France is to renegotiate all defence agreements with its former colonies in Africa, Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday, in the strongest signal yet that the French president will act on his pledge to transform his country’s stance towards the world’s poorest continent.

Since decolonisation in the early 1960s, France has maintained military bases in several countries in west and central Africa and frequently intervened to prop up autocratic rulers with whom it had close ties. But in an address to South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town at the start of a two-day visit, Mr Sarkozy sought to draw a line under that period, saying the defence accords no longer had the same “relevance”.