French Strangulation in Africa
Thomas Hamilton
>Well this is not a new situation, my dear, as it happen in Senegal 3 times
>(1983, 1988, 1993), in Togo last year, in Gabon last December, and in Djibouti
>and other places.
Lots of other places. The list of French interventions, including outright
invasions, is miles long.
>As a token of french "protection" of these new dictators,
>check out french military bases almost everywhere in francophone Africa.
>You have to understand, France needs Africa to survive, without us France is a
>3rd rate country,
I am not sure France actually profits by all of its African interventions.
I'm sure they try to, but posting all those armies and spies cost a lot of
money. Some people think France acts militaristic because of a national
inferiority complex brought on by defeat in WWII and further humiliations
in Indochina, Suez, and Algeria. Even during colonial times, France
was always being pushed around by Britain. Perhaps France likes to push
around African countries simply because it makes them feel tough.
tom
RSND...@cc.owu.edu
that they are present everywhere, but you should stop
and think for a while. African leaders cannot be manipulated
if they refuse. Our leaders like power so much that
they would sell their mothers. I am from Senegal and I
know what is going on their because my father used to
be in an opposition party, but he quit simply because
the problems start at home, and then the French come
in. It is easy to blame them for everything, but some
of us sell our souls to the devil.
The French would have never tried manipulating
someone like the late Sekou Toure of Guinea (Conakry)
or the late Thomas Sankara of Burkina Fasso. You
cannot bribe someone who does not let you do so
or can you?
Wassalam, Rama
V19...@vm.temple.edu
(especially a gov't authority) is a criminal offense ?
I would never think of disputing the guilt of the greedy,
corrupt politicians in Africa. But that does not in any way
diminish the guilt of the French who encourage them, craddle
them, pander to them, defend them, spoon-feed them, and gene-
rally spend considerable amounts of time and resources plotting
grisly crimes with them.
E D
Damon Lynch
Thomas Hamilton <t...@dhruva.caltech.edu> wrote:
[stuff deleted]
>Some people think France acts militaristic because of a national
>inferiority complex brought on by defeat in WWII and further humiliations
>in Indochina, Suez, and Algeria. Even during colonial times, France
>was always being pushed around by Britain. Perhaps France likes to push
>around African countries simply because it makes them feel tough.
>tom
>
thinking it is a part of their masculinity that they act "tough". France
may be a state, but it is run by people, and what it means to be masculine and
what it means to be feminine contributes a great deal to the patterns by
which people organize their lives, and therefore France.
Damon
V19...@vm.temple.edu
>>>It is true that French people manipulate Africans and
>>>that they are present everywhere, but you should stop
>>>and think for a while. African leaders cannot be manipulated
>>>if they refuse. Our leaders like power so much that
>>>they would sell their mothers. I am from Senegal and I
>>>know what is going on their because my father used to
>>>be in an opposition party, but he quit simply because
>>>the problems start at home, and then the French come
>>>in. It is easy to blame them for everything, but some
>>>of us sell our souls to the devil.
>>> The French would have never tried manipulating
>>>someone like the late Sekou Toure of Guinea (Conakry)
>>>or the late Thomas Sankara of Burkina Fasso. You
>>>cannot bribe someone who does not let you do so
>>>or can you?
>>>Wassalam, Rama
>own interests are? Do you think that those leaders are so
>naive that it is only "France-The-Devil" that entices them in
>committing crimes?
No I don't, and I am glad you also realize this isn't so.
>
>Please, take the African leaders and the African intellectuals
>in general for what they are "We are the first responsible for
>the african failure. And things will not change before we
>recognize that". Instead of helping one another in order to
>build our continent, each of us is running in Western counties,
>begging some "help for killing his own brothers and sisters".
>
There is plenty of that I agree.
[...]
>of "colonial mentality". "Hey! Those Africans are so naive, and
>so kind, and so cute, and so SIMPLE, that they can't do any harm"!
>
It would be pretty tough to make me say anything like that.
>Gratien Rudakubana (ru...@gel.ulaval.ca)
>
Karl Shepard
>I am not sure France actually profits by all of its African interventions.
>I'm sure they try to, but posting all those armies and spies cost a lot of
>money...
>tom
If you look at the total cost of supporting foreign intervention you are
probably right, and not just for France, but also for Great Britain and the
US. However, it is the taxpayers of those countries that foot the military
bill. The large corporations that buy raw materials and export industrial
goods are the beneficiaries of intervention.
Karl_S...@ccm.jf.intel.com
Usione simba amenyeshewa ukadhani ni paka.
Fakoman
>Anyway, Mr. E D, anything that blames France is good for you!
>It is quite clear in all your postings. Do you think that the
>African Leaders are so stupid that they can't see where their
>own interests are? Do you think that those leaders are so
>naive that it is only "France-The-Devil" that entices them in
>committing crimes?
