African leaders gather to hear France’s new policy

Press, 4 November 1981, Page 8

African leaders gather to hear France’s new policy

NZPA-Reuter Paris • Heads of State, Prime Ministers, and delegates from some 30 African nations will meet in Paris today to hear the French President (Mr Francois Mitterrand) outline his new policy for Africa, a continent with which France maintains close links. A majority of Francophone countries of Africa are represented by their Presidents, but the attendance this year will be a record with English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian-speaking countries of Africa also attending in virtually a pan-African summit meeting under

France’s auspices. The question of the wartorn Central African State of Chad is expected to dominate the informal talks at the two-day meeting. Chad’s President (Mr Goukouni Queddei) has asked the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, to withdraw an estimated 4500 Libyan troops in Chad. These troops helped Mr Goukouni win a civil war last year. Egypt, Sudan, and Tunisia, which have for years been at odds with their Libyan neighbours, and have in turn called for international action against Colonel Gadaffi, will be attending the meeting

for the first time as observers, officials say. President Goukouni, who arrived in Paris yesterday, told reporters he was confident Libyan troops would be withdrawn before the end of the year. In a radio interview last night, the secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity (Mr Edem Kodjo), said a pan-African peace-keeping force could be sent to Chad's capital of Ndjamena before the end of the year. Other African countries,, such as troubled Zaire, would seek, probably in private talks with the French leader,

increased military aid from France, African sources said. French officials said the issue of Namibia (South-West Africa) would be discussed after a visit there by the socalled contact group of five Western countries (United States, Canada, Britain, West Germany, France) seeking a basis for an independence settlement. Among other African countries attending are Ethiopia and Somalia, and their presence is leading to concern that the summit meeting might also have to come to grips with the long-standing territorial dispute between the Horn of Africa neighbours.