constitutional reforms before the impending election. France, Britain, and the United States remained the three western countries most interested in Africa, but they were also renowned for their lack of co operation on African policy ("Africa and the West: Hand Me That Atlas" 34).
Charles Josselin was the new minister for Africa in France, and he believed that his greatest asset was the fact that he was completely new to this territory. The French ministry had long been one dedicated to cooperation, and it was traditionally the center of a "web of personal contacts backed by $9 billion of aid through which France controlled its former African possessions" ("Africa and the West: Hand Me That Atlas" 34). France had a new Socialist government, though, which had downgraded the office to a department of the foreign ministry. France's new prime minister, Lionel Jospin, broke with the traditional consensus on Africa when he was in the opposition by calling French policy a mixture of interference and impotence. Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic were ex-French-colonies, each facing civil war. In addition to this concern, the French were worried by what they saw as a loss of influence in the other Congo (formerly Zaire) to the Americans, who the French believed were taking over French speaking Africa. The cost was high for France in terms of its African undertakings, including the stationing of almost 9,000 troops in seven African bases ("Africa and the West: Hand Me That Atlas" 34).
Britain also had a new government and had promoted its main African minister, Clare Short, to the cabinet, where Short's office was already at war with the Foreign Office. Short differed with the latter's African minister, Tony Lloyd, on two important issues:
First, he wants to see aid used in the traditional diplomatic manner as a tool of foreign policy. Miss Short wants Britain' s K2 billion ($3.2 billion) aid budget to h...