France and South Africa

Fifteen years after its first democratic elections (April 1994), South Africa has emerged onto the international stage. France, which for a long time exhibited a certain benevolence towards the apartheid regime, now enjoys a complex relationship with South Africa, seen both as a natural partner in the building of a multipolar world and as a rival on the African continent. Did the visit to the country by President Sarkozy in February 2008 enable certain misunderstandings to be dispelled?