[News] 14 African Countries Forced by France to Pay Colonial Tax For the Benefits of Slavery and Colonization
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Feb 3 10:59:49 EST 2014
14 African Countries Forced by France to Pay Colonial Tax For the
Benefits of Slavery and Colonization
By: Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN <http://www.siliconafrica.com/author/admin/>
Tuesday, January 28th, 2014 at 3:41 pm.
*http://www.siliconafrica.com/france-colonial-tax/*
Did you know many African countries continue to pay colonial tax
to France since their independence till today!
When Sékou Touré of Guinea decided in 1958 to get out of french colonial
empire, and opted for the country independence, the french colonial
elite in Paris got so furious, and in a historic act of fury the french
administration in Guinea destroyed everything in the country which
represented what they called the benefits from french colonization.
Three thousand French left the country, taking all their property
and destroying anything that which could not be moved: schools,
nurseries, public administration buildings were crumbled; cars, books,
medicine, research institute instruments, tractors were crushed and
sabotaged; horses, cows in the farms were killed, and food in warehouses
were burned or poisoned.
The purpose of this outrageous act was to send a clear message to all
other colonies that the consequences for rejecting France would be very
high.
Slowly fear spread trough the african elite, and none after the Guinea
events ever found the courage to follow the example of Sékou Touré,
whose slogan was *"We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery."*
Sylvanus Olympio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvanus_Olympio>, the
first president of the Republic of Togo, a tiny country in west Africa,
found a middle ground solution with the French.
He didn't want his country to continue to be a french dominion,
therefore he refused to sign the colonisation continuation pact De Gaule
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle> proposed, but agree to
pay an annual debt to France for the so called benefits Togo got from
french colonization.
*It was the only conditions for the French not to destroy the country
before leaving.* 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.
The financial situation of the newly independent Togo was very unstable,
so in order to get out the situation, Olympio decided to get out the
french colonial money FCFA (the franc for french african colonies), and
issue the country own currency.
On January 13, 1963, three days after he started printing his country
own currency, a squad of illiterate soldiers backed by France killed the
first elected president of newly independent Africa. Olympio was
killed by an ex French Foreign Legionnaire army sergeant called Etienne
Gnassingbe
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1483018/Gnassingbe-Eyadema.html> who
supposedly received a bounty of $612 from the local French embassy for
the hit man job.
Olympio's dream was to build an independent and self-sufficient and
self-reliant country. But the French didn't like the idea.
On June 30, 1962, Modiba Keita
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modibo_Ke%C3%AFta> , the first president
of the Republic of Mali, decided to withdraw from the french colonial
currency FCFA which was imposed on 12 newly independent African
countries. For the Malian president, who was leaning more to a socialist
economy, it was clear that colonisation continuation pact with France
was a trap, a burden for the country development.
On November 19, 1968, like, Olympio, Keita will be the victim of a coup
carried out by another ex French Foreign legionnaire, the Lieutenant
Moussa Traoré <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moussa_Traor%C3%A9>.
*In fact during that turbulent period of African fighting to liberate
themselves from European colonization, France would repeatedly use many
ex Foreign legionnaires
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion> to carry out coups
against elected presidents:*
* - On January 1st, 1966, Jean-Bédel Bokassa
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%C3%A9del_Bokassa>, an ex
french foreign legionnaire, carried a coup against David Dacko
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dacko>, the first President of
the Central African Republic.
* - On January 3, 1966, Maurice Yaméogo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Yam%C3%A9ogo>, the first
President of the Republic of Upper Volta, now called Burkina Faso,
was victim of a coup carried by Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana
<http://www.siliconafrica.com/france-colonial-tax/Aboubacar%20Sangoul%C3%A9%20Lamizana>,
an ex French legionnaire who fought with french troops in
Indonesia and Algeria against these countries independence.
