Angolagate, also known as the Mitterrand-Pasqua Affair, is a scandal that involved the sale of arms by France to Angola during the Angolan civil war despite a UN embargo against arms trading. The scandal, which involved more than 40 individuals, included some of the leading names in French politics.

Among those named in the trial were former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and Jean-Christophe Mitterrand - the son of former president Francois Mitterand. Pasqua, who was sentenced to one year in prison in October, accused former Presidents Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac of being aware of the illegal arms sales in the 1990s. Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was given a suspended sentence while politicians Jacques Attali and Georges Fenech were acquitted. Former President Jacques Chirac is yet to respond to Pasqua's allegations, but he is due to stand trial for other corruption charges.

The Angolan civil war

The Angolan civil war began after independence from Portugal in 1975 between the pro-Communist MPLA and anti-Communist UNITA. The civil war, which lasted more than two decades, included the involvement of several countries (the US, USSR, France, Portugal, and South Africa). The war was not only a question of ideology; it was also a struggle for the control of natural resources, especially oil and diamonds.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Angolan Journalist Rafael Marques de Morais said that "the government was using the war to a certain extent not as a means to defend and protect the integrity of the country but [...] as a conduit for the siphoning of hundreds of millions of dollars from the state coffers."

When asked about Angolagate and the involvement of France in supplying weapons to MPLA, de Morais said that Angolans feel the same way about the involvement of other governments. "Every major country that has a stake in Angola has been [t]here to advance the interest of their companies [–] that is basically the generalized feelings Angolans have toward foreign presence in Angola," he added.

The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the country's involvement in the Angolan conflict.

According to de Morais, visits by foreign leaders and officials such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy's trip in May 2008 and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's earlier this year, are perceived by Angolans as efforts by Western nations to outdo each other as they compete to be Angola's "top dog."

Experts say that these visits only serve to strengthen the link between Angola's ruling elite and Western governments. Therefore, the Angolagate scandal managed to highlight corruption in a Western country and a developing one by clearly demonstrating the dubious links between French and African officials.

Corruption in France and Europe

Presenting 2009's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International said that "[w]e must remember that bribe money often stems from businesses based in the world's richest countries. Bribery, cartels, and other unfair business practices not only undermine competition but contribute to massive loss of resources for development for all countries, but especially the poor ones."

In the 2009 CPI, France was one of the worst-performing nations in the West with a ranking of 24.

Dr. Francois Valerian, Head of Private Sector Programmes at Transparency International, told Deutsche Welle that Angolagate may have had an influence on France's CPI ranking because it demonstrated that "the links are very strong between French and African leaders when it comes to wrongdoing."

Valerian feels that relationships between Western countries, China and Africa affect governance on the continent. The opportunity for corruption in Africa has been created by weak governance, which makes it possible for wealth to be diverted from the public good in countries that are rich in natural resources.

The wealth gained through corrupt means is often used by African leaders to buy weapons and pay for soldiers like in the Angolan Civil War. French leaders helped MPLA by "facilitat[ing] an arms transaction, which was in violation of French law and international agreements," said Valerian. He highlighted a similar case that involved the former French conglomerate, Elf Aquitane, which financed several African leaders and took money from the French political world.

A recent GRECO (Group of States against Corruption) report says that "French prosecutors have no jurisdiction in prosecuting foreign companies that have bribed French public officials abroad." Prosecution of foreign bribery is largely inactive in France and Europe. "You have a striking contrast between relatively active US prosecution under the FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] and enforcement of the legislation is very quiet in France, UK, Germany, and Italy, because investigative and judiciary resources are understaffed - budgets have been cut in the past years," Valerian told Deutsche Welle.

In OECD countries, the problem is not with legislation, but enforcement. "If you don't have efficient enforcement, you will still have people who will take the wrong route because of greed, economic survival, [and] competition. You have a very intense competition between these wealthy countries and their corporations for the African resources," Valerian said.

Author: Chiponda Chimbelu
Editor: Rob Mudge