Angolagate affair (see Feature) 'the longest scandal of the Fifth Republic'. Its unwinding has hit, firstly, Jean-Christophe 'Papa-m'a-dit' Mitterrand, the former Minister for Development Cooperation, Michel Roussin, and former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua (AC Vol 41 No 25). Chirac is open to accusations of guilt by association: did he know what his key political aides, Pasqua (still head of the Ile-de-France Region) and Roussin (an ex-external security officer), were up to in past decades and if he knew, why didn't he stop them? Prudently, Chirac insists that justice take its course....

(This article contains approximately 1266 words)

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How high the summit

The English-speakers stayed away and the meeting was cosy but bland

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