French President Francois Hollande has told African leaders it is time for their continent to take charge of its own security as a major summit went ahead against the sombre backdrop of mourning for Nelson Mandela.
Hollande unveiled a major new initiative under which France would train 20,000 African troops per year as part of efforts to give the continent a greater capacity to handle its own security problems.
But what would have been a headline-making pledge on any other day was overshadowed as the summit succumbed to the emotion that has washed over much of the world in the wake of Mandela's death.
Hollande began the two-day meeting, attended by some 40 African leaders, by delivering an emotional tribute to the hero of the anti-apartheid struggle.
"He became a global hero because he was profoundly human and profoundly good," the French Socialist leader said on Friday.
Flags above the presidential Elysee Palace flew at half-mast and, prior to a minute's silence, the leaders listened to a recording of part of Mandela's Nobel Peace prize acceptance speech.
Underlining France's desire to rid itself of its reputation for post-colonial meddling in Africa's affairs, Hollande said Africa had to develop the means to sort out its own problems.
Speaking less than 24 hours after he ordered French troops into the crisis-wracked Central African Republic (CAR), Hollande said Paris was ready to help turn tentative plans for the creation of an African rapid reaction force into reality.
France has deployed 1200 troops to CAR in support of a larger African force that will attempt to stabilise a country in danger of being engulfed by sectarian violence which left more than 120 people dead on the streets of the capital Bangui on Thursday.
The CAR mission will be France's second military intervention in Africa this year. In January, Hollande sent more than 4000 troops to Mali, where Islamist groups had seized control of much of the north of the country and had threatened to advance on the capital Bamako.
France has sent troops into Africa more than 20 times since the early 1960s, frequently in undisguised pursuit of its own strategic interests.
But Hollande's government insists it wants to break with that tradition and shed its role as the continent's policeman.
The possible creation of an African force capable of intervening in hotspots was among the issues discussed on Friday, along with terrorism, piracy and trafficking.
The CAR crisis is due to be examined after the end of the main summit on Saturday afternoon.
