Louise Montus | Dynamique Unitaire Panafricaine
Definition of Françafrique
The first France-Africa summit took place in 1973, a little more than a decade after the first independences. The purpose was to maintain and consolidate France’s influence. It would be the prelude to many more summits, reflecting the unequal relationship between a continent of 54 countries, covering 30 million km² and home to 1.6 billion inhabitants—possessing an essential share of the world’s strategic minerals and rare earths—and a single country (whether Japan, China, Turkey, the United States, Russia, or Italy) convening it.
The distinctive feature of the France-Africa summit is that it rests on a network of political, economic and military ties aimed at maintaining French presence in Africa. It was characterised by François-Xavier Verschave in his 1998 book ‘La Françafrique, le plus long scandale de la République’ as the neocolonial model of interference and dependency of the former colonies vis-à-vis France.
It is an opaque system of corruption, clientelism and political interventions, one of whose chief architects was Foccart—adviser on African affairs to several presidents and Secretary-General for Community and African and Malagasy Affairs—a structure conceived by Charles de Gaulle.
Over the past 60 years, French troops have carried out 52 military operations. France now intervenes within the framework of international mandates, as in Libya. Although since 2025 there is no longer a formal military presence, military cooperation continues in multifarious forms: through training, intelligence, arms sales, and sub-contracting with other forces. In Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon, French military bases have been transformed into shared camps. To date, there are 21 military cooperation agreements between France and African countries, and 11 defence or defence partnership agreements—each more opaque than the last. Some 9,050 military personnel are deployed in the so-called overseas territories: the Antilles, French Guiana, Mayotte/Réunion, New Caledonia, and Polynesia.
The Pillars of Françafrique
Close ties with ‘friendly’ heads of state—sometimes installed by France, supported, or else eliminated when they attempt a sovereignist orientation or a clear break with the capitalist system. Defence agreements enable Paris to intervene militarily to stabilise or save allied regimes: from Operation Manta in Chad (1983) to Serval in Mali (2013)—all underpinned by unofficial networks, intelligence services and personal relationships symbolised by the ‘African cell’ of the Élysée.
On the economic front, the colonial ties imposed within the French sphere of influence have allowed French multinationals to establish themselves in every sector: agri-food, raw material extraction, timber, oil, gas, transport, energy, water, pharmaceutical trials, automotive equipment, media, software, distribution, aeronautics, services, catering…
Groups such as Danone are present across four poles: dairy and plant-based products, bottled water, medical nutrition, infant nutrition. Present in more than 120 markets, Danone has established itself in East Africa and acquired 40% of the Kenyan group Brookside as well as the Egyptian cheese producer Halayeb. The Lactalis group owns production sites in 50 countries.
LVMH is present in 5 luxury sectors—wines and spirits, jewellery, watches, perfumes, cosmetics and ready-to-wear—and operates in numerous African countries.
Pernod Ricard is present in 13 African countries, including Kenya.
EDF exports its nuclear expertise and is present in Togo, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Senegal, Zambia, and Cameroon.
Énergie Africa is one of the leading actors in natural gas and energy services, with more than 50 years of experience on the African continent, supplying energy in more than 9 countries. When one considers that the electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa barely reaches 34%—and in some countries only 23%—there is every reason to question this.
Veolia Africa is present in 15 African countries, managing waste and wastewater treatment and providing drinking water. Only 24% of the population has access to drinking water.
TotalEnergies has been present on the continent for 90 years, operating in around 40 countries. This multinational has regularly contributed to political destabilisation in the DRC on numerous occasions, or has supported regimes most subservient to imperialism. TotalEnergies is invested in energy production based on biofuel, oil, natural gas, green gas and electricity.
Approximately 5,000 French companies established in Africa generate a turnover of close to 100 billion euros. Despite increased competition, France remains the second largest investor on the continent after Great Britain.
Approximately 120 French companies are established in Kenya and serve as the entry point for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) into the markets of nuclear energy, renewable energies and military applications.
Kenya constitutes a strategic hub for access to East African markets, notably for fibre optics, telecoms, tourism, agri-food, energy, water management and urbanisation. In 2024, a delegation of 8 French companies came to Nairobi. The French employers’ federation considers Kenya a focal point for numerous projects in the region—Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti—thanks to the linguistic bridge: English is spoken there, but also Swahili. The Public Investment Bank signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Kenyan financial institution Equity Bank Group. In 2020, Macron had encouraged French companies to invest in the country. An East Africa manager at the Public Investment Bank France declared: ‘French companies have historically favoured West Africa due to linguistic and monetary proximity; yet East Africa presents a remarkable market depth with growth rates superior to those of sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.’
Kenya has signed a defence agreement with France as a pivot towards Anglophone Africa.
Finally, another essential element of France’s standing as a leading imperialist power rests on the fact that it possesses the world’s second-largest maritime space, thanks to its confetti of colonial empire represented by the overseas territories. France is present on three oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. This maritime space exceeds 11 million km² (20 times the size of metropolitan France). In recent years France has expanded its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)—the maritime space over which it exercises sovereign and exclusive rights. It requested United Nations recognition of its continental shelf by extending sovereign rights over the seabed beyond the EEZ, and in 2020 was authorised to extend its economic zone by 700,000 km².
