Between 1960 and 1991, it was, after Cuba, the country that deployed the largest number of soldiers in Africa. During this period, while Havana supported African national liberation movements, Paris carried out nearly 40 military interventions in 16 countries to defend its interests. France still has permanent military bases or 'support points' in Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Chad, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 273