In his memoirs published last Tuesday, Nicolas Sarkozy praised several African leaders. He also criticized others that he didn’t like. Among the leaders of the continent that the former French president likes, there is the Ivorian Alassane Ouattara, the Rwandan Paul Kagame and the King of Morocco Mohamed VI.
Sarkozy presents the latter as “a man of broad culture and dazzling intellectual finesse”.
“King Mohammed VI will go down in history,,,,”
“He knows how to be a friend to the fidelity of rock… The kingdom (of Morocco) has become a great African power. Its entrepreneurs, its intellectuals, its artists, its elites have nothing to envy to ours. King Mohammed VI will go down in history as one of the greatest Moroccan sovereigns, ”assures the former boss of the French right.
As for the Rwandan Paul Kagame, he praises his “great ability to listen”. “Paul Kagame is a “calm man, full of composure endowed with a great ability to listen and even shy. He is a thoughtful and particularly intelligent president,” he praises.
Sarkozy does not have the same easy praise when he talks about the power of Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algeria. He finds that he has a “weak democratic legitimacy”, and needs an “adversary to exist”. “France, with its colonial past, is an easy target” believes the former tenant of the à ‰lysĂ©e.
Kais Saied “assumed all powers”
Besides Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Sarkozy also criticizes current Tunisian President Kais Saied. For him, the leader has “arrogated all powers, banned the parties that bothered him and imprisoned his opponents”. “Has this country gained in exchange? It’s not up to me to answer this question, but the mere fact that we can ask it is already a first element of an answer,” concluded the former French president.
