Is France proud of its footprints in colonial Africa? (3)

Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, Business a.m.’s Editorial Advisor, who graduated in veterinary medicine from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, before establishing himself in science and public policy journalism and communication, also has a postgraduate diploma in public administration, and is a former special adviser to two former Nigerian ministers of agriculture. He specialises in development and policy issues in the areas of food, trade and competition, security, governance, environment and innovation, politics and emerging economies.
December 30, 2024293 views0 comments
STABILITY, NOT DEMOCRACY, is the main interest of France in Chad. Its resources still remain one main reason for the continued presence of France within the Central African country. This is not an assumption. Rather, it was given expression in words and action. This was clearly stated a few years ago — in April 2021 — by President Emmanuel Macron at N’djamena in a speech while paying tribute to the deceased Idriss Déby Itno. Macron was so vociferous, saying France will not tolerate threats against Chad. “France will not let anybody put into question or threaten today or tomorrow Chad’s stability and integrity,” Macron said. Apart from several African presidents present at the state funeral of Idriss Déby Itno, the slain Chadian leader, Macron was the only Western head of state in attendance. He was sitting side by side with Mahamat, the son and successor of Chad’s long-term maximum ruler. Mahamat Idriss Déby, who emerged as Chad’s new head of state by mere succession without election, became France’s new beautiful bride. Expectedly, and to continue to be relevant in Chad, France had to pin its hopes on the new leader without asking questions or raising an eyebrow on the process of his emergence.
France had reasons to back Mahamat as he called Déby, Mahamat’s father, a “friend” and “courageous leader.” He did not speak of Déby’s authoritarian rule as he was warming up to his son who immediately mounted the saddle. Following the ascendancy of Mahamat, President Emmanuel Macron received the interim president Mahamat at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on February 6, 2023. This is nothing but a clear endorsement of Mahamat as the new leader of Chad. During that visit, both Macron and Mahamat reportedly discussed “all regional issues, including Sudan, Libya and Niger, as well as the return of our military resources to France.” The meeting “also enabled the two presidents to discuss the continuation of the political transition in Chad,” the French president’s office added. Mahamat needed such a visit to cement his legitimacy. However, underscoring France’s hypocritical stance on Chad’s leadership was Macron’s double standard in kicking against the return of military rulers to Mali, Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso before Mahamat’s visit and the all-out opposition to the ousting of Mohamed Bazoum of Niger by the military five months after Mahamat’s visit. It means France will accept any government in any of its former colonial African countries as long as it is compliant and ready to do France’s bidding.
Read Also:
It was not altogether surprising that France had no problem with the election that enabled Mahamat to become a civilian president as he was sworn in as president after three years of military rule in May 2024. On his part, Mahamat’s own game was all too obvious. “I would like to say that I respect your choice, which contributes to the vitality of our democracy,” Mahamat said upon taking the oath of office as an elected president. Just like he glossed over in the case of Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire — who changed the country’s constitution to enable him run for the third term — Macron chose to look the other way on Mahamat’s emergence as civilian president. For France, both Ouattara and Mahamat have become French allies and useful resources. The reference to the deposed Bazoum of Niger as a French and Western ally provides an insight into which nation’s interest they serve best while in power as they serve as French proxies in their respective countries.
The enduring interest of France in Chad runs through decades, perhaps a century or more. In the era of full colonial control, France came to perceive Chad primarily as a source of raw cotton and untrained labour to be used in the more productive colonies to the south. France had no big plan for Chad as the latter did not seem to have much to justify the expense involved in attempts to explore and exploit the Central African country. France seemed tardy within Chad as there was neither the will nor the resources to do much more than maintain a semblance of law and order. That was then. But a lot of resources from the subsoil have been discovered and France is still around to help Chad explore and exploit them. In Chad’s most recent history, much industrial development has centered around the exploitation and production of oil. In oil and other minerals, value-addition is at the very early stages as Chad’s mining sector still remains underdeveloped and the country’s mineral resources are under-explored. The only mineral currently exported from Chad is sodium carbonate, also known as natron. In December 2023, it was disclosed that Paris would fund further natural resource mapping in Chad. In this project, French geologists are expected to help Chad to continue with its inventory of its mining potential, with the involvement of the mines minister Abdelkerim Mahamat
Since the government of Chad has identified mining as a priority investment sector, the sustained interest of France is understandable, particularly as French private and government investors own a substantial portion of Chad’s industrial and financial institutions, and the French treasury is there to support. France remains Chad’s leading bilateral development assistance partner — excluding humanitarian and food aid. Within three consecutive years of 2019, 2020 and 2021, the funding of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in Chad totalled €60 million and rose to €85 million in 2022. Chad is endowed with diverse natural resources including petroleum, uranium, gold and limestone. However, nearly 78 percent of the population still lives in rural areas. It is hoped that — in spite or because of the minerals to be exploited — Chad will not suffer resource curse or go the way of Niger, its Western neighbour, in the hands of France.
