UPDATE 3-France to review Africa defence pacts - Sarkozy

(Adds Sarkozy address to parliament, French officials' comment)

By Wendell Roelf and Emmanuel Jarry

CAPE TOWN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - France will renegotiate all its defence cooperation agreements with African countries, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday in a move that could alter France's military support for some of its closest allies.

France has defence accords with several former colonies, under which French forces provide varying degrees of military assistance, but Sarkozy has set out to reshape France's relationship with Africa.

"I am not saying that the existing agreements should necessarily be scrapped and that everything should be erased with the stroke of a pen," he told South Africa's parliament on a state visit to the continental power.

"They must reflect Africa as it is today and not as it was yesterday," Sarkozy said.

He said earlier that the heads of state concerned had been informed.

After colonial rule ended in the 1960s, France regularly intervened to prop up rulers of its choice in French-speaking Africa, sometimes drawing accusations of helping dictators to protect entrenched business and political interests.

On the way to South Africa, Sarkozy had stopped in Chad, where France helped President Idriss Deby against a rebel attack on the capital earlier this month. He pushed Deby to talk to civilian opposition leaders.

Under some defence agreements, French forces can intervene in internal conflicts, as they did in Central African Republic last year. Senegal, Ivory Coast and Gabon have similar agreements. Some others have looser arrangements.

In Paris, officials said the renegotiation of existing agreements would be a huge job.

"We're starting again from scratch. We're putting everything on the table," said one official at Defence Minister Herve Morin's office.

BUSINESS

In South Africa, Sarkozy has stressed the importance of France's business with the continent. After decades of being a top player, France faces the prospect of losing out to new investors from India and China.

Sarkozy said France would increase bilateral aid to Africa to 10 billion euros ($15 billion) over the next five years and announced a further 2.5 billion euros in aid to be used to create nearly 300,000 jobs on the continent.