Ethiopia is the first African country to establish formal diplomatic relations with Europe as long ago as the late 1600s when a military cooperation agreement was forged with the Kingdom of Portugal. Subsequently, foreign relations were expanded to include at varying times, the embassies of Greece, the Ottoman Empire, Czarist Russia and Italy.

Relations with France began in the late 1800s but in fact remained stagnant until Emperor Menilik, ever the innovator, signed a contract with France in 1901 leading to the building of the Ethio-Djibouti Chemin De Fer. Ever since, France has had a significant presence in Ethiopia. French culture and finesse were considered the epitome of sophistication for aspiring nobility. Indeed, French became the imperial lingua-franca. The Lycée Guebre Mariam established in 1947 is still considered as one of the finest schools in Addis Ababa and its alumni play a significant role in Ethiopia’s developmental efforts.

France has trans formed its Africa policy in recent years to include non-francophone nations, as demonstrated at the Africa-France Summit held in Cannes, France from 15 to 16 February 2007 and attended by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The annual gathering assembled nearly all African nations and France under the theme of ‘Africa and international balance’ and focused on three baskets. These are raw materials in Africa, Africa’s place and influence in the world and Africa and the information society.

Capital sought the audience of H.E Mr. Stephane Gompertz, Ambassador of the Republic of France for his insights into Ethio-French bilateral relations as well as France’s role in Africa including its involvement in peace keeping operations, trade, and humanitarian aid. Excerpts follow:

France’s role in Africa has evolved over the years. Could you elaborate on this history?
Yes indeed, France’s role in Africa has evolved for several reasons. The first being that originally, France was a colonial power in Africa and even after former French colonies gained their independence, there remained some degree of ambiguity in our relations. Some people, even at high level in France, tended to have a kind of paternalistic approach to relations with Africa. And they had considered our relations in terms of influence and of power. Over the years, this state of mind changed and now we consider our partnership with Africa as a relationship between equals. That is the first factor of the change.
The second has to do with Africa itself. Africa is developing rapidly - true there are crisis, conflicts and even civil war - but on the whole there is an upward trend. A growing number of African countries have been able to take their fate into their own hands and have become more independent of their former partners. This doesn’t mean that our relationship doesn’t exist anymore. On the contrary, it is more inter-dependant and on an equal footing.
The third factor is the emergence of new partners, which is a good thing. We recently had an Africa-France summit; a few months ago there was a China-Africa one in Beijing, and another one organized by Japan. We welcome these initiatives because we believe it is very good for Africa to have numerous partners as it means that Africa becomes more integrated.

Francophone Africa has obviously drawn most French interest. What is the current status of relations with the rest of Africa?
I think you raised a very important point. We used to have an almost exclusive relationship with Francophone Africa. But over the years, our relationship with Africa has become more diversified. For instance, if you take the Africa-France Summit which took place a week ago, you see that almost all African countries participated irrespective of being francophone or otherwise. So, we do not limit ourselves to Francophone countries anymore and the scope of our relationship has widened. I believe it is a very positive development.
What would you consider to be the significance of such annual summits?
It means several things. First, the relationship between African countries and France is still a very important feature for international relations. It is very important for Africa as well as for France.
Second, it shows that such forums like the summit, this is the 24th , are longstanding and are able to evolve over time and adapt to new circumstances. For instance, they take into account the diversity of Africa, the diversity of the new challenges that are emerging. The very fact that, and this was our proposal, we had three baskets instead of having one preliminary conference: one on commodities, another on Africa’s place and influence in the world, and thirdly on Africa and the information society shows the summit has been able to adapt and modernize.
So, it is still a very lively institution. It is essential for us to talk together and to meet one another not only between the Africans and the French, but also for Africans to meet one another. For instance there was a discussion between the presidents of Chad and Sudan under the auspices of President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana, the new AU president, with the participation of President Jacques Chirac, EU Commissioner Louis Michel and the Commissioner for Peace and Security of the AU Djinnit Said. They had a very frank discussion and eventually signed a text to commit themselves to respecting each others territorial integrity, not to harbor rebels etc…There were a lot of other bilateral contacts, especially on the margins of the summit. So, like the AU summit was, we feel that the 24th Africa-France Summit was very useful.

