France never really ended its imperialist policy in Africa even after Algeria's independence in 1962.
The Coalition for the Defense of Africa, including 1,873 African and international non-governmental organizations, announced Wednesday it will file a complaint against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for several military operations he launched in African countries, and against other prominent figures and organizations including the United Nations and Transparency International.
Sarkozy, already investigated in dozens of judicial cases, is accused of “destabilization of Libya, looting, attempt at destabilization in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.”
“Africa has changed. Africa will not let Western laws apply here. We will end the looting of our continent and we will end the looting by irresponsible African leaders,” said the coalition's head Boubacar Gueye in Dakar, where the coalition of organizations met.
The complaint especially targeted the military operation in Libya that resulted in the killing of its leader Muammar Gaddafi; Sherpa, a Paris-based organization that defends victims of economic crimes; Transparency International and the United Nations for supporting the operation in Libya, hence being responsible for “thousands of deaths up to date.”
Since France officially ended its imperialist policy in Africa after Algeria's independence in 1962, the successive governments have constantly put efforts into defending the economic interests of French companies in Africa in a neoliberal turn.
One week ago, Rwanda opened a probe against at least 20 French military and other officials over their alleged complicity in the 1994 assassination of a Rwandan president that triggered a genocide.
After a French plane carrying Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down by a missile on April 6, 1994, a campaign targeting Rwanda's Tutsi population was unleashed. Within 100 days, some 800,000 people had been slaughtered.
In 2006, Rwanda cut diplomatic ties with France, accusing Paris of having a hand in the genocide and of being slow to prosecute some of its masterminds living in France.
