France, Angola may mend ties

2008-05-23 09:21

Luanda - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Angola on Friday, his office said, in a bid to improve relations following an arms scandal that provoked tensions between the two countries.

Sarkozy was to hold talks with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Friday morning at the presidential palace, followed by a ceremony, where the two were expected to sign accords on bilateral cooperation.

Deals involving French businesses were also to be signed during Sarkozy's visit, the first by a French president since 1998, before he returns home in the afternoon.

Sarkozy told Jornal de Angola newspaper the French Development Agency would open an office in Luanda before the end of the year and offered programmes on agriculture training and the teaching of French.

Sarkozy meets Dos Santos

The visit came ahead of the opening in September of a trial of 42 men including former senior government figures for illegal arms sales to Angola.

Relations between France and Angola had been tense over the arms affair in which French former interior minister Charles Pasqua and former president Francois Mitterrand's son, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, faced trial.

The 42 people faced charges of accepting illegal payments from two businessmen, Pierre Falcone and Arcadi Gaydamak, for the arms sales to Angola between 1993 and 2000.

Sarkozy met Dos Santos in New York in September on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly meeting and declared following their talks that the period of tense relations between France and Angola was "definitely over".

He had planned to visit Angola in February after a visit to South Africa, but it was postponed due to scheduling problems.

Sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest oil producer after Nigeria, Angola also rated among the continent's poorest nations, according to the UN Development Programme.

- AFP