French press review 23 November 2013

France's decision to boost the number of troops in the Central African Republic dominates comment in the French press.

Aujourd’hui en France reports that the decision was reached at a defence council meeting in the Elysée on Wednesday chaired by President François Hollande with foreign minister Laurent Fabius and defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and army chiefs in attendance.

The Head of State didn’t mince words, according to the paper after being presented an intelligence report on the scale of bloodletting and looting taking place in the former French colony. He announced that France has no choice but to take her responsibilities, meaning that it can’t wait for the deployment of a French-African peacekeeping force authorised by the United Nations before taking action.

Libération investigates the political chaos and religious conflagration taking place in the country. Fabius warns that the Central African Republic is “on the verge of genocide”, noting clashes between the Muslim Séléka rebellion that brought rebel leader Michel Djotodia to power, and Christians who make up 70 percent of the country’s population. The self-proclaimed President Djotodia admitted, according to Libé, that there have been nights when he jumped out of bed asking his Security Minister what was really happening in the country. An estimated 1.6 million Central Africans are in dire need of emergency humanitarian aid, according to Libération.

Le Figaro believes the French military could spring into action within weeks, pointing to Thursday’s trip to Libreville Gabon where 90 French troops are stationed. The right-wing paper reports that a navy ship load with armoured vehicles and helicopters set sail from Toulon last Monday en route for the Gulf of Guinea where it is expected to arrive in.

As Malians go to the polls on Sunday for legislative elections, Libération warns that residents of the capital city Bamako are accusing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of failure in dealing with the chaos in the north. Reports from Gao relayed by Libé speak about acts of violence and extortion by elements of the main Tuareg MNLA movement against ethnic Peuls and Sohraïs.

That is pushing people from the two communities into the hands of the Islamist jihadists MUJAO, according to Libération. It quotes a state prosecutor who claims that two ex-Tuareg lawmakers who joined the Islamist Ansar Eddine rebellion during the civil war are now openly campaigning for President Keita’s party in Kidal, raising serious questions about IBK’s commitments to the rule of law. Former Malian foreign minister Tiebile Drame, who negotiated the Ouagadougou accords on Mali providing for the disarmament and quartering of all armed groups, shared his disappointment with the paper. He says the accords seem to have been stashed in a safe and the key thrown away, adding that he no longer knows what is in France’s mind.

Le Figaro presents Libya as another African country ruled by the law of guns and militias. It reports that heinous kidnappings, the settling of road rage with Kalashnikovs, bombs discovered in hospitals, oil terminals closed since July, it is anarchy everywhere, including Benghazi, the cradle of the Libyan revolution. The political class is divided between hard-line Islamists, moderates and separatists. For the paper, the government has proven incapable to deal with the spiral of violence sweeping through the country.

Aujourd’hui en France is full of admiration for Family affairs Minister Dominique Bertinotti after she decided to go public about her bout with cancer. Bertinotti discussed at length her eight-month ordeal with chemotherapy with the online publication LeMonde.fron Friday. The Parisian newspaper observes that the period coincides with the ugly debate about the marriage for all bill which she defended amid cat calls and heckling by the opposition. Aujourd’hui en France praises her courage and sincerity describing her as an example other patients should follow so that the taboo about the disease can be conquered.

And sports daily L’Equipe relishes the last combat for the year for France’s Rugby “Blues” as they take on South Africa’s Springboks at the Stade de France in Paris tonight. Both sides have not met since the Boks since their crushing 42-17 win over the Blues in June 2010. The sport daily warns that “The Blues” must overcome the physical challenge posed by the Boks in order to get its revenge.