I would have agreed with you completely were it not for the fact that
these "leaders" are not really leaders but French Governors. The French
rig the electoral process to ensure that only forces in their pockets take
power. When real leaders arrive we usually can recognize them. However,
I agree with you totally that we should each take responsibility in our
own ways. This educational dialogue is one small step.
Stewart Parkinson
20 years ago France and Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the CAR were pretty close.
Of course, Bokassa was later accused of eating the flesh of his
opponents, and there is the problem of those schoolgirls massacred
in Bangui.
Today France has 4,000 soldiers in Djibouti. Unhappily, President
Hassan Gouled Aptidon is accused of torture, rape and the summary
execution of the minority peoples of the country.
France also trains Mauritania's army and backs its government, despite
the fact that human rights groups accuse it of regularly running
a campaign of terror against minority groups. Then there is
Chad, Cameroon, Togo and Gabon.....
In Rwanda of course France sent weapons, helicopters and even 700
of its own troops to help fight the RPF between 1990 and 1993.
But....it may be that Rwanda will force a reappraisal of policy.
France tends to set store in 'la francophonie', which in its own
way can be compared to the british commonwealth. The population
of france is about 50 million. In its ex-colonies (plus those of
belgium) there exist 200 million people with french as a major
language.
Language might be a binding force, but so is the CFA (pron. Sayfaa),
the Communaute Financiere Africane franc, a currency currently used
by 14 African countries. The CFA franc is pegged to the french
franc and is guaranteed by the Bank of France. A stable currency
can be a boon, but it also brings degrees of dependence with it.
Also it is worth noting that French attitudes toward colonies differed
in some key ways to those of the other powers. 'Subjects' within
colonies were led to believe that there were as French as anyone
born in France. Leopold Senghor (Senegal) sat in the French
parliament and Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Cote D'Ivoire)was a French
cabinet minister before returning to his country to become
president.
France believes that these policies are to some extent
ongoing, and cares deeply about what happens in its 'sphere of
influence'. The French president has a bundle of advisers. He has
two sets for foreign policy. One deals with the European community,
the other with Africa. None for the USA.
Now, in the past it was illegal for French political parties to accept
money from business. So how did they fund their campaigns ? It
wasn't illegal to accept money from foreign countries..... Draw your
own conclusions.
Much has been made in posts of economic implications. Alas, the evidence
is, on the face of it, sparse. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for less
than 3% of France's foreign trade. It's only when you look closer
that it gets interesting. An example:
Bouyges is the largest French construction firm. It has the monopoly over
the distribution of water and electricity in Cote D'Ivoire. Houphouet
Boigny was a friend of Francis Bouyges, the founder of the company.
Surprisingly enough, Bouyges also built the Basilica at Yamassoukro,
and much of the surrounding infrastructure. (Anyone else been there ?
Amazing place. And very empty.)
Everyone know Elf, the petro-chemicals firm ? Elf-Aquitaine wanted to
start a company in Gabon. The new vice-president of the company
Elf-Gabon is a lady by the name of Pascaline Bongo, daughter of Gabons
minister of foreign affairs. In 1991, Elf-Gabon won 16 of 22 oil-
lifting contracts in Gabon.
Anyway, France has made noises about change before. In 1990 Mitterand
said that from then on French aid and assistance would only go to
those countries moving toward democracy. Yet soldiers assisted
Habyarimana in Rwanda, and rulers in Cameroon and Gabon got
re-elected in what might be termed unconventional manners.
France has also had a mixed policy toward Zaire (_the_ kleptocracy to
beat all kleptocracies). They had been steeling themselves toward
refusing Mobutu a visa to enter the country (though Mobutus wife
still whips back and forth). Trouble is that Mobutu may feel that
he is owed a favour after letting the French into Goma.
But this time change may come. In CAR, Mali, Benin, Congo and Niger
elections have been held where the ruling party was kicked out.
In January 1994 the CFA was devalued by 50%. This makes imported
(generally French) goods more expensive, but also makes exports
more competitive. It was also a difficult move in some ways, since
the CFA had been set at the same rate since 1948.
It appears that the French are seeking to shift some responsibility over
to the IMF and the World Bank. This year France wrote off all of the
debt owed to it by its poorest client countries, and half of that
owed by the better off. The World Bank has since invested 1.2 billion
US dollars.
The rules over party funding have also changed, which makes reliance
on overseas donations farless relevant to French political parties.
Less funding, less favours.
Much of the future may depend on French elections. The mainstream right
in France seems to like the old-style relationships; the left seems
to want change. If Chirac wins next year, don't hold your breath.
Background reading: "Ces Messieurs afrique:le Paris-Village du Continent
Noir". by Antoine Glaser and Stephen Smith.
Calmann-Levy, Paris 1992
--
Stewart Parkinson
"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when
looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated."
- Poul Anderson