French President Francois Hollande (R) sits beside French Prime Minister Manuel Valls during the Environmental …
PARIS
(Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande warned African leaders
on Thursday against trying to modify constitutions to stay in power and
said they should learn from the forced departure of Burkina Faso's
president Blaise Compaore.
Hollande,
who heads to Senegal on Friday for a summit of French-speaking nations,
including from West Africa, is trying to balance managing Paris'
regional interests, its colonial past, but also its desire to push for
greater democracy.
Despite
writing to Compaore urging him to step down three weeks before a
popular uprising swept the Burkina Faso leader from power, Hollande has
been criticized at home for not outlining his position sooner.
"The
departure of Blaise Compaore can serve as a lesson to a lot of leaders,
not just African ones," Hollande said in an interview to France 24 TV
channel. "You don't change the constitutional order for personal gain,"
he said.
As
well as historic ties, France has thousands of troops fighting al
Qaeda-linked Islamists in Africa and peacekeeping in Central African
Republic, making it
an influential voice in the region.
However, Hollande said the days of those countries being under France's "guardianship" were over.
From
Congo Republic to Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda,
several autocratic rulers are approaching the end of their mandates amid
concerns that they may try to cling to power by changing their
countries' laws.
"France puts up certain values and principles," Hollande said.
When
asked about countries like Chad, Cameroon, Togo and Gabon, whose
leaders have no limit on their time in power, Hollande said that free
and democratic elections should be ensured.
(Reporting By John
Irish; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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