In the end, the French agreed to abandon their military bases. But no common ground was found on the monetary question. The Malagasy authorities drew their conclusions. On 21 May 1973, General Gabriel Ramanantsoa declared: ‘We prefer to remain poor but dignified, rather than kneeling before wealth.’ Perhaps he had in mind the famous phrase pronounced by Sékou Touré in front of general De Gaulle in 1958 – ‘We prefer to be poor in freedom than rich in slavery’? The following day, from Paris, Didier Ratsiraka announced Madagascar’s intention to leave the franc zone. Once again, the French did not want ‘to be induced, through a “global” negotiation, to consent to assurances that would set a precedent for other states’, Le Monde explained.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 182