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.
He held talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki and the two countries signed several agreements, including a 1.4 billion euro deal with French industrial group Alstom (ALSO.PA) to help build a coal power plant.
Cooperation on power is important for South Africa, suffering from an acute power supply crisis that has hurt the crucial mining industry and raised concerns over foreign investment.
Sarkozy brought 40 CEOs of French companies, including power giant EDF (EDF.PA) (EDF.PA), industrial Alstom and nuclear firm Areva (CEPFi.PA).
The French leader caused outrage in sub-Saharan Africa last year on his first visit as president, when he suggested the continent had failed to embrace progress.
Mbeki was among the few on the continent who appeared to show some sympathy for Sarkozy's comments about the lack of progress. Sarkozy will also meet anti-apartheid icon and former President Nelson Mandela. (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudhry and Laure Bretton in Paris; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
