Colonial states have also an ongoing responsability in the "poor Africa" myth.<p>For exemple Belgium still has a crunch on political life in CDR, though the soft power is now prefered (isn't dr Mukwege?) sometimes more violent events still have their origin in Western Europe.<p>France have more or less the same attitude with its former colonies. The convertibility of the FRANC CFA is assured by the French treasures [0]. Curiously several African leaders who made attempts to leave this currency, were assassinated.<p>The "Françafrique" is a system were French politicians received money without any conterpart (it was not even corruption!). See the story of Jacques Foccart and Robert Bourgui, who implemented and ran it for years [1]. They are weird and fascinating guys.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-17/african-monetary-union-stirs-criticism-of-france" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-17/african-m...</a><p>[1] (in French) <a href="https://www.challenges.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/qui-est-robert-bourgi-le-tres-embarrassant-ami-qui-a-paye-les-costumes-de-fillon_461228" rel="nofollow">https://www.challenges.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/qui-e...</a>