French weekly magazine review 22 May 2016

The French judicary probes Vincent Bolloré's alleged “incomparable cash machine” in Africa. DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila faces defiance from former ally Moîse Katumbi as elections loom.  And a new "deradicalisation" business flourishes in France as the authorities scout for experts to contain the rise of hard-line Islamism.

DR

Has French businessman Vincent Bolloré broken the rules of fair competition? asks Le Canard Enchaîné.

It explores the  "virtual monopoly" the tycoon's group enjoys over several ports along the west Africa coast, obtained, according to the magazine, "in not very regular conditions”.

Le Canard points to a juicy deal struck with the Guinean government to run the container port in the capital Conakry where, it claims, the Bolloré Group reaps an annual turnover of close to 40 million euros, with exploitation rights running up to 2036.

According to the publication, the Frenchman also holds a 35-year contract to operate the port in the Togolese capital Lome reportedly, "after an affiliate of his group took charge of the communications that ensured President Faure Gnassingbé’s reelection".

Le Canard Enchaîné asserts that the Elysée from Nicolas Sarkozy’s reign to the François Hollande presidency “weighed heavily through declarations and official visits, to help their business champion”.

According to the satirical weekly, such "golden prospects could only have aroused the jealousy of Bolloré’s rivals", who question how he managed to land such lucrative deals. It reports that police searched the Parisian offices of Bolloré Africa Logistics last month as judges investigate "suspicions of corruption with foreign public money".

DRC standoff

The right-wing publication Le Point examines the standoff in the Democratic Republic of Congo between President Joseph Kabila and his former ally Moïse Katumbi, who resigned from his position as governor of Katanga to stand in presidential elections scheduled for November.

Kabila is barred by the constitution from standing again after two terms and 15 years in office but the weekly explains that the Supreme Court passed a ruling allowing him to stay in office, if the poll doesn't hold 90 days before the end of his mandate.

As Le Point explains, Kabila has announced a "national dialogue" to prepare for what he described as "peaceful elections”, while embarking on a camapign of intimidation against the opposition, according to the conservative weekly.

Le Point reports that the DRC leader accused Moïse Katumbi of recruiting mercenaries just hours after he declared his candidacy. Katumbi's trial, it says, was marred by demonstrations and police repression. One DRC opposition leader told the magazine that ”if Kabila stays in office on 20 December, he will be considered as a 'putchist' or coup-maker and treated as such”.

Deradicalisation

The conservative weekly explores what is claims is a new lucrative business flourishing in France - "deradicalisation”, as fear of hard-line Islamism spreads in the country.

According to Le Point, there are up to 1,500 inmates in French prisons classified as "radicalised", 621 French citizens fighting in Syria and Iraq, including 18 teenagers and 126 women.

Le Point puts the number of French nationals just back from Syria at 350, noting that 300 more are on their way home. Accordingto the publication, anti-terrorism experts have recorded 200,000 likes on Facebook linked to the Islamic State (IS) armed group and more than 400,000 connections to jihadist websites connected to IS every day in France .

According to Le Point, the struggle by authorities to contain the problem is fanning a war of ego and a scramble for subsidies by charlatans pushing, shoving and jumping over each other’s bodies just to make a deal.

Erdogan's ambitions

L'Express profiles Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as "the Turkish danger" facing Europe. According to the right-wing publication, Erdogan has taken advantage of the 18 March accords signed with the EU on containing the influx of migrants heading to Europe to satisfy his unmeasured personal ambitions.

From the right-wing magazine's point of view, Europe has obtained nothing from the deal, not even the modification of Turkey's anti-terrorism laws which the weekly says are contrary to European principles. Amending the legislation was part of 72 measures Ankara had agreed to implement under the accord, explains L'Express.

Instead, L'Express says, the Turkish president has started an "era of generalised suspicions" marked by extensive gagging of the press. It wonders if there is anyone who can stop the "paper Sultan" who manipulates the military at will, harrasses lawyers and "no longer distinguishes between his enemies and the barristers defending them".