* - on 26 October 1972, Mathieu Kérékou
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathieu_K%C3%A9r%C3%A9kou> who was a
security guard to President Hubert Maga
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Maga>, the first President of
the Republic of Benin, carried a coup against the president, after
he attended French military schools from 1968 to 1970.
*In fact, during the last 50 years, a total of 67 coups happened in 26
countries in Africa, 16 of those countries are french ex-colonies, which
means 61% of the coups happened in Francophone Africa.*
Number of Coups in Africa
<http://afriqueindependance.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/coups-detat-en-afrique-le-role-toxique-de-la-france/>
by country
*Ex French colonies * *Other African countries*
*Country * *Number of coup* *Country* *number of coup*
Togo 1 Egypte 1
Tunisia 1 Libye 1
Cote d'Ivoire 1 Equatorial Guinea 1
Madagascar 1 Guinea Bissau 2
Rwanda 1 Liberia 2
Algeria 2 Nigeria *3*
Congo -- RDC 2 Ethiopia *3*
Mali 2 Ouganda *4*
Guinea Conakry 2 Soudan *5*
*SUB-TOTAL 1* *13*
Congo *3*
Tchad *3*
Burundi *4*
Central Africa *4*
Niger *4*
Mauritania *4*
Burkina Faso *5*
Comores *5*
***SUB*-TOTAL 2 *32*
*TOTAL (1 + 2)* *45* *TOTAL* *22*
As these numbers demonstrate, France is quite desperate but active to
keep a strong hold on his colonies what ever the cost, no matter what.
In March 2008, former French President Jacques Chirac
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac> said:
*"Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third
[world] power"*
Chirac's predecessor François Mitterand
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Mitterand> already
prophesied in 1957 that:
* "Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century"*
At this very moment I'm writing this article, 14 african countries are
obliged by France, trough a colonial pact, to put 85% of their foreign
reserve into France central bank under French minister of Finance
control. Until now, 2014, Togo and about 13 other african countries
still have to pay colonial debt to France. African leaders who refuse
are killed or victim of coup. Those who obey are supported and rewarded
by France with lavish lifestyle while their people endure extreme
poverty, and desperation.
It's such an evil system even denounced by the European Union, but
France is not ready to move from that* colonial system which puts about
500 billions dollars from Africa to its treasury year in year out.*
We often accuse African leaders of corruption and serving western
nations interests instead, but there is a clear explanation for that
behavior. They behave so because they are afraid the be killed or victim
of a coup. They want a powerful nation to back them in case of
aggression or trouble. But, contrary to a friendly nation protection,
the western protection is often offered in exchange of these leaders
renouncing to serve their own people or nations' interests.
*African leaders would work in the interest of their people if they were
not constantly stalked and bullied by colonial countries.*
In 1958, scared about the consequence of choosing independence from
France, Leopold Sédar Senghor
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9opold_Senghor> declared: "The
choice of the Senegalese people is independence; they want it to take
place only in friendship with France, not in dispute."
From then on France accepted only an "independence on paper" for his
colonies, but signed binding "Cooperation Accords", detailing the nature
of their relations with France, in particular ties to France colonial
currency (the Franc), France educational system, military and commercial
preferences.
Below are the 11 main components of the Colonisation continuation pact
since 1950s:
#1. Colonial Debt for the benefits of France colonization
The newly "independent" countries should pay for the infrastructure
built by France in the country during colonization.
I still have to find out the complete details about the amounts, the
evaluation of the colonial benefits and the terms of payment imposed on
the african countries, but we are working on that (help us with info).
#2. Automatic confiscation of national reserves
The African countries should deposit their national monetary
reserves into France Central bank.
France has been holding the national reserves of fourteen african
countries since 1961: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast,
Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad,
Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
"The monetary policy governing such a diverse aggregation of countries
is uncomplicated because it is, in fact, operated by the French
Treasury, without reference to the central fiscal authorities of any of
the WAEMU or the CEMAC. Under the terms of the agreement which set up
these banks and the CFA the Central Bank of each African country is
obliged to keep at least 65% of its foreign exchange reserves in an
"/operations account/" held at the French Treasury, as well as another
20% to cover financial liabilities.
