Hey Bill !

Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
But at a former job I worked with a fair number of African exchange students (mostly from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Botswana) over a period of several years. To a man they had a strong dislike for the French...moreso than any other national group. That was something I always found rather interesting. Note that I am NOT an old Africa hand, do not play one on TV, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. I just always found it interesting that of all the national groups that had mucked about in Africa it was the French who my particular students remembered and disliked.
From the mid to late 80s I taught and also prepared African soldiers from 7 countries to attend professional military courses in CONUS. I think it's important to note that while they had a strong dislike for French, they were quick to blame France's relations with its former colonies, and her discretion and discrimination in dealing with African states.

I've personally observed France's foreign policy role and some of her (mid-80s) Socialist government foreign policy in French-speaking Africa. To put it mildly, several instances of contradictions in French policy took place daily at both their embassy and military training sites.

One of the very reasons I decided to learn Lingala (in addition to French) early on (something like learning Russian instead of Estonian while living in Estonia). The time spent opened doors and made my job far easier...

... then came Tom .

We may be ugly Americans, but the French have raised the bar in Sub-Sahara.