How successful would you say the Cannes Summit was, especially in view of the crisis situations in Guinea and Darfur ?
I think it was positive. You cannot expect a summit to save the world. As a diplomat, I know how efforts to bring about peace are frustratingly long. It is a process. However, I believe it was useful.
The Guinea communiqué sent a strong message to the authorities. Apparently according to reports, the general strike continues and it seems a large portion of public opinion is strongly against the Prime Minister appointed by President Lansana Conté. The crisis is not over, but we have at least sent a message and we have encouraged diplomatic efforts from ECOWAS. So, we hope that a solution will be found, but it is tricky.
In relation to Darfur, there was an attempt at reconciliation between Chad and Sudan. The crisis in Darfur itself is fluid and has spilled over to neighboring countries. I understand that there is to be a meeting in Tripoli, Libya on Darfur. We really hope it will succeed, because clearly we are all working toward the same purpose. We want this crisis to end as it is in the best interest of the Sudanese, the Darfur people and those of the neighboring countries.
So, what we achieved was a mutual agreement signed by President Idriss Deby of Chad and President Umar Hassan Ahmad al - Bashir of Sudan. We hope it will work but it is a small step forward. In that respect, the summit was useful.

What makes the 24th Africa-France Summit different?
The emphasis is different. The 23rd summit helped highlight the importance of youth and their challenges. Here [the 24th] the emphasis was more on Africa and the world.
There was a time when Africa was marginalized. Now, I think there is general agreement internationally that it will be impossible to have an adequate balance in the world if Africa is not involved.
PM Meles Zenawi is a regular attendant of Africa-France summits. Would you say there is good chemistry between Meles and Chirac?
Yes, definitely. I was in Paris when PM Meles and President Chirac met as PM Meles was conducting a state visit to France. Beyond the fact that fundamentally, they agree on major international issues, they also agree on the necessity to enhance our bilateral relations, the two leaders got along very well and it was quite evident from at least their body language and the manner in which they addressed each other.

Could you tell us about trade between Africa and France?
Trade between African countries and France keep increasing and it is not only between Africa and France, but trade between Africa and the rest of the world is also increasing. We believe, however, that trade only is not sufficient. We know that some liberals say that trade is the sole solution, but we don’t share that approach. Direct investment and development aid are also important.
One thing that we have been advocating is the use of new financial instruments, to provide fresh money for development, particularly in the field of health. This is why we decided to introduce the levy on air tickets. The money collected will be used to fight diseases such as AIDS and malaria. This was also discussed at the Cannes summit. About 18 countries have signed up for the Convention and we hope that others will join in.
One of the interesting features about this tax on air tickets is that contrary to what some people predicted, it has no detrimental effect whatsoever on air traffic. The added cost to the traveler is insignificant. But, the money you collect with that levy is quite a handsome amount. It was a pioneering proposal and several of our partners European and African decided to join us both.

What is the official position of France on the Ethiopian involvement in Somalia, and what can France contribute towards the proposed AU force?
Like all our partners, we acknowledge the fact that now there is a completely new situation. I hope our position, which is no different from our partners, is that the situation in Somalia will stabilize, that the dialog for national reconciliation announced by President Abdoulahi Yousuf would take place soon and that peace will prevail.
Currently, the situation in Mogadishu indicates that the climate is still very volatile. But the main factor for stabilization in Somalia will be what is achieved by the Somalis themselves, the international community can only assist. Whatever the international community can do will not work if the Somalis themselves would not achieve reconciliation among themselves-with the groups who had a stake and are interested in consolidating democracy, peace, in having national dialog, irrespective of their differences.
Now we hope this will happen soon, now that the government of Ethiopia has announced that its troops will withdraw very rapidly. We don’t think that it is in the Ethiopian interest to have a continuing military presence in Somalia and this is also what the Ethiopian government itself has said.
The African Union is preparing to send a stabilization force and we have heard that several African countries namely Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, and Burundi have pledged troops. We will help either financially or logistically or in terms of training; we are taking part in the discussions as we have to see what the requirements are, in coordination with the AU.

Are you saying that these requirements are not yet defined by the AU?
Not clearly or quite precisely. For instance, we know that Uganda is sending troops and both the US and Algeria have made it known that they are ready to assist in transport. What about the others? We don’t know for instance what Burundi or Malawi might need in terms of transport and training if any? Or equipment? More information is necessary.
Also the concept of the military operation is not clearly defined. Who is going to do what? Uganda for instance, is to send two battalions and Nigeria one, but where are these forces to be deployed? Would they go to Mogadishu or to Kismayu the south? These issues have to be clarified.

What is the French contribution in resolving the Darfur crisis?
We have been contributing financially but there is one other thing that we are doing. The crisis is regional and is not limited to Darfur. It extends into Chad and the Central African Republic and for a long time, we have been advocating a military presence ie. a peace keeping operation, both on the borders and also in or around the refugee camps. We hope this will materialize.