The CFA central banks also impose a cap on credit extended to each
member country equivalent to 20% of that country's public revenue in the
preceding year. Even though the BEAC and the BCEAO have an overdraft
facility with the French Treasury, the drawdowns on those overdraft
facilities are subject to the consent of the French Treasury. The final
say is that of the French Treasury which has invested the foreign
reserves of the African countries in its own name on the Paris Bourse.
In short, more than 80% of the foreign reserves of these African
countries are deposited in the "/operations accounts/" controlled by the
French Treasury. The two CFA banks are African in name, but have no
monetary policies of their own. The countries themselves do not know,
nor are they told, how much of the pool of foreign reserves held by the
French Treasury belongs to them as a group or individually.
The earnings of the investment of these funds in the French Treasury
pool are supposed to be added to the pool but no accounting is given to
either the banks or the countries of the details of any such changes.
The limited group of high officials in the French Treasury who have
knowledge of the amounts in the "/operations accounts/", where these
funds are invested; whether there is a profit on these investments; are
prohibited from disclosing any of this information to the CFA banks or
the central banks of the African states ." Wrote Dr. Gary K. Busch
<http://www.ocnus.net>
It's now estimated that France is holding close to 500 billions African
countries money in its treasury, and would do anything to fight anyone
who want to shed a light on this dark side of the old empire.
*The African countries don't have access to that money. *
France allows them to access only 15% of the money in any given year. If
they need more than that, they have to borrow the extra money from their
own 65% from the French Treasury at commercial rates.
To make things more tragic, France impose a cap on the amount of money
the countries could borrow from the reserve. The cap is fixed at 20% of
their public revenue in the preceding year. If the countries need to
borrow more than 20% of their own money, France has a veto.
Former French President Jacques Chirac
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac> recently spoke about the
African nations money in France banks. Here is a video of him speaking
about the french exploitation scheme. He is speaking in French, but here
is a short excerpt transcript: "We have to be honest, and acknowledge
that a big part of the money in our banks come precisely from the
exploitation of the African continent."
#3. Right of first refusal on any raw or natural resource
discovered in the country
France has the first right to buy any natural resources found in the
land of its ex-colonies. It's only after France would say, "I'm not
interested", that the African countries are allowed to seek other partners.
#4. Priority to French interests and companies in public
procurement and public biding
In the award of government contracts, French companies must be
considered first, and only after that these countries could look
elsewhere. It doesn't matter if the african countries can obtain better
value for money elsewhere.
As consequence, in many of the french ex-colonies, all the majors
economical assets of the countries are in the hand of french
expatriates. In Côte d'Ivoire, for example, french companies own and
control all the major utilities -- water, electricity, telephone,
transport, ports and major banks. The same in commerce, construction,
and agriculture.
In the end, as I've written in a previous article, Africans now Live On
A Continent Owned by Europeans!
<http://www.siliconafrica.com/africans-live-on-a-continent-onwed-by-europeans/>
#5. Exclusive right to supply military equipment and Train the
country military officers
Through a sophisticated scheme of scholarships, grants, and "Defense
Agreements" attached to the Colonial Pact, the africans should send
their senior military officers for training in France or French
ran-training facilities.
The situation on the continent now is that France has trained hundreds,
even thousands of traitors and nourish them. They are dormant when they
are not needed, and activated when needed for a coup or any other purpose!
#6. Right for France to pre-deploy troops and intervene military
in the country to defend its interests
Under something called "Defence Agreements" attached to the Colonial
Pact, France had the legal right to intervene militarily in the African
countries, and also to station troops permanently in bases and military
facilities in those
countries, run entirely by the French.
