Article content

Africa may have achieved independence, but the old colonial ties are still important as France’s decision to send troops to Mali to fight Islamist extremists shows. The old colonial powers in Africa may no longer be the rulers, but they still exert influence and have strong economic and political links. David McDonald, professor of the Global Development Studies at Queen’s University, says, “The French and the English were much more strategic in terms of recognizing that they wanted to maintain neo-colonial linkages with their former colonies. So it was shedding the direct authoritarian power at the barrel of a gun and replacing that with independence, but an independence that was, and is still to some extent, extremely dependent on the political and economic will of the former colonial masters.” – The National Post’s Rubab Abid and Richard Johnson look at the former colonies and former colonial powers who still dabble inside the continent they once owned.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Graphic: Out of Africa - Did the Colonial Powers ever Really Leave? Back to video

Contact Rubab at rabid@nationalpost.com

Rubab on Twitter at @RubabAbid

Rich Johnson on Twitter at @newsillustrator

Or see more Richard’s work here at newsillustrator.com

Or contact Richard at rjohnson@nationalpost.com

See Richard’s blog from Afghanistan here Kandahar Journal

See Richard’s Toronto Urban sketch blog here DRAWN T.O.