Sarkozy vows to crack down on French Guyana mafia after fatal gang shoot-out

Ahead of the president’s visit, a turf war between rival gangs overnight Friday killed nine people and wounded two more.

Sarkozy also used the visit to take aim at his main rival for the upcoming presidential election, Francçois Hollande, by describing the Socialist candidate’s short visit to the territory days earlier as “a bit folksy”.

Under his campaign slogan emblazoned on a patriotically blue, white and red stage  "Change is now", Hollande underlined his attachment to French secular and socialist values saying the world of finance was his real enemy. “My real adversary has no name, no face, no party, it will never be a candidate, even though it governs…it is the world of finance,” he said. Outlining his priorites as education, health, justice and tax reforms, Holland said he would put forward a new pact with European powerhouse Germany in January 2013 if he is elected.

He sharply criticized Hollande’s proposal to give non-EU members the right to vote in local elections.

“Has he really thought about the consequences for Guyana where 37 per cent of the population do not have French nationality?” he asked. “I would like to remind all politicians that the French Republic is mainland France, its departments and overseas territories and not just mainland France.”

Sarkozy’s barbs came as the 57-year-old Hollande made his first campaign speech to around 25,000 of the party faithful at Le Bourget near Paris.

The Socialists have lashed out at Sarkozy for not yet having declared his candidacy for the election while allowing officials from his ruling UMP to snipe at his opponents' campaign promises.

Hollande has consistently led the opinion polls with 28-30 per cent of votes predicted in the first round on 22 April, ahead of Sarkozy’s expected 23-24 per cent. But both far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centraist candidate François Bayrou are on the rise in the polls.