Nicolas Sarkozy Dakar address

On July 27, 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a speech at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. The speech, known in France as the Discours de Dakar (Dakar address), drew criticism from Africans who disagreed with Sarkozy's statement that "the tragedy of Africa is that the African has not fully entered into history... They have never really launched themselves into the future."[1][2]

The speech came as part of a foreign trip with then-wife Cécilia Attias, anticipated as an effort to repair French relations with the continent after Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac had been perceived as supporting authoritarian governments in former French colonies.[3]

References
  1. Ba, Diadie (5 September 2007). "Africans still seething over Sarkozy speech". Reuters. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. Hofnung, Thomas (9 October 2007). "Le jour où Sarkozy stupéfia l'Afrique". Libération. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  3. "On African tour, Sarkozy underscores France's ties with ex-colonies". The New York Times. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2018.


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