The Berlin Conference of 1885 divided Africa among major European powers. France was ‘given’ large parts of West Africa: countries now known as Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Benin, Guinea, Mauritania, Côte d’Ivoire and Niger. This constituted a second phase of colonial expansion (the first comprising essentially the slave trade), which started with the colonisation of Algeria in the 1830s. While the West African colonies have been nominally independent since the 1960s, they have remained politically and economically subject to French interests.
The slave trade and the first phase of colonial expansion set the foundations for the second phase. Even after slavery was banned, forced labour and corporal punishment remained common. However, France’s arguments legitimising its colonialism changed. Since 1870, France was a republican democracy, laying claim to the 1789-99 French Revolution’s legacy. With a mix of chauvinism and cultural imperialism, late 19th century France sought to fulfil a ‘civilising mission’ that would rid Africa of its backward cultures and practices, establish democracy and enlighten the continent through science and rationality. In reality, the French Empire was built with the same motivation as all colonial empires – profit. The colonial powers were entering the monopoly stage of capitalism, demonstrated by the establishment of national monopolies in the colonies. After independence, these national monopolies were transformed into multinational corporations, such as Total, Orano, and Bolloré, which continue to plunder former colonies.
French imperialism constantly employed double-speak – calling its colonial subjects ‘French citizens’ when politically necessary but affording them no rights. The privilege of a good education was given only to local elites trained to help colonisers with their work. Similarly, democracy remained an illusion, with French citizenship and voting rights inaccessible to the majority of Africans. West Africans were conscripted en masse during the First and Second World Wars to fight with French troops, the quintessential example of this being the ‘tirailleur sénégalais’. The colonial troops were made to do menial work and were poorly fed and clothed. In 1944, hundreds of veterans from colonial divisions were massacred by the French Army in Senegal, after rebelling against poor conditions and unpaid wages.
France set up several economic structures to consolidate its hold on the region. These structures continue today. The CFA franc, initially the ‘franc of the French Colonies of Africa’ before being renamed ‘franc of the French Community of Africa’, is emblematic of this exploitative relationship. Created after World War II, the CFA franc was designed to offset the devaluation of the French franc in the postwar period and provide reserves. The CFA franc was set at an artificially high exchange rate in 1945 at one CFA franc to 1.7 French francs, and one CFA franc to two French francs in 1948. ‘Cooperation agreements’ were signed with the 14 CFA franc countries on the eve of independence, allowing France to control foreign policy, trade, defence, strategic raw materials, currency, higher education, transport and the economy. It was a surrender of sovereignty under a façade of ‘independence’.
Between 1958 and 1986 the French franc was devalued four times, each time maintaining parity with the CFA franc. This meant French exports were cheaper, forcing the colonies to increase their imports from France. CFA franc exports were also more expensive outside the French market than those from British controlled neo-colonies, forcing the CFA franc countries to export almost exclusively to France, enabling it to regain market share, secure supplies of raw materials and rebuild its economy. This caused economic devastation. The CFA franc remains pegged to the euro and is minted in the Bank of France facility in Chamalieres. Its convertibility with the euro is ‘guaranteed’ by France and the price of this guarantee was that, until 2020, 50% of foreign reserves had to be deposited in France. In response to growing pressure from African states, in 2020 the French National Assembly voted to end French engagement in the CFA franc; its proposed replacement, the eco, would operate in the same way but enable supposed monetary independence, and has yet to be implemented. To this day, the CFA franc is still being printed in French factories on French territory. It is still used in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and 11 other African countries.
Debt also allows France to plunder its former colonies. The Paris Club is an informal and illegitimate group of creditors, with the sole purpose of squeezing out as much money from indebted countries as possible. It works hand-in-hand with the IMF, forcing debtors to take on structural adjustment policies and austerity measures.
Thomas Sankara, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, opposed the CFA franc but did not have the chance to dismantle it before his assassination in a French-backed coup. He also spoke openly against debt accrued by former colonies, asserting that debt is neocolonialism, and that Africans are not responsible for their debt and therefore do not need to repay it. Systematically, France has fought against anti-imperialist movements, and supported undemocratic, pro-French leaders. The largely overlooked Cameroon War (1955-1964) is just one of many brutal wars of independence. In the case of Cameroon, the opposition to French rule initially attempted to gain power through the colonial administration; this proved impossible and armed struggle was the only means of achieving independence. Félix Moumié, leader of the Cameroon’s People’s Union, was assassinated by the French secret service in 1960. Similarly, the assassination of Togo’s first president Sylvanus Olympio in 1963, bears heavy connections to France – he had aligned himself with US and British imperialists, and was planning Togo’s exit from the CFA franc zone. In 1974, Hamani Diori, the first president of the Republic of Niger, was deposed in a coup carried out with France’s blessing, just as he tried to regain control over the country’s uranium supplies.
French imperialism is under pressure, desperately grasping at its last possessions and strongholds. After losing its colonies in Indochina and Algeria, France has focused its efforts on West Africa, developing complex and often covert networks of control. This is the essence of ‘la Françafrique’: exploiting Africa to remain a world power.
Sarah Guebre-Egziabher
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 296 October/November 2023
