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By instantly jumping to Russia/Wagner you are merely assisting radicalization by further antagonizing Africans. The USA tried to pin everything that went wrong since 2016 on Russia, did it fix anything? Look at any poll for 2024 and you shall have your answer.
Of course Wagner is pushing resentment and it's working... you're proving that now.
It is not. And there is legitimate a reason for that: France's continuous economic influence in Africa, through economic exploitation and military presence[1], which is creating this anti-french sentiment. The same influence that it contests from other countries now that they are expanding theirs.
[1] https://www.bic-rhr.com/research/francafrique-unveiling-anti...
France put itself in the 'opposition of african prosperity' position. Random examples: - Destroyed Lybia and refused to be held responsible. The US had the decency (?) to at least spend a 100 billions trying to repair Irak and Afghanistan. [1]
- Supporting Paul Biya [2], Ali Bongo and his father before him[3] , Idriss Deby [4] and his father before him, Faure Gnassingbe [5] and his father before him, Sassou Nguesso [6] is still terrorizing Congo... I can go on and on from 1949 to 2023.
- The currency of African countries is still printed and controlled by France [7]. France forces this countries to deposit half their money in French Treasurery. France industries hugely benefits from buying raw materials with a currency they control. African currencies are forced to be converted to Euro first, then to another one for exchanges.
- France routinely validates and congratulates Dictators after `winning` sham elections [8].
I fairly do not have a single good thing to say about the presence of France in Africa. France routinely lies about 'investing' in Africa. Where is the last power plant, hospital, or school built or invested in by France? In 10 years, we've seen roads, power plants, ports, airports, schools, universities from China, Turkey, Lebanon and even Russia (!) .
Now the french wants to whine about some russian 'fake news' being the reason why they are hated across a whole continent, which is not the case.
The french have been in Africa for the last 250 years. They have their neighbourhoods, their schools, their restaurants. They rarely mix with the local population for reasons other than sex.
Their priests and military personnel raped so many of our grand-mothers, and when caught were just sent to another african countries.
If somebody that has known you, learned your language and gastronomy, consumed your music and movies for 250 years does not want to be with you, it's not because of gossip.
France lost the plot, with the EU as with Africa, and they can only blame themselves for it.
[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/france...
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jul/26/f...
[3] https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/31/gabon-coup-military-afr...
[4] https://www.cadtm.org/Tchad-quand-la-France-avalise-le-coup-...
[5] https://www.france24.com/en/20200220-faure-gnassingbe-togo-l...
[6] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-france-idUSKCN0T02...
[7] https://hir.harvard.edu/true-sovereignty-the-cfa-franc-and-f...
[8] https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20210408-rfi-stands-behind-jour...
You know RFI is owned by the French government right?
If there is propaganda, it's ways to make France look more hospitable.
[edit] The French even regularly hold referendums in COMs like New Caledonia offering to cut them loose. But the last one they had 97% voted to remain part of France. Sometimes it’s good to be a dependency of a world power.
I should correct myself, New Caledonia isn’t a COM (collectivité d'outre-mer) anymore but a sui generis collectivity. But I digress.
On paper yes, unofficially it never stopped. It just went underground and got better PR, as now it's no longer enslavement under the barrel of a gun, but under the pressure of money.
Check out the CFA Franc[1] and Guinea, which was pressured by France to accept the CFA Franc currency, which brought financial instability and disadvantageous economic relationships between African countries and France.
Or how most of Africa's resources are exploited by French (and British) companies by bribing whatever corrupt despot rules each country with the blessing of French/UK leadership, to be allowed to extract valuable resources for pennies on the dollar way below market rate while the country and the people get nothing out of it. Sure, it's technically not colonialism, as the British/French flags are no longer planted there, but come one, it's basically outsourced colonialism with extra steps through middle men.
[1] https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/cfa-franc-the-colonial-curr...
Colonialism may have ended, but France continues to exert influence in Africa.
Yes, of course. Lots of countries exert influence in Africa. The PRC just opened its first off-shore military base Djibouti. Russia has whatever fresh hell the Wagner group is bringing - especially to the Central African Republic. America has bases in at least 10 African countries.
Colonialism may be over but challenges in managing international influence will always persist.
Something I find equally interesting is how apologists for European colonialism are perfectly content to claim 60 years is a long time (with the implication that it no longer matters), when systems were designed to explicitly keep the former colonies subservient, often including co-opting, or cultivating a corrupt elite. At what point would you say it became inconsequential? After 2 years? Two decades? 4?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpWb3MTV9bg
This is not about Africa but rather Haiti but I think the point stands.
Why can't France give Haiti USD 21B? Or even USD 100B. It doesn't have to be in one lump sum. Would that bankrupt France? When I look up France GDP, I see 2.958 trillion USD (2021).
Actually do some good in the world for once. (And make some money for French companies doing so). Build some physical infrastructure in Haiti. Clean drinking water, reforestation, etc...
a hundred billion dollars will go a long way in a country like Haiti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti_Independence_Debt#Aristi...