Eléonore Koffi | Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
Despite being the world’s richest continent in terms of natural resources, Africa still suffers from the most abject poverty. Thirty-eight to 42 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in extreme poverty, and over 460 million people there survive on less than $3 per day.
This poverty comes in the midst of plenty. The continent has 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves, including 90 percent of its cobalt, 85 percent of its platinum, and 97 percent of global chromium. It also possesses 12 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 8 percent of its natural gas. Africa also has 65 percent of the world’s arable land and 10 percent of its internal renewable fresh water. Yet this incredible bounty remains beyond the control of the vast majority of African governments and peoples.
From the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the continent’s partition among the various imperialist powers that sought control over its abundant resources, Africa never had the opportunity to develop independently of superexploitation and external domination. Among the powers that carved themselves a big part of the African cake, France stands out.
In the 19th century, at the height of its power, it occupied over 35 percent of the continent, primarily in west, equatorial and north Africa. The French empire employed a policy of forced assimilation, imposing French culture on the indigenous people while exploiting their resources and enforcing their labour, all of which resulted in significant mortality and the destruction of local societies. As a result of its brutal regime of wealth extraction, France was able to amass formidable wealth and position itself as a dominant imperialist power.
National-liberation wave and the ‘Franc-
afrique’ system
After the wave of destruction brought about by two inter-imperialist world wars, and following the victory of the first workers’ and peasants’ revolution in Russia in 1917, the oppressed peoples of the world, from Africa to Asia to South America, were no longer willing to tolerate imperialist rule. The old imperialist powers (France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan …), which had brought the world to the brink of complete annihilation twice so that they could redivide its spoils amongst themselves, had lost their aura of invincibility and their (self-proclaimed) ‘moral right’ to be seen as the bearers of ‘civilisation’.
A new wave of national-liberation movements swept the world, which, in collaboration with the working-class movements of the imperialist nations, threatened to overthrow the very system of imperialism.
To survive, the imperialists had to adapt. After being kicked out of Indochina and Algeria following two bloody wars of independence that were won by the colonised, France was forced to grant formal independence to the majority of its colonies. But despite the strong desire of the people for real independence, what was achieved soon turned out to be only nominal in many cases.
France managed to put loyal local compradors in charge, all of whom had been trained and educated in France and were willing to play the part of local frontmen for the new, arms-length form of French rule.
Gabon, rich in oil, was ruled by Omar Bongo; Ivory Coast, producer of cacao, was ruled by Felix Houphouet Boigny; and Senegal, with a rich maritime industry, was under Leopold Senghor’s control. All those leaders considered themselves to be French first; all of them put French interests before those of their own people. Along with others like Gnassingbé Eyadéma in Togo, these were the pillars of the ‘Francafrique’ system for decades.
Francafrique became the new form of neocolonial domination. Under the pretext of maintaining ‘special and fraternal links’ with its ‘ex’ colonies, and graciously ‘helping’ them to ‘develop’, France in reality had established a new set of imperialist and neocolonial dominations, just as Britain and other European imperialist powers were doing with many of their former colonies.
With help from the USA, the predatory nature of imperialism was kept intact and the struggle against communism―the ideology of the emancipation of the oppressed people and the ultimate threat to the imperialists―became ever more brutal and fierce.
Francafrique was a sophisticated system controlling the economy, politics, militaries and secret services of entire nations, set up in order to facilitate the plunder of their vast resources for almost no cost to the plunderers.
The most abject aspect of that neocolonial control was the currency imposed on more than 14 African countries known as the CFA (African franc):
“In 1945, France created the CFA franc, which was pegged to the French franc and later to the euro. The currency is used in 14 African countries comprising six member states from central Africa operating under the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) and eight members from western Africa under the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
“Through the ‘agreement’, the African countries were required to deposit half of their foreign exchange reserves in the French treasury under the special ‘operating account’ and 20 percent of their financial liabilities; thus, the countries could retain only 30 percent of their foreign reserves. This pegging to the French franc and euro, the CFA franc, has been described as a stable currency with a lower inflation rate.
“To control the CFA franc, the French appoint an officer, who has the veto power, directly to the central bank board of directors in BEAC or BCEAO to ‘ensure’ the convertibility of the common currency.
“Non-reciprocal, the BCEAO has no veto, financial strategic position, or anything whatsoever in the Banque de France to make sure that its GDP worth of 99,095.3 billion CFA francs is secured under proper monetary policies to ensure economic prosperity. This signifies how France manipulates the monetary sovereignty of the CFA member states and hinders the economic growth in investment sectors such as agriculture, industry, infrastructure, and tourism …
“Despite the CFA franc being pegged to the French franc and then the euro, thus ensuring plenty of reliable export markets, African member states are ranked lowest in the economic complexity index.” (France in Africa: enough is enough by Ezra Nnko, Modern Diplomacy, 11 May 2025)
This is a perfect illustration of imperialist control for the purpose of wealth extraction.
