France

The political cost of the arms-for-oil scandal is growing fast in Luanda and Paris. It reaches right across the power elite in two countries. In Angola, it has put under scrutiny t...

President Jacques Chirac is growing ambivalent about Africa. A critical observer of Franco-African affairs, the Chairman of the non-governmental organisation Survie, Françoi...

The assassination of Congo-Kinshasa's President Laurent-Désiré Kabila played havoc with the running order at Cameroon's Franco-African summit, the 21st since 1973. Un...

The latest would-be peacemaker for Congo-Kinshasa is the President of neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

France is rocked by scandals involving some former key Africa policy-makers. Ex-Minister of Cooperation for Development, Michel Roussin, was let out after five nights in gaol on 6 ...

For a French ambassador to be expelled from Chad was once unthinkable: Paris was more likely to expel a Chadian president. Changing times were marked on 11 March by the announcemen...

Prospects for economic union in West Africa, at least among the CFA Franc Zone countries, are looking up. The Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine is pushing ahead ...

President Jacques Chirac's four-country hurtle round West Africa (21-24 July) was a damp squib. He lacks the verve of his more cerebral predecessor François Mitterrand who ...

For many years, the oil company Elf Aquitaine provided the motive, and the excuse, for French policies in Africa. It was founded by President Charles de Gaulle during decolonisatio...

Africa’s franc zone has become a euro zone without much fuss. But as France passes Africa’s monetary baton to Europe’s new central bank, some African governments worry about the l...