The July 26 coup in Niger, a West African country, which threatens to undermine the French and American military presence in the region, has brought to light the historic exploitation and ongoing practices of the Françafrique, the term used to describe the continued exploitation by the French.
France is heavily dependent on nuclear energy, with 68% of its energy coming from nuclear power plants. It obtains 19% of the uranium necessary for the operation of these factories in Niger. Despite this significant contribution to France's energy needs, only 18,6% of Nigerians have access to an electricity grid. This stark contrast highlights the disparities and continued exploitation by plundering foreign powers across the African continent.
The heritage of Françafrique
France is known for its exploitative systems designed to capitalize on African resources, using pressure, capital and often direct force to maintain control of its former empire. As a result, many African states, including Niger, continue to face poverty and underdevelopment.
The young and charismatic leader of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, recently spoke at the Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg and denounced the fact that Africa is rich in resources but its people are poor, and criticized African leaders who seek subsidies from the West, thereby perpetuating dependency and poverty. He also described what is imposed on Africa as a form of slavery, saying: “With regard to Burkina Faso today, for more than eight years, we have been confronted with the most barbaric and violent form of imperialist neocolonialism. Slavery continues to impose itself on us. Our ancestors taught us one thing: a slave who cannot face his own rebellion does not deserve to be pitied. We don't feel sorry for ourselves, we don't ask anyone to feel sorry for us».
France's inability to justify its presence in Africa with a coherent narrative further complicates the situation. Paris cannot openly confess its greed, feign a “civilizing mission” or admit any responsibility for its past crimes. This lack of purpose weakened French power on the continent, bringing violence and poverty in its wake.
West Africa's push for greater independence has left Atlanticists worried about the opportunity this leaves for Eurasian powers such as Russia and China to increase their influence in Africa. The West's reaction reflects a lack of respect for the sovereignty of African countries, viewing the continent merely as a theater to maintain global dominance.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in early 2022, Atlanticists have expressed concern over the reluctance of Southern states to support the West's anti-Russian policies, a trend further amplified by the shift to multipolarism everywhere. This weakening of Western hegemony has paved the way for many nations to eagerly explore their geopolitical options and diversify their economies.
A report from the Munich Security Conference held in February highlighted this very real schism with the West:Many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have steadily lost faith in the legitimacy and fairness of an international system that has failed to give them an adequate voice in global affairs and to respond sufficiently to their basic concerns. For many states, these failures are deeply tied to the West. They find that the Western-led order has been characterized by postcolonial domination, double standards, and neglect of developing country concerns.».
Stripped by the CFA franc
The aftermath of World War II marked a significant shift in global power dynamics, and the victorious powers sought to establish a new world order that would maintain peace and promote economic balance.
In the context of the African colonies, where colonial troops played an important role in Allied victory, the victorious powers, including France, attempted to retain economic control and profit from their former colonies even as the world was moving towards decolonization.
This included the establishment of new monetary systems, with French leader Charles De Gaulle creating two currencies collectively known as the CFA franc in 1945 for the former colonies in the Western and Central Zone.
As pressure for political independence grew in the late 1950s, France held referendums in its African colonies to vote on acceptance of a French-drafted constitution.
Guinea, led by former trade unionist Sékou Touré, opposed the acceptance of the French constitution and voted overwhelmingly against. In a furious response, De Gaulle's government withdrew all French administrators from Guinea and took steps to sabotage the country's infrastructure and resources. The Paris crackdown was meant to serve as an example of what would happen to any former French colony that resisted France's program.
During the Cold War, communist states exploited such actions by portraying themselves as liberators and allies of African countries seeking freedom from European influence. This position has led some Africans to view countries like Russia as fairer partners than France.
Over the years, France has demonstrated a pattern of military intervention (more than 50 times since 1960) in African countries to ensure that governments respond to French economic interests, particularly with regard to the continued use of the CFA franc.
Historically, the operating system of the CFA franc has been that of a fixed exchange rate in which the currency has unlimited convertibility but is permanently pegged to the French currency, formerly the franc and then the euro.
African currency under French control
This means that African countries cannot influence the value of their own currency, and the difference in value means that France can buy African products artificially cheap while Africans can buy fewer goods with the money they exchange.
Worse, France had requirements to store and therefore benefit from the foreign exchange reserves held by its former colonies, although the obligation to hold 50% of its foreign exchange reserves in a French bank was abolished for the western zone in 2019.
Under this program, African states received a nominal amount of interest, but the bank benefited by lending this capital at higher rates and making massive profits on African resources and labor. . This is despite the fact that many Francophone African countries are major exporters of gold and therefore have a wealth of options for storing wealth to back a currency in alternative central banks.
While the CFA franc system has provided some benefits in terms of stability and prevention of Zimbabwean-style hyperinflation, it has also come under scrutiny for imposing demands on African countries that are not imposed on more powerful nations. The lack of control over their own currency has hampered economic growth and made these countries vulnerable to global economic crises.
North African states such as Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco chose to abandon the CFA franc upon independence and experienced relatively greater prosperity. Similarly, Botswana's success with its own national currency demonstrates that good governance can lead to stable democracy and economic growth, even for less developed countries.
Exclusive rights and privileges
The CFA franc system has been the geopolitical equivalent of the father insisting on managing your savings and leaving them beyond your control. There are advantages to having a trade and monetary zone, such as the current ECOWAS union covering the western part of the continent, but by design in the CFA franc system, independence has been an illusion whereby the France scammed these countries.
France has depended on Africa for its status as a world power for more than a century. Among other privileges forged in post-colonial treaties, France was given the exclusive right to sell military equipment to former colonies and enjoys the first right to discovered natural resources. Paris makes great use of these privileges: for example, 36,4% of French gas comes from the African continent.
In addition, a vast network of French business interests, including large multinational corporations, dominates industries such as energy, communications and transport in many African countries. The French government also supports French companies in Africa in various ways, including through a huge public company called COFACE which guarantees French exports to these underdeveloped markets.
Towards independence and self-sufficiency
This economic dependence has helped perpetuate a system in which African states remain weak, docile and dependent on resource exports, which mainly benefits French companies and interests. Furthermore, African states are forced to ally with France in any major conflict, further eroding their national sovereignty. The African continent suffers from many ills, but perhaps the most persistent and disastrous is the lack of sovereignty and access to capital. Meanwhile, much of Europe's prosperity has come from plundering southern countries for centuries.
The case of Brussels, built on the wealth derived from the brutal exploitation of the Congo under Belgian King Leopold II, is a stark reminder of the profound impact of colonialism. When the monarch's crimes against humanity were discovered, he was ultimately forced to bequeath most of his fortune to the Belgian state upon his death.
Unwilling to do so, he embarked on a huge series of public works to spend his illicit profits, creating modern Brussels. Today, the EU and NATO meet there and boldly give false lectures on universal human rights while surrounded by the profits of some of the most brutal cases of oppression in the history of humanity.
While military governments often face challenges in achieving their stated goals, it is evident that Western-backed “civilian democracies” have also struggled to significantly improve the safety and well-being of the African public.
The path to solving Africa's problems lies in transformative leaders who can ignore the legacy and remaining shackles of colonialism and allow the continent to forge a truly local path to independence and self-reliance.
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