French President Jacques Chirac told African leaders that rich nations must find more innovative ways to fund development in the world?s poorest continent and pledged that France would champion their cause. Chirac?s trip abroad to the Mali capital of Bamako for the 23rd Africa-France summit is a relative rarity these days. In his address to the heads of state and government leaders from at least 35 countries around Africa he talked about France?s commitment to their continent.

?Since independence you have changed. And so have we,? Chirac told the opening ceremony of the two-day meeting. ?In this new century, Africa will impress the world with its success. France intends to contribute to this rebirth.? Chirac has not made many public appearances or travelled abroad much since he was given treatment in a hospital in September after complaining of bad headaches and eye problems.

More than a third of Africa was once under French colonial rule. France still has military bases in several countries on the continent and continues to be a major investor in nations including Senegal and Ivory Coast. Chirac said that with an average growth rate of five percent in recent years, Africa was on the path to development but that the international community needed to do more. ?That is the reason for the effort accepted by the French in raising the level of official assistance to 0.7 percent of our GDP between now and 2012,? he said.

?I have personally committed myself to convincing the European Union to take the same step between now and 2015?. He also stepped up his campaign for an international tax on airline tickets to fund development aid, a plan which has failed to win the widespread European backing it needs, inviting interested states to a meeting in Paris in February next year. France has said it plans to impose the new tax in 2006, while Britain intends to redirect some of the money it raises from existing taxes on air travel, but the idea has run into opposition in the United States and with airline companies.

Chirac was met by dancing troupes and traditional drummers when he arrived at Bamako airport late on Friday, but beneath the pomp, France?s relations with many of its former colonies has been growing increasingly strained in recent years.

From Algeria to Benin, few French-speaking Africans voiced surprise at the rioting that swept across their former colonial power early last month, blaming the unrest on what many see as the racist nature of French society. Well-wishers lined the route as Chirac travelled into the centre of Bamako but among the cries of ?Vive La France? were also shouts of ?Visa! Visa!?, a reference to what many Africans see as unfairly stringent European immigration rules.



<b>Jean-Loup FIEVET </b>