This economic slavery is important for the development of the French economy. Whenever this traffic is likely to fail, France is ready for anything to reconquer it.
If a leader of the CFA zone no longer meets the requirements of France, Paris is blocking its foreign exchange reserves and more, France closes the banks in this country considered “rebel”.This was the case of Côte d’Ivoire with Laurent Gbagbo. A German newspaper accuses France of looting 440 billion euros each year to Africans through the CFA Franc.“The French government collects from its former colonies each year 440 billion euros of taxes. France relies on the revenues coming from Africa, not to sink into economic insignificance, warns the former president Jacques Chirac. In the 1950s and 60s, France decided the French colonies of Africa to become independent. Although the Paris government accepted formal declarations of independence, it called on African countries to sign a so-called “pact for the continuation of colonization.” They agreed to introduce the French colonial currency FCFA (“Franc for the French colonies in Africa”), to maintain the French schools and military system, and to establish French as an official language. The CFA franc is the denomination of the common currency of 14 African countries members of the Franc Zone.
If a leader of the CFA zone no longer meets the requirements of France, Paris is blocking its foreign exchange reserves and more, France closes the banks in this country considered “rebel”.This was the case of Côte d’Ivoire with Laurent Gbagbo. A German newspaper accuses France of looting 440 billion euros each year to Africans through the CFA Franc.“The French government collects from its former colonies each year 440 billion euros of taxes. France relies on the revenues coming from Africa, not to sink into economic insignificance, warns the former president Jacques Chirac. In the 1950s and 60s, France decided the French colonies of Africa to become independent. Although the Paris government accepted formal declarations of independence, it called on African countries to sign a so-called “pact for the continuation of colonization.” They agreed to introduce the French colonial currency FCFA (“Franc for the French colonies in Africa”), to maintain the French schools and military system, and to establish French as an official language. The CFA franc is the denomination of the common currency of 14 African countries members of the Franc Zone.
This currency, which constitutes a brake on the emergence of these countries, was created in 1945 when France ratified the Bretton Woods agreements and proceeded to implement its first declaration of parity to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This was called “Franc of the French Colonies of Africa”.Under this law, 14 African countries are still obliged to store about 85 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves at the Banque de France in Paris. They are under the direct control of the French Treasury. The countries concerned do not have access to this part of their reserves. As the 15 per cent of reserves are insufficient for their needs, they must borrow additional funds from the French Treasury at market prices. Since 1961, Paris controls all foreign exchange reserves in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
In addition, these countries must each year transfer their “colonial debt” for infrastructure built in France to Paris as Silicon Africa 3 reported in detail. France takes around 440 billion euros a year. The government in Paris also has a right of first refusal on all newly discovered natural resources in African countries. Finally, French companies must have priority in awarding contracts in former colonies. As a result, there are the most assets in the fields of supply, finance, transport, energy and agriculture in the hands of French companies. The ruling elite in each African country must fulfil these compulsory claims without any other choice. African leaders who refuse are threatened with assassination or overthrow of their government.
Over the past 50 years, there have been 67 coups d’état in 26 African countries. 16 of these 26 countries were former colonies of France. An example is the first president of Togo West Africa, Sylvanus Olympio, overthrown by a coup. He had refused to sign the “Pact for the Continuation of Settlement”. But France insisted that Togo pay the compensation for the infrastructures that had been built by the French during the colonial period. The sum is equivalent to about 40 per cent of households in Togo in 1963, requiring the fairly independent country to reach its economic limits quickly.
In addition, the new president of Togo decided to remove and print his own national currency, the French colonial currency FCFA. Three days after this decision, the new government was overthrown by a group of former foreign legionaries and the President killed. The head of the Legionaries, Gnassingbe Eyadema, received 550 euros from the French embassy for the attack, according to the British Telegraph. Four years later Eyadema was promoted with the support of Paris, the new president of Togo. He established a tyrannical dictatorship in this West African country and remained in power until his death in 2005.
In the following years, the Paris government kept the link with the former legionaries to overthrow unpopular governments in its former colonies. This was the case of the first president of the Central African Republic, David Dacko, overthrown by former members of the Foreign Legion in 1966. The same thing happened to the President of Burkina Faso, Maurice Yaméogo, and with the President of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou, the author of a coup d’état. This was also the case of the first President of the Republic of Mali Modiba Keita, who was also the victim of a coup by former legionnaires in 1968. The reason, a few years earlier, he had simply decided to part with the French colonial currency. “As a proof to this accusations by the German Newspaper, South Africa’s EFF leader, Julius Malema earlier in the year also attest to the fact that up until now, the French nation still getting Tax from African states and that everyone must accept that.
Superior Logic@EFFexplained
Replying to @EFFexplained8. Julius Malema - "Lets transform the economy to benefit all, we cannot protect white privilege at the expense of the majority African people in South African and African continent, we are hated for that. We seeks to inspire confidence among many many African masses."