For 40 years, Niger has been one of the world’s largest uranium producers, but it is still one of the poorest countries on the planet. French multinational mining operations have led to the contamination of water, air and soil by radioactive substances in places where ordinary Nigeriens reap little benefit from France’s control of Niger’s uranium resources while 60 percent of the population live below the poverty line and roads used by trucks carrying uranium are in poor condition. It is feared that the case of Chad might not be any different. The reasons for France’s enthusiasm about Chad may have just begun to unfold. Chad has been the most consistent target of French military activism. French politicians dispatched troops to protect a variety of Chadian dictatorships in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including in the 90s when Idriss Déby Itno came on board. To protect the regime of Hissène Habré against the advance of Libyan forces and Libyan-backed rebels, in 1986, France launched Operation Epervier. For France, it did not seem to matter whatever atrocities Habré committed while in office. French forces have remained in the country ever since. In 2016, Habré was convicted of crimes against humanity. Over the years, succession in office of president in Chad has not always been peaceful. But, was that a problem for France? Probably not.
Notwithstanding the disposition of France, things appear to be changing even in their weak former colonies, and some leaders are becoming intolerant of the pervasive influence of France on their politics and economy. Speaking at the celebrations marking the 55th anniversary of the independence of Chad on 11 August 2015, President Idriss Déby declared that “we must have the courage to say there is a cord preventing development in Africa that must be severed.” To be more direct, the ‘cord’ he was referring to is now 79 years old. It is known by the acronym ‘CFA franc,’ – officially created on 26 December 1945 by a decree of General de Gaulle. It has held a strong ground in its West and Central African colonies since then. To uphold the CFA franc, it is argued, France has never hesitated to jettison heads of state tempted to withdraw from the system. In the West African subregion, the Monetary Union (WAEMU) is made up of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo as the African Financial Community franc. A similar arrangement was forged for the six members of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC), consisting of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad in the form of Central African Financial Cooperation franc. The two zones possess economies of equal size – each representing 11 percent of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa. The two currencies, however, are not inter-convertible.
Despite the longstanding monetary accords between African nations and France, the CFA franc may now be headed for the rocks, especially as the recent attempts by France to subtly change it to ‘Eco’ in West Africa through the backdoor has failed after it was resisted by the Anglophone countries. Now, apart from Idriss Déby, many more are speaking up. They seem no longer impressed by what the CFA franc has been to them, which now continues under the euro regime. A fixed rate of exchange with the euro (as previously done with the French franc; set at 1 euro = 655.957 CFA francs), a French guarantee of the unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros and a centralisation of foreign exchange reserves now seem increasingly intolerable. Many heads of states now question the continuation of the culture in which – since 2005, the two central banks – the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) have been required to deposit 50 percent of their foreign exchange reserves in a special French Treasury ‘operating account’. The fact that this figure stood at 100 percent immediately following independence but has been reduced to 65 percent from 1973 to 2005, and 50 percent thereafter to date does not make it any longer attractive.
The replacement of the escudo and the French franc by the euro on January 1, 1999 should have meant a revision of the existing arrangement and invalidation of the CFA franc altogether in francophone African countries. But France still retains the authority to continue its present agreements with the Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA), the Communauté économique et monétaire de l’Afrique centrale (CEMAC) and the Comores as Portugal was also authorised to continue its present agreement with Cape Verde since the date of introduction of the euro.
This arrangement, which was a quid pro quo for the French ‘guarantee’ of convertibility, was probably intended to continue to keep the former colonies under perpetual control as it stipulated that foreign exchange reserves must exceed money in circulation by a margin of 20 percent. Did France envisage that this arrangement could one day be challenged by any francophone country? Probably not. Although France, by its political and economic contrivances seemingly had no big plans for Francophone Africa, they are now demanding it by themselves. Supporting the tenure extension of Ouattara in Côte d’Ivoire, or glossing over the installation of the military in power as in Chad in 2021, may not always help France to retain its hold on these countries. Chad has just demonstrated it a few weeks ago as it announced that it will no longer continue with the military pact with France. In the not too distant future, it will not be surprising if Chad decides to join the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS or AES). France should be prepared for more shockers as its former colonies wrestle with it for their self rule without France’s interference. France now has reasons to rethink its place in the economy of Europe. But it may not remain the same again after African countries have become free from its stranglehold.
- business a.m. commits to publishing a diversity of views, opinions and comments. It, therefore, welcomes your reaction to this and any of our articles via email: comment@businessamlive.com