From economic cooperation to regional integration in Africa

The year 2010 was the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of many African countries. If this event was celebrated with pomp in African capitals and in Paris, the balance sheet of this half-century of independence was less so in reality. An observation and an unflattering assessment are necessary. Africa, or at least a large number of countries, remains on the margins of development. History is undeniably repeating itself. Just when we thought the old demons had been banished, they resurface. Towards the end of the decade, coups d'état resumed in earnest (Mauritania, Guinea, Niger). Presidential elections, which were supposed to find solutions to socio-political crises, made them more complex. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria and Guinea have been extracted from this situation and the Ivory Coast has taken on the seeds of civil war in the aftermath of a painful post-election conflict.