Gerard Prunier on Francophonie

[Daniel Tompkins]

The foreign correspondent Helena Cobban now has a web log:

http://justworldnews.org/

And recently she's been discussing the influence of Francophonie  on
French government decision-making, quoting Prunier's book on the Rwanda
tragedy.  Here is a bit of her comment:  you can find more at the site
above.  NB I am not repeat not participating in current US govt efforts
to 'bash France.'  In the remainder of the article, Prunier talks about
the influence of Fashoda on French thinking about foreign relations.

"Well, aujourd'hui I was just re-reading along in Gerard Prunier's
great 1995 work, The Rwandan crisis; History of a Genocide and I came
across this seasoned French scholar's take on the subject [of French
language and culture]...  Commenting on the military and political
support that the Mitterand government gave to the virulently anti-Tutsi
government in Rwanda during the four-year-long civil war against the
Tutsi-led RPF that preceded-- or perhaps, prefaced-- the 1994 genocide,
Prunier wrote of France's relationship with the Habyarimana government:

"The casual observer imagining that money is the cement of the whole
relationship would have the wrong impression.  the cement is language
and culture.  Paris' African backyard remains its backyard because all
the [African] chicks cackle in French... "

Best,

Dan Tompkins