French military bases in Africa
French-military-bases-in-africa
<http://www.siliconafrica.com/wp-content/themes/directorypress/thumbs//French-military-bases-in-africa.png>
When President Laurent Gbagbo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Gbagbo> of Côte d'Ivoire tried to
end the French exploitation of the country, France organized a coup.
During the long process to oust Gbagbo, France tanks, helicopter
gunships and Special Forces intervened directly in the conflit, fired on
civilians and killed many.
To add insult to injury, France estimated that the French business
community had lost several millions of dollars when in the rush to leave
Abidjan in 2006 the French Army massacred 65 unarmed civilians and
wounded 1,200 others.
After France succeeded the coup, and transferred power to Alassane
Outtara <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alassane_Ouattara>, France
requested Ouattara government to pay compensation to French business
community for the losses during the civil war.
Indeed the Ouattara government paid them twice what they said they had
lost in leaving.
#7. Obligation to make French the official language of the country
and the language for education
/Oui, Monsieur. Vous devez parlez français, la langue de Molière!/
A French language and culture dissemination organization has been
created called "Francophonie" with several satellites and affiliates
organizations supervised by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
As demonstrated in this article
<http://www.siliconafrica.com/following-rwanda-senegal-to-replace-french-by-english-to-develop-the-country-faster/>,
if French is the only language you speak, you'd have access to less than
4% of humanity knowledge and ideas. That's very limiting.
#8. Obligation to use France colonial money FCFA
That's the real milk cow for France, but it's such an evil system even
denounced by the European Union, but France is not ready to move from
that colonial system which puts about 500 billions dollars from Africa
to its treasury.
During the introduction of Euro currency in Europe, other european
countries discovered the french exploitation scheme. Many, specially
the nordic countries, were appalled and suggested France get rid of the
system, but unsuccessfully.
#9. Obligation to send France annual balance and reserve report.
Without the report, no money.
Anyway the secretary of the Central banks of the ex-colonies, and the
secretary of the bi-annual meeting of the Ministers of Finance of the
ex-colonies is carried out by France Central bank / Treasury.
#10. Renonciation to enter into military alliance with any other
country unless authorized by France
African countries in general are the ones with will less regional
military alliances. Most of the countries have only military alliances
with their ex-colonisers! (funny, but you can't do better!).
In the case France ex-colonies, France forbid them to seek other
military alliance except the one it offered them.
#11. Obligation to ally with France in situation of war or global
crisis
Over one million africans soldiers
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8344170.stm> fought for the defeat of
nazism and fascism during the second world war.
Their contribution is often ignored or minimized, but when you think
that it took only 6 weeks for Germany to defeat France in 1940, France
knows that Africans could be useful for fighting for la "Grandeur de la
France" in the future.
*There is something almost psychopathic in the relation of France with
Africa. *
First, France is severely addicted to looting and exploitation of
Africa since the time of slavery. Then there is this complete lack of
creativity and imagination of french elite to think beyond the past and
tradition.
Finally, France has 2 institutions which are completely frozen into the
past, inhabited by paranoid and psychopath "haut fonctionnaires" who
spread fear of apocalypse if France would change, and whose ideological
reference still comes from the 19th century romanticism: they are the
Minister of Finance and Budget of France and the Minister of Foreign
affairs of France.
These 2 institutions are not only a threat to Africa, but to the French
themselves.
*It's up to us as African to free ourselves, without asking for
permission, because I still can't understand for example how 450 french
soldiers in Côte d'Ivoire could control a population of 20 millions
people!? *
People first reaction when they learn about the french colonial tax is
often a question: "Until when?"
For historical comparison, France made Haiti
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti> to pay the modern
equivalent of $21 billion from 1804 till 1947 (almost one century and
half) for the losses caused to french slave traders by the abolition of
slavery <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti> and the
liberation of the Haitian slaves.
African countries are paying the colonial tax only for the last 50
years, so I think one century of payment might be left!
--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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