Superior Logic9. Julius Malema - "France is still getting colonial tax from African states and we must accept that. We want African to have control over their currency and their economy. Our struggle will inspire that."710694 people are talking about this
Bloomberg also reported that a hoard of cash sits in the Bank of France: $20 billion in African money held in trust by the French government and earning just 0.75 per cent interest. Now economists and politicians from 14 Central and West African countries say they want their funds returned and an arrangement dating back to the days of France’s colonial empire ended.
France holds the money to guarantee that the CFA franc, the currency used in the 14 nations, stays convertible into euros at a fixed exchange rate of 655.957. The compulsory deposits started more than half a century ago when the then-colonies had to place all their financial reserves in the French Treasury. The deposit requirement has dropped over the decades: Today the African members entrust 50 per cent of their reserves to Paris.
France’s Colonial Tax Still Enforced for Africa. “Bleeding Africa and Feeding France”.When Guinea demanded independence from French colonial rule in 1958, the French unleashed their fury with more than 3,000 leaving the country taking their entire property. In addition, they destroyed anything that couldn’t be taken – destroying schools, nurseries, public administration buildings, cars, books, medicine, research institute instruments, tractors were crushed and sabotaged, animals killed and food in warehouses were burned or poisoned. In effect, they were sending a message to all other colonies that the consequences for rejecting France would be high. Colonialism as an enduring stain in Africa’s history and economic oppression continue to exist. An article by Mawuna Remarque Koutonin, peace activist and editor of SiliconAfrica.com addressed this practice.
The article called attention to an ongoing practice by which former African countries are forced to pay a colonial tax to France even today. In fact, France continues to thrive on the practice, which extracts approximately 500 billion dollars from African countries each year. After the French destroyed Guinea who had sought independence, the alternative was to pay a tax. No African country could estimate the effect this had on 14 different countries. As Koutonin notes, this outrageous tax deprives African economies of much-needed funds, exacerbates debt, and strips their authority over their own natural reserves. But the detriments are more than just economic, as the ills of colonialism manifest in social ways that are equally devastating to the dignity and identity of the African people:Sylvanus Olympio, the first president of the Republic of Togo, instead of signing the colonisation continuation pact with De Gaulle, instead agreed to pay an annual debt to France for the so-called benefits of French colonisation.
This prevented the French not destroying the country before they left, however, the amount estimated by France was so big that the reimbursement of the so-called “colonial debt” was close to 40% of the country budget in 1963. Olympio’s dream was to build an independent and self-sufficient and self-reliant country but the French had him killed by a sergeant who was given a $612 bounty by the French embassy. History has shown that despite years of African fighting to liberate themselves, France repeatedly used many ex-foreign legionnaires to carry out coups against elected presidents.
This included Jean-Bedel Bokassa who assassinated David Dacko, the first President of the Central African Republic. In the last 50 years, a total of 67 coups has occurred in 26 African countries, of which 16 are ex-French colonies. This indicates that France is desperate to hold on to whatever land it has in Africa. In March 2008, former French President Jacques Chirac said: “Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third [world] power” and that Chirac’s predecessor François Mitterand already prophesied in 1957 that:“Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century”.
The article called attention to an ongoing practice by which former African countries are forced to pay a colonial tax to France even today. In fact, France continues to thrive on the practice, which extracts approximately 500 billion dollars from African countries each year. After the French destroyed Guinea who had sought independence, the alternative was to pay a tax. No African country could estimate the effect this had on 14 different countries. As Koutonin notes, this outrageous tax deprives African economies of much-needed funds, exacerbates debt, and strips their authority over their own natural reserves. But the detriments are more than just economic, as the ills of colonialism manifest in social ways that are equally devastating to the dignity and identity of the African people:Sylvanus Olympio, the first president of the Republic of Togo, instead of signing the colonisation continuation pact with De Gaulle, instead agreed to pay an annual debt to France for the so-called benefits of French colonisation.
This prevented the French not destroying the country before they left, however, the amount estimated by France was so big that the reimbursement of the so-called “colonial debt” was close to 40% of the country budget in 1963. Olympio’s dream was to build an independent and self-sufficient and self-reliant country but the French had him killed by a sergeant who was given a $612 bounty by the French embassy. History has shown that despite years of African fighting to liberate themselves, France repeatedly used many ex-foreign legionnaires to carry out coups against elected presidents.
This included Jean-Bedel Bokassa who assassinated David Dacko, the first President of the Central African Republic. In the last 50 years, a total of 67 coups has occurred in 26 African countries, of which 16 are ex-French colonies. This indicates that France is desperate to hold on to whatever land it has in Africa. In March 2008, former French President Jacques Chirac said: “Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third [world] power” and that Chirac’s predecessor François Mitterand already prophesied in 1957 that:“Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century”.