FRANCE FLEECING AFRICA: A SIMPLE GUIDE

In this clip, US radio personality Ebro Darden (@EbroInTheAm on X) speaks with German actor of Ghanaian descent Boris Kodjoe (@BorisKodjoe on X) about France's continued exploitation of Francophone countries in Africa post-independence. As a condition for independence, the West African countries had to agree to terms that ensured they remained under France's control and French interests were maintained. One such predatory agreement was that the African nations in the CFA Franc Zone were required to keep at least 50% of their reserves in France under the pretext of ensuring 'currency stability.’

France also had the right-of-first-refusal on the extraction and sale of their natural resources. This meant they had to offer their resources to France first before any other buyers - and at a fraction of what these minerals were actually worth on the market. Thus, while Paris continued to develop at their expense, the mineral-rich countries remained poor and independent only in name without genuine sovereignty.

However, recently there has been a shift, with Sahelian countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, for example, cutting ties with France and refusing to remain in Paris’ financial stranglehold.

Sources:

https://www.cadtm.org/Africa-How-France-Continues-to-Dominate-Its-Former-Colonies-in-Africa

https://www.crossbordertalks.eu/2024/05/08/france-africa/

https://report.az/en/foreign-politics/zahid-oruj-france-earns-400-500b-annually-from-africa-as-colonial-tax/

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/739771.shtml

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/5/24/africa-is-not-poor-we-are-stealing-its-wealth

https://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/africa-subsidises-rest-world-40-billion-one-year-according-new-research

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/historical_materials/1957980/?