The maritime economy represents 14% of France’s GDP, comprising shipbuilding, fishing and coastal tourism. This strategic asset allows the French military to deploy across the four corners of the globe. A naval fleet is deployed worldwide to protect its interests. France is among the rare countries capable of launching nuclear missiles from submarines. Its presence across all the world’s seas ensures 99% of its internet data.
Bolloré remains the symbol of this empire, present everywhere in Africa. It built the bulk of its fortune there by controlling all the continent’s ports—which it resold in 2022, making a colossal capital gain of 5 billion euros. It now dominates the media sector through pay television and video. It remains heavily present in the oil palm and rubber plantation sector. Bolloré goes from trial to trial: it will be judged in Paris for corruption in Togo and in Guinea for complicity in breach of trust in the context of electoral campaigns.
Moreover, a collective of 11 NGOs from 6 countries (Togo, Guinea, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC)—the Collectif Restitution pour l’Afrique, chaired by Jean-Jacques Lumumba (great-nephew of Patrice Lumumba)—has filed a complaint against the Bolloré group for money laundering linked to its port management activities in Africa, which facilitated the financing of elections and generated colossal financial returns.
Monetary Chains: The CFA Franc Completes the Françafrique System
The CFA franc was created in 1945, on 26 December, when France ratified the Bretton Woods agreements. It originally stood for ‘Franc des colonies françaises d’Afrique’ (Franc of the French African Colonies); today it means ‘Franc de la coopération financière en Afrique’ (Franc of African Financial Cooperation). There are three CFA francs: one for West Africa—Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo—the zone of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU/UEMOA), banking with the BCEAO. A second for Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad—the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), banking with the BEAC. And finally, the Comorian franc.
These three colonial currencies are not convertible with each other, nor anywhere else—as if to prevent the peoples of these different areas from trading among themselves.
They are guaranteed by gold reserves. In 2024, the value of the BCEAO’s gold reserves exceeded 2,500 billion CFA francs—held outside Africa, at the Banque de France, where 50% of foreign exchange reserves are kept.
The CFA franc has been printed in Chamalières by the Banque de France since its creation. Africa does not control its own reserves as it sees fit, and therefore cannot build an economic policy in the service of its peoples. One of the key elements of sovereignty is to mint one’s own currency and control one’s own wealth.
The Condition for Guaranteeing the Survival of Imperialism: Subjugating the Peoples
One of the guarantees of maintaining the neocolonial system in the service of imperialism and capitalism is the subjugation of peoples: preventing them from expressing themselves, demonstrating, organising, thinking freely and envisaging alternatives to capitalism. This is what is happening across virtually the entire continent, where repression, imprisonment, assassinations, violence, remain a weapon of massive deterrence to stifle all aspirations toward building popular movements and the action of anti-imperialist, progressive, revolutionary and left-wing organisations working to construct popular alternatives to the capitalist system.
In Tanzania: Samia Suluhu Hassan secured re-election in November 2025 following bloody repression that left more than 1,000 dead and resulted in numerous arrests.
In Kenya: In June 2024, the authorities repressed demonstrations against the high cost of living and tax increases under the 2024 Finance Bill with extraordinary violence. President William Ruto ordered live ammunition used against protesters—the toll: more than 40 dead, 361 wounded, and a great many arrests.
In Cameroon: Post-electoral violence in October 2025, following peaceful demonstrations, left nearly 100 dead and more than 2,000 arrested, the majority held in the regime’s jails. All contestation leads before military tribunals, which have replaced civil courts. Two weeks ago, a constitutional reform created the post of vice-president in order to perpetuate power beyond Biya’s presence.
In Togo: The constitutional reform of April 2024 allowed President Faure Gnassingbé to assume the presidency of the Council of Ministers without term limits—a shift from a presidential to a parliamentary regime following a constitutional amendment.
In Benin: A constitutional reform tailored to Patrice Talon, creating a senate and extending the electoral term from 5 to 7 years.
How to Build Perspectives
Despite all these obstacles, workers, peasants and youth are mobilising in a sectoral manner. The task that falls to us is a coordinated struggle to loosen the grip of repression, and to fight for political prisoners and their liberation. The struggle must be engaged, envisioned, and organised at the Pan-African scale. Actions must be coordinated across the continent and campaigns conducted. The struggle for demands must intensify against neocolonial regimes. Anti-imperialist internationalism must be strengthened through challenges and actions against imperialist states. Tools must be built to this end at the level of information, militant solidarity, lobbying of elected officials and governments. The articulation must be built between combative Pan-Africanism and anti-imperialist internationalism. Support for struggles on the continent must be made effective. We must multiply common actions through meetings such as this one—informing again and again, denouncing imperialism in all its aspects, denouncing support for dictatorships.
Denounce, inform, coordinate, show solidarity, organise—these are the tasks that fall to us in order to amplify our struggles and loosen the grip, so as to allow progressive and revolutionary forces to do their work.