“OUR silence in the face of the 200,000 deaths and 400,000 refugees of wars in Chechnya is not tenable. Nor is our indifference in the face of the 200,000 deaths from ethnic massacres in Darfur. We need urgently to act, so that Darfur does not remain a shameful page of our own history.” France's new humanitarian foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner? Actually, his boss, Nicolas Sarkozy, during his campaign.

Mr Kouchner's appointment is more than just a deft political gesture. It reflects Mr Sarkozy's desire for a new French “doctrine”, based on values, designed to strengthen France's voice. One element is more emphasis on human rights, particularly in Darfur and Russia. This is where Mr Kouchner, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, and a former UN governor in Kosovo, comes in. The day after taking office, he held a weekend meeting about Darfur.


There could be change in other areas too. Besides his European Union ambitions, Mr Sarkozy wants more transparency on Africa: he has downgraded the special Elysée unit that once dealt with African heads of state. He favours a Mediterranean Union to link countries around its rim. He is more sympathetic to Israel, less tolerant of Russia, and less obsessed with Lebanon than his predecessor. “The Quai d'Orsay is instinctively pro-China, pro-Russia, pro-Germany, anti-British and anti-American,” said one adviser before the election. “He will have to sit on them hard to take control.”

Other conflicts loom. Mr Sarkozy is against Turkish entry to the EU; Mr Kouchner is for. It is unclear how far Mr Sarkozy would back Mr Kouchner's belief in “the right to intervene” for humanitarian reasons in conflict zones. As for the Americans, they will be disappointed by Mr Sarkozy's doubts over keeping troops in Afghanistan, and they may not like being pressed on global warming. But, as Mr Sarkozy put it on election night, “friendship means accepting that friends can think differently”.