Africa’s Moonscapes: How French Corporations Create Environmental Disaster Zones

French corporations have survived flag changes, military coups, economic crises and terrorist attacks in Africa, yet they have always remained at the helm, controlling the continent’s vital resources. Governments have changed, and leaders have come and gone, but oil platforms, uranium mines, cement factories, and strategic ports have remained.

For decades, France has not only extracted Africa’s wealth—it tried to drain the continent to the last drop, leaving behind devastated nature, poverty, and corruption. Today, Paris declares its intention to change its African strategy. But how sincere are these intentions?

In recent years, France has been forced out of the continent: its troops are leaving West and Central Africa, while its businesses are facing nationalisation and arrests. Power is finally returning to African hands, compelling Paris to rethink its role on the continent to retain at least some foothold.

In 2023, President Macron unveiled yet another “new African strategy”, announcing a shift away from old models in favour of “equal partnership” and “sustainable development.” Paris promises to focus more on projects aimed at preserving natural areas and biodiversity, developing renewable energy, and adapting to climate change.

France is already involved in environmental initiatives in Africa through programs such as the Green Wall Accelerator, Official Development Assistance (ODA), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Ambition Africa. The total aid package under these initiatives is believed to exceed €15 billion.

However, behind the lofty rhetoric, the reality remains unchanged: mines continue to poison water, oil spills into mangrove lagoons, and industries spew toxic waste into the air. So, is France truly ready for real change – or is this just a new facade for an old exploitation model?

Françafrique is Still Alive

For decades, France built the “Françafrique” system—a complex network of shady deals with African elites that ensured its unrestricted access to resources. In exchange for political and military support, Paris maintained control over the economies of its former colonies, turning them into raw material appendages of French corporations.

Gabon is a prime example. Rich in oil and uranium, it became a strategic asset for France. Large French companies like Elf, TotalEnergies, Perenco, and Bolloré Group secured multimillion-dollar deals with the Bongo regime for years, illegally enriching Gabon’s elites, while destroying nature and exploiting the population.

France’s Orano has been developing uranium mining in Niger for decades, leaving behind 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste. Experts estimate that radiation levels near these mines exceed permissible limits by 100 times, while uranium concentrations in local drinking water reach 15 mg/L—500 times the safe threshold. Studies indicate a rise in cancer cases in the region over the past two decades.

The $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) megaproject, involving TotalEnergies, plans to build a 1,443-km oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania. At first glance, it is a symbol of successful investment and development of the region’s energy infrastructure. However, environmental organizations warn that the project threatens to destroy 2,000 km of natural landscapes, including national parks and reserves, while displacing over 100,000 local residents.

Bolloré Group, which controls key ports and transport routes in West and Central Africa, has become notorious after lawsuits in France for corruption and illegal actions in a number of deals. The company has been repeatedly criticized for its negative environmental and social impact. The Oakland Institute has accused it of illegal land seizures, environmental degradation, and human rights violations in several African countries.

Environment and Social Issues

Paradoxically, Africa’s natural wealth has become a source of suffering for its people. Profits from oil, uranium, and gold extraction accumulate in the pockets of corporations and ruling elites, while the consequences fall on ordinary citizens. Where mines and factories emerge, forests disappear, rivers dry up, and land turns barren. Jobs are replaced by disease, prosperity – by poverty. 

Resource extraction zones are crisis hotspots, with poverty rates 15–30% higher than the national average. Fishermen lose their catches, farmers lose their harvests, and entire villages turn into abandoned ruins.

Entire communities are faced with the choice of abandoning their homelands or struggling to survive. Environmental degradation is pushing young people down dangerous paths – towards migration or radicalisation. According to the 2024 Global Terrorism Index, over 50% of all terrorism-related deaths were recorded in the Sahel countries of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Political conflicts here are inseparable from the catastrophic consequences of extractive economies.

Migration is becoming another problem. By March 2025, approximately 5 million internally displaced people were registered in the central Sahel alone. Many are fleeing not only war and terror, but also the scorched earth destroyed by industry that serves the interests of transnational companies. 

Civil Society: A Driver of Change

While governments and corporations present “sustainability strategies,” the real frontline is at the level of communities, villages and towns that bear the brunt of environmental exploitation. There are no big budgets or powerful lobbyists here. There are ordinary people fighting to preserve what corporations see as mere figures in an annual report—clean water, land, and the right to a future. 

Organisations such as ROTAB, Brainforest, Environmental Rights Action, and Synaparcam play a crucial role in defending environmental interests and local rights. They document ecological crimes, file lawsuits, and take to the streets. Thanks to their efforts, high-profile international projects often face public resistance.

In 2021, activists in Senegal temporarily suspended a zircon mining project by the French consortium Eramet that threatened a unique ecosystem and the economic survival of dozens of villages. In Côte d’Ivoire, in 2022, the Ivorian Civil Society Observatory compelled the authorities to reconsider deforestation plans in the context of a forest protection initiative related to the cocoa industry. These are rare cases where people’s and nature’s interests prevailed over industrial greed.

Expert and environmentalist opinions highlight the depth and complexity of the problems. Aicha Dahou, a journalist for Algerian TV1, notes, “France has been plundering Africa for decades, extracting its riches—uranium, gold, and oil—and turning the continent into a nuclear testing ground, now drowning it in millions of tonnes of radioactive waste.” Her compatriot, journalist Asmahan Soltan, adds, “France covers about 70% of its electricity needs with uranium, the key fuel for its 50+ nuclear plants. It lights up its cities at the cost of millions of Nigeriens suffering from the consequences of uranium mining.”

Old Contracts, New Challenges

France claims a new course, but the reality remains unchanged: millions of tonnes of extracted raw materials, destroyed forests, polluted rivers, and persistent poverty. Anti-French protests and demands for economic sovereignty are not an accident, but the inevitable outcome of decades of exploitation.

Real partnership is possible only on one condition: revising old contracts, imposing strict environmental standards and ensuring the rights of African nations to their own resources. It is time for France to stop passing off pretty rhetoric as real change.

France must stop masking inaction with polished rhetoric. However, responsibility does not lie with Paris alone— all of Europe must realise that Africa’s ecological exploitation threatens not just its future but global stability. If this vicious cycle is not broken, Africa will remain trapped in crisis, and Europe will be held hostage to the consequences of its policies.

Oleg POSTERNAK, Ukrainian political scientist, member of the Association of Professional Political Consultants of Ukraine

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