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'When Will the Postcolonial Hangover End?'

Instead of marking a new beginning, the EU-Africa summit this weekend ended in bickering over new trade deals between the two continents. German commentators ask how business interests can be combined with human rights concerns.

It was supposed to mark a new chapter in relations between the two continents. But instead the European Union-Africa summit in Lisbon this weekend was overshadowed by bickering over trade agreements and rows over human rights.

The meeting between the 27 EU and 53 African countries was described as launching a new "relationship of equals" between the EU and Africa. The EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, wanted to use the summit -- the first of its kind in seven years -- to set up new trade deals, known as economic partnership agreements (EPAs), with Africa.

The World Trade Organization has set a deadline of the end of 2007 for the EU to reach new trade agreements with Africa, after declaring that the privileged terms of trade which countries such as the UK, France and Portugal have with their former colonies are illegal.

Under the new proposals, the EU is offering African governments unrestricted access to its market if African countries in turn reduce tariffs on European imports. Yet many African leaders oppose the deal because they fear that reducing import tariffs will hurt local companies.

Now the future of the EPAs seem in doubt after African leaders rejected them at the summit. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said Sunday that most African leaders had dismissed the EU's proposals, which he said weren't in Africa's interest. "It's clear that Africa rejects the EPAs," Wade said. "We are not talking any more about EPAs ... We're going to meet to see what we can put in place of the EPAs."

South African President Thabo Mbeki also criticized the proposals, saying they "will not contribute to the development of the African-Carribean-Pacific countries as they do not assist in fighting poverty."

Issues of human rights also dogged the summit, with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe the focus of European criticism. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted the summit over Mugabe's attendance, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday the EU was "united" in condemning Mugabe for his economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy.

Mugabe himself seemed little bothered by his reception, raising his fist in the air in a symbol of defiance as he arrived for the summit. In a speech given at a closed-door meeting, he reportedly accused Europe of arrogance for criticizing his human rights record, according to sources who were present.

The summit was also attended by another highly controversial figure, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who begins a visit to France Monday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was forced to defend his invitation to the Libyan leader after coming in for criticism by human rights groups. "If we don't welcome those who take the road to respectability, then what do we say to those who take the opposite road?" Sarkozy said in remarks at the summit.

Gadhafi begins a six-day visit to Paris Monday, his first trip to France since 1973. He is pitching his Bedouin tent in the gardens of the official guest residence near the Elysee Palace in Paris, in a nod to what was described by a French presidential spokesman as "desert tradition."

The visit marks Gadhafi's return to grace after years of being an international pariah. Libya returned to the international fold in 2003 when it renounced state sponsorship of terrorism and stopped its nuclear weapons program.

During his visit, Gadhafi is expected to sign deals worth billions with France, including contracts to buy Airbus jets, a civilian nuclear reactor and possibly defense equipment.

Although France is keen to do business with oil-rich Libya, some worry that the Libyan leader could have a hidden agenda in coming to France: Gadhafi said Friday in a speech in Lisbon ahead of the summit that Europe's former colonial powers should provide restitution to Africa.

Commentators writing in Germany's newspapers Monday were agreed that the summit was a disappointment but were divided over how the EU should best deal with Africa.

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"Africa and Europe have already wasted many years which they could have used to build common ground. Meanwhile other countries such as China have, with a cool eye to their business interests, used these years to build up opportunistic partnerships. The impression arose that it is possible to come to an arrangement with despots like Mugabe, and that war and business -- as in Sudan -- can be separated from each other.

"This political schizophrenia is difficult to bear. The EU was well advised not to cancel the summit because of Mugabe, as the British had demanded. The bloc was also right, however, in its decision to confront the dictator with toughness and to isolate him. The differences over the free trade agreements with the states of the African Union show that the two continents have got a lot of political detail work to catch up on. There is a lack of contact with each other -- and a lack of mutual understanding. Mugabe can no longer be allowed to stand in the way of this attempt at mutual communication."

The business daily Handelsblatt writes:

"China and the United States have been setting the tone in Africa for some time now. The Europeans, who have long regarded their neighboring continent as their backyard, are lagging behind. At the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, they wanted to make up for lost time. But that went fundamentally wrong. Although the summit brought some important progress, overall it ended with a setback. The Africans allowed the new free trade agreements with the EU to fall through and refused to be lectured on the subject of human rights policy."

"The new Africa is obviously different from what the old Europeans want. The conflict is not unexpected: Offering the Africans a 'partnership of equals' while at the same time trying to meddle at every opportunity simply doesn't work. Although Mugabe definitely deserves to be criticized, the scolding would probably have been better received if it had been accompanied by some self-criticism."

The conservative daily Die Welt writes:

"Angela Merkel has once again delivered a clear message. ... She is the natural voice of the EU -- Germany is less burdened by the colonial era than England (sic), France or Portugal. The issue of human rights is not an appendix, not just some minor annoyance. As far as Africa is concerned, the issue of human rights is a pre-condition to all talks and accompanies them like an invisible guest."

"The fact that all African leaders continue to stand behind Mugabe is a sign of failure on their part. When will this postcolonial hangover and cynicism end, and when will African leaders finally learn to judge each other according to international standards? Everything else is just empty words and the opposite of the 'new Africa' that everyone loves to talk about."

-- David Gordon Smith, 12 noon CET