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Uranium: a Case-Study in Franco-African Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Guy Martin
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Extract

France continues to wield considerable power and influence in Africa three decades after her former colonies achieved their independence. Based on a variety of socio-economic, political, and cultural interests, many of her actions in Africa are essentially neo-colonial in so far as they are designed to perpetuate the prevailing pattern of dominance.1 Yet, France also suffers from an almost excessive dependence on African sources for the supply of cheap minerals essential to her economy and national defence.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 1989 , pp. 625 - 640
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

1 See Martin, Guy, ‘The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases on France's African Policy’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 23, 2, 06 1985, pp. 189–208,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and ‘France and Africa’, in Aldrich, Robert and Connell, John (eds.), France in World Politics (London and New York, 1989), pp. 101–25.Google Scholar

2 Bayart, Jean-François, La Politique africaine de François Mitterand (Paris, 1984);Google ScholarChipman, John, French Power in Africa (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass., 1989);Google ScholarMartin, ‘The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases of France's African Policy’, p. 196, and ‘France and Africa’, pp. 104–5.Google Scholar

3 Ogunbadejo, Oye, The International Politics of Africa's Strategic Minerals (London and Westport, Conn., 1985), p. vii.Google Scholar

4 O.E.C.D., , Uranium: resources, production and demand (Paris, 1988), p. 34.Google Scholar

5 Munoz, Heraldo, ‘Strategic Dependency: relations between core powers and mineralexporting periphery countries’, in Kegley, Charles W. Jr, and McGowan, Pat (eds.), The Political Economy of Foreign Policy Behavior (Beverley Hills and London, 1981), pp. 191–3,Google Scholar and Yachir, Fayçal, Enjeux miniers en Afrique (Paris, 1987), pp. 21–42.Google Scholar

6 Munoz, loc. cit. p. 193.

7 ibid. pp. 195–6.

8 Libération-Afrique, , ‘Les Particules de Giscard: l'uranium africain’, in La France contre l'Afrique/Tricontinental (Paris), 1, 1981, p. 141.Google Scholar

9 ibid. p. 142.

10 O.E.C.D., , Uranium: resources, production and demand. Summary Report (Paris, 1988), p. 6.Google Scholar

11 O.E.C.D., , Uranium: resources, production and demand. Statistical Update, 1988 (Paris, 1988), pp. 3–7.Google Scholar

12 Owen, A. D., ‘The World Uranium Industry’, in Raw Materials Report (Stockholm), 2, 4, 1984, p. 15.Google Scholar

13 O.E.C.D., , Uranium: resources, production and demand (Paris, 1986), p. 190,Google Scholar and ibid.1988, p. 90.

14 O.E.C.D., Statistical Update, 1988, pp. 9–10. Four French companies are major shareholders of Canada's rich Cluff Lake deposits in Saskatchewan through Amok Ltd., namely, Compagnie française de Mokta (37%), C.E.A. (30%), Péchiney-Ugine-Kuhlmann (25%), and COGEMA (8%). In addition, the French firm known as MINATOME completely owns the Ben Lomond Australian uranium deposits in Queensland. Owen, loc. cit. pp. 10 and 15.

15 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1988, p. 89.

16 Yachir, Enjeux miniers en Afrique, p. 36.

17 O.E.C.D., Uranium: resources, production and demand, 1988, p. 93.

18 O.E.C.D., Summary Report, 1988, p. 9.

19 Secrétariat du Comité monétaire de la zone franc (Comozof), La Zone franc: rapport, 1986 (Paris, 1986), p. 359.Google Scholar

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22 ibid. pp. 196–202, and Passebois, Sophie, ‘Total: le carburant de l'apartheid’, in Apartheid Non (Paris), 64, 11 1986, pp. 42–3.Google Scholar

23 Ogunbadejo, op. cit. pp. 63–8, and Roberts, Alun, The Rossing File (London, 1980), published by the Campaign Against the Namibian Uranium Contract.Google Scholar

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25 Passebois, loc. cit. p. 75.

26 Cf. ibid. pp. 73–5.

27 Péan, Pierre, Affaires africaines (Paris, 1983), p. 20,Google Scholar and Reed, Michael C., ‘Gabon: a neocolonial enclave of enduring French interest’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 25, 2, 06 1987, pp. 283–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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30 I.M.F., Direction of Trade Statistics: Yearbook 1988 (Washington, D.C., 1988), p. 185.Google Scholar

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33 COMUF is jointly owned by the Government of Gabon (24·75%) and by a consortium of French companies (71·79%) that include Compagnie française de Mokta (39·98%), COGEMA (18·81 % ), and MINATOME (13%). Owen, loc. cit. p. 16.

34 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1986, pp. 199–201.

35 Comozof, La Zone franc, 1986, p. 359, and ibid. 1987, pp. 387–8.

36 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1986, pp. 201–2.

37 Higgott, Richard, ‘Structural Dependence and Decolonisation in a West African Land-Locked State: Niger’, in Review ofAfrican Political Economy (Sheffield), 17, 01–04 1980, pp. 387–8.Google Scholar

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40 O.E.C.D., Geographical Distribution, p. 180.

41 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1986, pp. 270–2.

42 Owen, loc. cit. pp. 17–18.

43 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1988, pp. 124–8.

44 ibid. pp. 125–6.

45 Comozof, La Zone franc, 1986, p. 359, and 1987, p. 352.

46 Owen, loc. cit. p. 18.

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49 ibid. pp. 102–3.

50 ibid. p. 105.

51 ibid. p. 112.

52 I.M.F., Yearbook, 1988, p. 130.

53 O.E.C.D., Geographical Distribution, p. 70.

54 Chipman, French Military Policy and African Security, pp. 24–5 and 50.

55 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1986, pp. 155–7.

56 Martin, Guy, ‘The Franc Zone, Underdevelopment and Dependency in Francophone Africa’, in Third World Quarterly (London), 8, 1, 01 1986, pp. 205–35.Google Scholar

57 Martin, ‘The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases of France's African Policy’, pp. 206–7, and ‘France and Africa’, pp. 115–17.

58 Comozof, op. cit. 1987, p. 352.

59 O.E.C.D., Uranium: resources, production and demand. Overview (Paris, 1986), pp. 14–23.Google Scholar

60 O.E.C.D., Uranium, 1986, p. 189, and 1988, p. 90.

61 Cf. Chipman's conclusion in French Power in Africa, p. 163, that ‘political relations with countries such as Niger and Gabon are maintained in part to ensure the continued supply of uranium to France’.