ABSTRACT
In economic terms, France's approach remained as acquisitive as it was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries yet, because of its sophistication, considerably more efficient. Strategically, successive French presidents in the post-war period tended to view Africa as an extension of Europe with its untapped reservoirs of raw materials vital to the economies and the strength of the Old World. In the political context, France's approach to Africa was simplistic and neutral. France's role in the African francophone states and, later, in Zaire, attracted closer scrutiny and generated heated disputes. Most states adhered to the franc zone, a currency system managed by the Bank of France and vesting effective control of francophone monetary policies in Parisian hands. In the 1967-70 Nigerian civil war France sent arms to the Biafran separatists through neighbouring francophone countries and President de Gaulle proclaimed political and moral support for the Biafran cause.
