African military force moves closer to reality

Under pressure from France, African leaders were set Saturday to approve the acceleration of moves to create a military force capable of intervening in crises like the current conflict in Central African Republic. A two-day summit attended by leaders of all but a handful of African states was expected to wrap up with broad agreement on France's proposals to turn plans for an African Union rapid reaction force, agreed in principle earlier this year, into reality. Paris is offering to provide equipment, logistical support and advice on coordination for the force, and will seek to persuade its European Union partners to help with financing. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that the force could be operational by 2015 and that France would train 20,000 African troops a year for five years. After concluding the main summit with discussions on economic development and climate change, the leaders were due to hold further discussions on the CAR crisis, where France is deploying 1,200 troops to help an African force stem violence that has left hundreds dead in the last few days alone. The CAR mission is France's second military operation in Africa this year. In January, President Francois Hollande sent more than 4,000 troops to Mali, where Islamist groups had seized control of much of the north of the country and had threatened to advance on the capital Bamako. The operations have continued a long-established pattern of France intervening militarily on the continent, but Hollande's government insists its approach represents a break from the past, when Paris was often accused of propping up undemocratic regimes and cynically pursuing its own interests in the region. French officials framed the Mali operation as vital to prevent the country becoming a new Afghanistan-style stronghold for armed Islamist groups, which could destabilize a region where Europe has vital strategic energy interests as well as potentially exporting terrorism. The intervention in CAR meanwhile has been couched as an essentially humanitarian operation designed to avoid thousands of needless deaths as tit-for-tat sectarian killings spiral out of control. France's decision to act in both cases has won praise if little in the way of concrete support from its allies, most notably from the United States, which on Friday hailed the "strong leadership" shown by Hollande over CAR. While African leaders are keen to address the continent's myriad security problems and reduce their dependence on the former colonial powers at times of crisis, France is also keen to scale back its costly commitment. Paris currently has more than 5,000 troops stationed at bases across Africa and the cost of maintaining them stands at 400 million euros ($540 million) per year. On the economic front, the French export credit agency Coface pledged 15 billion euros in guarantees for Africa trade over the next five years while Paris said it targeted doubling business with Africa by 2020 from the current level. "Africa and France need each other to ensure growth," French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said, adding that increased trade would lead to more jobs for both. France also promised nearly 20 billion euros in developmental aid and loans for Africa over a five-year period. Other measures included a Franco-African fund to stimulate growth, steps to ensure transparency in trade and the development of sustainable energy in Africa. SourceAgence France Presse