I see that several comments here doubt that the factual statements in the submitted article are true. That's something to think about before deciding how to respond to the article being posted here.
My comment on the substance of the article is that one way to reality-check French colonial policies in Africa is to see whether African countries that had a different history during the period of Western colonialism on the continent fared differently in recent decades. Ethiopia was an independent country except for a brief period of being conquered by Italy in the 1930s, becoming liberated again during World War II. Liberia was formally independent, although bound to the United States by economic ties as it was founded as a repatriation site for freed slaves from America. Various countries in Africa were British or Belgian or Portuguese or even (briefly) German colonies before gaining independence. Looking at what former colonies of a particular colonizing country have in common might shed a little light on what the varying colonial policies and post-colonial policies have done in Africa.
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I see that several comments here doubt that the factual statements in the submitted article are true. That's something to think about before deciding how to respond to the article being posted here.
My comment on the substance of the article is that one way to reality-check French colonial policies in Africa is to see whether African countries that had a different history during the period of Western colonialism on the continent fared differently in recent decades. Ethiopia was an independent country except for a brief period of being conquered by Italy in the 1930s, becoming liberated again during World War II. Liberia was formally independent, although bound to the United States by economic ties as it was founded as a repatriation site for freed slaves from America. Various countries in Africa were British or Belgian or Portuguese or even (briefly) German colonies before gaining independence. Looking at what former colonies of a particular colonizing country have in common might shed a little light on what the varying colonial policies and post-colonial policies have done in Africa.