Who is Francois Hollande fooling?

Who does French President Francois Hollande think he is fooling? Has Mr. Hollande been living in Outer Space? Did he just find out that the number of military coups (organized or blessed by Paris) has only dropped because the French are now using constitutional coups instead?

Mr. Hollande’s predecessors were obliged to publicly claim this kind of political correctness. President Mitterrand made as much noise from La Baule; but he did not mean one word. African “presidents” (in fact, French governors of Africa) were the pupils of President Mitterrand, and proud of their status.

“President” Biya bragged of being “Mitterrand’s best pupil”. Mitterrand’s successor, President Jacques Chirac, was less pretentious. He had no shame proclaiming that Africans are not ripe for democracy. During a trip to Senegal (Mr. Hollande is headed there this week), President Nicolas Sarkozy read a speech with words to the same effect as Mr. Hollande.

The truth which Mr. Hollande is desperate to distract from is that France has denied real independence to African countries. Independent or not, Africans do not have the kind of economic power that French citizens (such as Bollore) wield across the French colonial empire in Africa.

From out of the “Metropole”, it is Emperor Hollande’s own government which determines fiscal policy; dictates foreign policy; determine defense; regulates trade; confiscates any reserves; and is shamelessly putting in place new colonization instruments like the Economic Partnership Agreements the purpose of which is to obliterate any form of industrialization.

The Terms of Reference for the French military and secret service include accountability for hiring French mercenary assassins; witness the many coups in Mauritius and Comoros. Paris also hires local assassins; witness the violent oustings which have played out in Congo-Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso (under Sankara).

Forget ballots! The French believe in bullets more than in ballots. Elections in the French tropical empire are a joke. See – if the French believed in elections (as Mr. Hollande managed to ask Chadians, Cameroonians, Gabonese and Togolese to do), where were the French when armed rebellions ousted Toumani Toure in Mali?

If the French believed in elections, would they not have recounted ballots in the disputed elections in Cote d’Ivoire instead of moving in the French army to drag out Mr. Gbagbo (from the bunker of the presidential palace) in order to enthrone Mr. Ouattara?

The more the French open their mouths, the more they confirm our worst nightmares: Paris truly believes in its kingmaker role across Francophone Africa. Our only saving grace is to make sure that Mitterrand, Chirac, Sarkozy and Hollande all answer charges of crimes against humanity, along with their overseas governors of Africa.