The 24th Franco-African summit held in the ritzy French town of Cannes ended on Friday - not that you'd have read much about it in the English-language press. Compared to extensive coverage of last November's Sino-African summit in Beijing, the gathering in France was a media non-event. So what were the outcomes?

Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at the London-based think tank Chatham House, argues in The Namibian, "...the summit may mark a watershed in France's relationship with Africa".

The failure of some of France's past interventions in Africa, such as its role in the Rwandan genocide, pushed the former colonial power to rethink its strategy, says Vines. The redeployment of French troops on the continent and changes to aid distribution are proof of a shift. But what's missing is the unification of these new measures in "a more concrete vision" for the Franco-African relationship.

"There is a crisis of confidence in France about what to do about Africa," agrees Tom Cargill, who also works on the Chatham House Africa Programme, in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The fact that French President Jacques Chirac is on his way out doesn't help.

Both Vines and Cargill point out that, in the run-up to April's presidential election, Africa hasn't featured on the radar screen of Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal, and her rival Nicolas Sarkozy only seems interested in the continent in terms of the illegal immigration problem he would face at home. Vines concludes that "lobby groups and old networks that have dominated France's relationship with Africa" are here to stay.

Even if the summit doesn't mark significant change, it is the latest in a series of events showing that "the scramble for Africa is picking up pace", argues Christian Science Monitor. They include the creation of a new U.S. military command for Africa and Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent tour of eight African nations.

This competition from other countries vying for Africa's attention and resources makes the traditional la francophonie - the language, culture and shared history with its former colonies - "a harder sell". But one advantage for France may be its outspokenness regarding the U.S.'s overseas adventures.

"France is not innocent, both in terms of past colonial history and even in the present time, in places like Ivory Coast and Rwanda. But on balance, France seems to be striking a chord with the weaker nations of the world, which feel vulnerable to the democratic militarism, the export of democracy via the gun," says Peter Kagwanja of South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council, quoted in Christian Science Monitor.

As the Telegraph points out, over 30 African heads of state bothered to travel to Cannes to bid farewell to "Papa Afrique" as Chirac is known. But it's still not clear whether they also waved goodbye to France's traditional way of dealing with its former African colonies.

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