International Leaders: French Guiana

French Guiana (FG) is a difficult case, in that it is not an independent country, but an overseas department (DOM) of France. Until 1951, FG was similar to early Australia, serving mainly as a penal settlement. Currently, the French president appoints a representative (or Préfet) and FG is considered a part of the European Union (Using the Euro and the French legal system, constitution, Armed Forces, and flag). With its dependency on France, one would not naturally consider France’s Préfet to FG as a world leader. Still, as Jacques Chirac has already been discussed, this review focuses on Ange Mancini, the Prefect of French Guiana. It is worth noting that only about five percent of FG’s 200,000 nationals want independence from France.

FG’s status precludes it from being listed on such websites as the World Bank and the US State Department and online news searches for its prefect return no matches. Indeed, after considerable time researching, the only information available seemed to be Mancini’s year of birth (1944). Exploring the EU’s Europa website, a FG developmental report revealed a website for the “Préfecture de la Région Guyane”, which does have some information on Mancini; however, it is in French. So, the information about Mancini (below) has been crudely interpreted.

A map of FG reveals that over 90 percent of its communes are concentrated along the coast in the north. The rest are along its borders and Säul (with a population of under 200) is the only “main” commune in the middle of the country. Cayenne, the capital, is the home of almost a third of the country’s population, 90 percent of which lives on the coast.

Prefect Ange Mancini was born in the French Alps. After completing his undergraduate education in the late 1960’s, he began a long and lucrative career in the French police forces. After becoming a police chief in 1973, he moved into the Criminal Investigation Department of Paris. Throughout his career, there has been a focus on anti-terrorism and anti-crime work. By the early 1990’s he had led and created several units with the aim of confronting urban organized and non-organized crime, before becoming the Associated Central Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (1995) and the General Manager of the National Police Force.

During his annual governmental addresses (between 2003 and 2006), Mancini’s intentions as a leader were revealed through his focus. Also, it is evident that, while he prefers to discus achievements, he also addresses the obstacles he faces. Mancini is concentrating his efforts on improving the population’s basic needs, while also trying to spur FG’s economy (FG’s unemployment percentage is in the twenties). Improving the transportation infrastructure has been his main goal (and, as he calls it, his department’s plague or black spot). Though he has managed to open a new bridge, connecting by road two communes, there is still a high level of roadway death caused by poor conditions. He has been trying to encourage “entrepreneurial dynamism” and foreign capital, in addition to the French and European aid. It is worth noting that the European Space Center in FG has brought with it several developments, but its skill requirements make it a mismatch for the human capital currently available in FG.

With his background in crime fighting, Mancini has done much to stop “clandestine gold washing”, “resource plundering”, and “illegal fishing”. He takes pride in having “more than 100 ‘Anaconda’ operations and nearly two tons… of seized or destroyed goods” (a rough translation). In 2005, Mancini took pride in the catching of 344 illegal fishermen (fishing accounting for about 75 percent of exports). There is no mention whether these fishermen were FG citizens.

It is interesting that Mancini would choose to focus resources to combat black market fishing at a time when his main goal is to provide basic needs for the people of FG. Black market fishing seems far less severe than illegal arms of drug trade and, although unregulated, contributed to FG’s GDP. One would assume that these resources could be used more efficiently.

Despite his preoccupation with crime prevention, Mancini’s focus on the future seems to make him an appropriate representative to this developing area.