fantassin
LE

Oh Fantassin. The problem in Africa has far more to do with EUropean pre defined borders. That in itself was a method of control that France played as well as us and others. Those ex colonies would as a matter of course call on France.CFA is not really an obligation, in fact it ties Francophone Africa to the Euro and by definition to France as a Global player and I can assure you it does not prevent corruption at the highest level. Some African traders don’t even realise thatCFA is non controvertible , but in my experience Chinese will take in CFA taking the long term view. Nigerians on the other hand always carry principle currencies.
But the thing is that many of those French missions are UN backed, simply because France can’t control those areas single handly. They also KNOW the EU has a policy of paying up.
History is history. France has left its colonies about 60 years ago now. Those nations that are "tied" and have French bases are doing it because it suits them; there are actually more nations wanting to have French bases in Africa than France has money to accept the invitations....
Corruption is of course there but the non convertibility means that the printed money stays in the countries, where it is needed. The absence of printed money or the very poor state of the banknotes making them scarce has often been an issue in those areas.
All French missions are as backed as can be, by the UN, the AU, ECOWAS etc, etc. so as to have a legal framework and to defect accusations of imperialism.
There is no ambition to "control" those areas. The ambition is to support the various local Gvts to do so