Posted on 02/04/2005 5:58:37 PM PST by Pikamax
Chirac's Mbeki Barb Baffles Foreign Affairs
Business Day (Johannesburg) NEWS February 4, 2005 Posted to the web February 4, 2005
By Hopewell Radebe Johannesburg
French President Jacques Chirac's criticism of President Thabo Mbeki's peace efforts in west Africa has unleashed a storm, as the foreign affairs department urgently sought clarity on his comments.
Chirac's statement in Dakar, Senegal, in which he said Mbeki failed to understand the "psychology and soul" of west Africa, has also set off a diplomatic row. Chirac also claimed Mbeki had not achieved much in the region.
Mbeki is the African Union-appointed mediator in the conflict in Côte d'Ivoire.
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said yesterday: "Since he spoke in French and it was interpreted and reported in English, we hope he has been misquoted."
He said Mbeki did not claim to understand the complex politics of Côte d'Ivoire, but judging from the visits by Ivorian politicians to SA for consultations, he was satisfied they trusted Mbeki as a genuine nonpartisan facilitator.
Political analyst Shadrack Gutto accused Chirac of seeking to entrench French dominance in the region. He said Chirac represented a "typical racist mentality of a former coloniser about the African psyche".
"To imply that he (Chirac) understands the soul of west Africans better than an African (Mbeki) truly reflects the height of racist arrogance."
France could not claim to know better, he said, as it had not been able to bring peace in the region for decades.
Hmm. The Poles didn't much like being told they were second class Europeans who should shut up, either.
Chirac is not a model of international tact and understanding, Jean Kerri to the contrary notwithstanding.
Not unlike Chirac's barbs at Bush about being "unsophisiticated" in foreign affairs.
Doubly humorous since Chirac screwed up in the Ivory Coast, that's why the South Africans are trying to fix things.
I await a Steyn article on Chirac's words and his bodyguards being pickpocketed.
You contend that Jacques is a model of neither finesse nor savoir-faire?
Oh my, don't we need to "build a multinational coalition" or "let diplomacy work" or whareverthehell else the French think is world leadership? Thank goodness for cowboys who take charge and get things done.
How good is this??????//
Bwahahahahah
Chirac missed a great chance to shutup, to quote a previous Chirac statement.
of neither finesse nor savoir-faire....?
"Oh oui, mon amie...because you see...
'eets about having bon hair!"
My po'em for zee day
FMCDH(BITS)
Chirac is not a model of international tact and understanding.....
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Chirac is a leftist, elitist fool. He and Kerry would have been sleeping together. Both jerks with self-serving (standard liberal fare) agendas. One to be Emperor of the EU, the other to be..uh..uh...sitting in the Oval office. Yes, a couple of fine, respectable reprobates.
And what exactly have you achieved, Monsieur Chiraq? (spelling intentional)
Is this tu*d testing waters ala Hillary? About to make a 180?
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