French press review 6 April 2010

Communist L'Humanité remarks on Nicolas Sarkozy's absence from the 50th anniversary of Senegal's independence. Was it, asks L’Humanité, because he was embarrassed by his scandalous and lamentable speech in 2007 in Dakar when, in the tones of a consummate colonialist, he encouraged the African man to enter into history?

Sending his interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, in his place is a bit like saying, “Enter into history by all means. Enter into France? Out of the question.” Well, it’s a bit like saying that.

Staying on the African continent and Le Monde says the problem in South Africa is not the assassination of Eugene Terreblanche, but an endemic criminality and an agricultural system that has been paralysed since the end of apartheid.

The country needs to slough its skin and create a society where membership of a racial group does not constitute a prison sentence, or a death sentence.

Libération, and I'm afraid its editorial begins by saying journalism is a rotten profession. Luckily it’s a quote from President Sarkozy’s press officer.

In passing on the names of paedophiles trapped by undercover methods, journalists from the television station France 2 say they were doing the work of justice and didn't have a choice.

This, says Libération, is false. They broke the two fundamental rules of the profession: do not use a false identity and then reveal sources. It sets a bad precedent; it will soon be obligatory to pass on the names of illegal immigrants or ETA members.

“Our profession is fragile and difficult,” says Libération. “All the more reason to do it properly.”

Catholic Le Croix says the paedophile scandals in the church and worldwide violence weighed on Easter celebrations but everywhere there was hope. It commends the French church's stance on paedophile priests: aiming to find the truth but not to attack the Pope.

The archbishop of Rouen has not shilly-shallied. He released a statement before the tribunal was notified of the crimes of two priests in his diocese.

An editorial sums up the problems in the church. Some priests are denouncing the media, and some people interpret this reaction as an attempt to minimise the church’s culpability, but the church has come out strongly to say it is battling the problem.

The main thing, says Le Croix, is not to appear to forget the first scandal whereby children were hurt and cheated by those who they should have been able to trust. It's against this that the church needs to fight.

The first hospital prison is to open in France. The state counsel is giving the green light today. Punish and heal, Le Croix begins, this is a difficult balance. Nearly a quarter of France's prison population has psychiatric trouble.

The new facility on the outskirts of Lyon looks like a prison with a wall, guards and even a moat, but prisoners will be received there like patients rather than prisoners. A caveat from the international observer of prisons (the OIP) points out that it risks legitimising the incarceration of the mentally ill.

A doctor from the OIP welcomes the development but says patients must come from prison and not be sent straight there.

Communist L’Humanité leads with six angry railway workers who will be joining in an SNCF strike that’s starting this evening. The French rail company is to reduce traffic by 616,000 carriages.

Philippe, one of the angry railway workers, says he doesn't have a fixed timetable; sometimes he works mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends for his 3,000 euros a month.

“It's a hard life but I agree to it because I believe in public service,” he says.

Another, Muriel, who is an air traffic controller, but for trains, says trains are often cancelled because of profitability. If there is a delay to a crucial train, the SNCF wants to avoid paying penalties so it simply cancels the train. Muriel finds this sickening.

Easter still in the air, L'Humanité runs with the headline "Villepin and his Way of the Cross". Less than two weeks after the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin announced the creation of a new political party he is in trouble: less than a third of the French care.

Le Figaro, and quality of life is expensive in the British foreign office. For difficult expatriation they are paid to take holidays and import books and DVDs as well as ensure security.

There's a long list of countries of diplomatic hardship including Argentina and several Caribbean countries and Rio de Janeiro. One diplomat sent to Karachi was given 30,000 euros. The ambassador to the Turks & Caicos Islands only gets 3,000 euros in expenses to ensure his traditional British quality of life, but, says Le Figaro, that should be enough for some great novels to enjoy under a palm tree.

A statistic from Libération: 3021 were killed in bombs in Pakistan. The English paper The Independent points out that the total number of violent deaths in the five-year period to 2009 was 25,000.

Finally, it’s hard to resist a story from, er, yesterday’s Le Parisien. It leads with bank robbers with the headline "The Return to Old-fashioned Heists".

In Paris on Saturday night some robbers tried to get into the safes of a branch of BNP Paribas by going through the sewers. It was scuppered but it's the third time since the end of 2009 that this traditional mode of banditry has been attempted.

The robbers had says Le Parisien foreseen a discreet entry with the necessary tools on hand to break through the underground walls. But somehow they had not thought of the alarm system. Well, you can't think of everything.

Le Parisien has some graphical illustration of some literally shady characters (silhouettes) jumping through a hole in the sewers. If you see any silhouettes in the streets of Paris, you know who to call.