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Abstract
At a time when the Commonwealth of Nations and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) are investigating their long-term relevance and identity in the face of current international challenges, relatively little attention has been paid to the small yet growing number of countries that are now joint members of the two organisations. This group has increased in recent years and 11 countries now have a link with both organisations. As programmes are being implemented in the same polities and as the reflection on global governance progresses, there is a growing need for more comparative studies of Francophonie and Commonwealth commitments that take into account the institutional history of these organisations. In this context, this article investigates the challenges and opportunities created by Commonwealth–OIF programmes in the fields of democracy, human rights and development, in their drive for good governance and new forms of multilateralism.
Notes
1. Associate members and observers can attend summits and meeting of the Permanent Council of the Francophonie (CPF) but do not vote, do not attend closed sessions and do not participate—unless given permission to present a paper. Associate members receive all non-confidential documents produced by the OIF and can, unlike observers, attend the meetings of the committees of the CPF.
2. The 2009 Human Development Index gave the following rakings: Seychelles (57), St Lucia (69), Dominica (73), Mauritius (81), Vanuatu (126), Cameroon (153) and Rwanda (167). In the 2010 Human Development Index, Mauritius had risen to 72, Cameroon (131) and Rwanda were both in the low development index—but data for St Lucia and Dominica were unavailable.
3. Joint members are involved in, for instance, the Organisation of American States (Canada), the Caribbean Community and Common Market (St Lucia, Dominica), the Pacific Islands Forum (Vanuatu), the Southern African Development Community (Mauritius, Seychelles), the East African Community (Rwanda) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cameroon).
4. The initial association was set up in 1926 (French language writers), followed by the International Union of French language journalists and media (1950), the Education Ministers Conference (1960), the Association of Universities (1961) and National Assemblies (1967).
5. The opening up of the OIF, particularly to Central and Eastern Europe since 2006, has helped to change the image of the Organisation as an essentially Franco-African affair (Julia, Citation2010), but real change remains to be fully ascertained.
6. See also Whiteman (Citation2008) on this.
7. The Bahamas, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tonga and Vanuatu, http://www.thecommonwealth.org/news/236663/170511sso.htm accessed June 2011.
8. In sub-Saharan Africa too, it is also noteworthy that the two major players, South Africa and Nigeria, are both Commonwealth members, which again highlights the importance for the OIF to engage in close dialogue and cooperation with the Commonwealth.
9. Other areas included in the plan are infrastructure, human resources, private investment and job creation, food security, domestic resource mobilisation and knowledge sharing.
10. The pré carré initially referred to the fortifications built by Vauban, Louis XIV's military engineer and marshal, to mark and defend France's sovereign territory. In the postcolonial period, the term has been used to refer to France's strong personal and political connections with its former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa and its tendency to consider these countries its ‘reserved’ area, its privileged sphere of influence.
11. Jacques Chirac, Statement in Tunis, 18 July 1990, in Ebolo, 1998 (p. 27).
12. The figure rose to 90.2% for the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie and 80.10% for the Université Senghor in Alexandria.
13. The OIF does not appear in the list of Commonwealth partners for election observations on the Commonwealth Secretariat website—contrary to the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Organisation for American States and the European Union, who have all signed the Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct for observer missions. In the recent May 2011 elections in the Seychelles, it was with the Indian Ocean Commission that the OIF organised a joint mission.
14. See also Sharma (Citation2011).
15. Albania, Andorra, Macedonia and Greece became full members, Cyprus and Ghana associated members and Mozambique, Serbia and Ukraine gained observer status.
16. Some have argued that changes in the OIF have also been driven by personality and reputation of the OIF Secretary-General since 2003, Abdou Diouf, who left office in Senegal after losing the 2000 presidential elections to Adboulaye Wade.
17. Funding (in euros) for 2010–2013 is as follows: mission A (56.4 million), mission B (40 million, i.e. 27% of total funding), mission C (25 million) and mission D (18.3 million) (Sénat, 2010).
18. The members of the Council, presided over by the Secretary-General, are appointed by the heads of state and government. The Council oversees the implementation of Summit decisions, the FMU and looks after the interests of the OIF through four committees—political affairs, economic affairs, cooperation and planning, administration and finances.
19. The suspension of Mauritania, on 26 August 2008, was lifted on 14 December 2009 after presidential elections on 18 July 2009; the suspension of Guinea, on 16 January 2009, was lifted on 12 January 2011 following presidential elections in November 2010; Madagascar's suspension, dated 2 April 2009 following the military coup of 17 March 2009, remains in place. On 12 January 2011, the Council also issued a resolution on the Ivory Coast, condemning violations, demanding the immediate transfer of powers to Allasane Ouattara and supporting the work of the UN, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union. See also CPF, 2009a&b, 2011a&b.
20. La Francophonie en Afrique: quel avenir?, 24 June 2010, Assemblée nationale, Paris. The conference was organised by the French National Assembly and the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, in the context of the celebrations of 50 years of African independences.
21. Fonds Francophone d'Initiatives pour la Démocratie, les Droits de l'Homme et la Paix, which ‘promote initiatives and projects in the field, particularly targets educating people about these concerns, very much to buttress civil society in member countries; increasing number of projects asking for funding’ (OIF, 2010a, p. 56).
22. While relations between the Rwandan Patriotic Front and the successive French governments had never been good, and had markedly deteriorated after Operation Turquoise during the 1994 genocide, diplomatic ties were officially broken after French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière issued arrest warrants against nine colleagues of President Kagame, in connection with the death of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994.
23. Ouest France (Citation2009). Paul Kagame confirmed publicly on 25 February 2010 that Rwanda had no intention of pulling out of the OIF.
24. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen also attended.
25. See, for instance, Chrétien et al. (Citation2008), which also contains the full version of the speech.
26. Conférence de Presse Conjointe, M. Paul Kagame, M. Nicolas Sarkozy, 25 February 2010, http://www.elysee.fr/president/les-actualites/conferences-de-presse/2007/conference-de-presse-conjointe-m-paul-kagame.7577.html?search=RWANDA&xtmc=rwanda_AND_commonwealth&xcr=3.
27. See, for instance, Rétablissement de Relations Diplomatiques avec le Rwanda, Entretien du Ministre des Affaires Étrangères et Européennes, Bernard Kouchner (Paris, 29 November 2009), Bases Documentaires du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et Européennes, Déclarations Officielles et Points de Presse, DCP—BK RFI3011.