The persistence of resistance and the AES
Despite it being perfectly clear that France depends on the looting of Africa to maintain itself as a ‘first-world nation’, the French imperialists love to present a story in which they feature as the ones carrying the burden. They are the big brothers who are simply compelled to intervene to stop their reckless siblings from killing themselves.
This is how they present their constant military interventions in Africa to their own people: altruistic missions to ‘stop terrorism’ or ‘end tribal wars’―not mentioning, of course, that these conflicts were all instigated by themselves.
Both in the past and today, resistance movements have always stood in the way of France’s complete domination of its former colonies. Not all post-independence leaders were stooges and compradors. Some led mass popular movements and, inspired by the example set by the Soviet Union, raised their voices and led their people towards African unity.
“The first wave of this struggle was led by pioneers like Modibo Keïta, the first president of an independent Mali (1960-68). A committed Pan-Africanist and advocate of African socialism, Keïta undertook profound reforms designed to achieve genuine economic sovereignty. He nationalised strategic resources and created a national currency to break from the French-controlled CFA franc.
“Crucially, Keïta understood that the sovereignty of small, newly independent states was fragile and that unity was the only viable path forward. Alongside Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Guinea’s Sékou Touré, Keïta was a driving force behind the Union of African States (or the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union).
“Later on came Thomas Sankara, who was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987. He made his first act a symbolic one: renaming the country from the colonial designation of ‘Upper Volta’ to Burkina Faso―‘The Land of the Upright People’. His government led the implementation of a series of reforms that took the new independent nation from abject poverty to self-sufficiency in less than four years.” (New symbols for a new sovereignty: Sahel Benkan by Tings Chak, Tricontinental, 31 August 2025)
Today, those earlier examples of sovereignty-building are being followed by a new generation of leaders like Ibrahim Traoré, Assimi Goïta and Abdourahamane Tchiani, military leaders who led popular coups to oust French-backed dictatorial regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger between 2020 and 2023. Since then, the three nations have united their forces within a new Alliance of Sahel states (AES), which is giving a new life to the project of anti-imperialist Pan-Africanism.
Militarily, the AES bloc has established a joint force of 5,000 troops for combating terrorism, and has replaced the western militaries it ejected with new, fraternal partners―in particular with Russian forces. The bloc has successfully moved away from the puppet Ecowas regional grouping and is systematically eradicating all the tools of French influence, creating a ‘Sahel troika’ whose primary focus is on developing sovereignty through self-reliance.
Economically, the AES has already brought about a surge in economic growth, with GDP increasing by 6.5 percent in 2024 and agricultural production by 13 percent. Burkina Faso and Mali have nationalised key mining operations, while Niger has done the same with uranium, resulting in a substantial increase in local revenues. As a result, there has already been a reduction in the extreme poverty rate of nearly two percentage points, down to 24.9 percent―a trend that shows every sign of continuing rapidly.
As a result of the campaign to eject west-backed terrorists from the region, internally displaced people are being repatriated, while initiatives like ‘Faso Mebo’ in Burkina Faso are boosting communal development. A common biometric passport has been introduced to facilitate travel across the joint territory, a new investment bank has been established, and a common currency is under discussion to finally break the chains of the CFA franc.
France-Africa summit: an attempt to hold back the tide
France, of course, has not accepted this new order meekly. It continues to fund terrorists and mercenaries, who are sent to run amok inside the borders of the three states, on a mission to destabilise and bring down their popular governments and disrupt their development goals.
Having lost access to the Sahel states, France’s own economic position is becoming dire. Without the phenomenal superprofits that French corporations were previously extracting from the region, it is becoming harder for the French ruling class to maintain its domination either at home or abroad.
It is significant that in holding this latest France-Africa summit, the French imperialists don’t feel safe to set up their stall in their former colonial domains, opting instead to come here to east Africa―specifically to a ‘safe’ nation whose ruling regime is acting as a bulwark of Anglo-American imperialist looting and military operations across the continent.
Like Britain and the USA, France is not an ally of African peoples but a plunderer. Having been finally forced to really retreat from some of its conquered territories, it is now looking for new land and resources to exploit, and new bases from which to try to reinstall itself in the west of the continent. No one should be fooled by its presentation as a ‘partner’ interested in assisting in African development and believing in equal relations between nation states.
Knowing the comprador nature of the present Kenyan government, and its abject servility toward British and US imperialism, it is clear that any cooperation in this effort to establish a French foothold in east Africa will not benefit the masses of Kenya but only serve to enrich and empower western corporations and a tiny local elite of money-grubbing stooges.
This summit is a desperate move by France to remain relevant in a world where not only French imperialism but the whole imperialist system is being increasingly challenged―from the DPRK to Palestine and Lebanon; from Yemen and Iran to the Sahel.
Oppressed peoples everywhere are relearning their history and rediscovering their power. Through their organised and sustained resistance, they are clearly demonstrating their unshakeable resolve to win their freedom or die trying.
La Patrie or la mort!
France out of Africa!
Death to Imperialism!