ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the objective is to present the constitutional evolution of francophone Africa, with an emphasis of the role played by semi-presidentialism in the region’s political development. Francophone Africa is here understood large as including not only the territories of the former administrative federations of French West and Equatorial Africa,1 but also the francophone former Belgian colonies of Congo (later Zaire and now Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC), Rwanda and Burundi. Though not former French colonial territories, the latter three countries developed close links with France following independence.
