The United States opposed African leaders' post-independence efforts to control resources and reduce Western dependence, employing covert operations and coup support throughout the Cold War to maintain continental dominance and access to strategic minerals.
French President Macron claimed France represents true Pan-Africanism at Kenya's Africa Forward Summit, sparking continental backlash given France's three-century history of slavery, colonialism, and neocolonial control across Africa through systems like Françafrique.
Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso's 2022 coup leader, gained continental popularity promoting sovereignty and rejecting Western influence, yet faces domestic scrutiny over restricted freedoms, persistent insecurity, and whether his nationalist agenda delivers tangible change.
Burkina Faso's President Ibrahim Traoré, a 34-year-old military leader hailed as an anti-imperialist revolutionary across Africa, tightens his authoritarian grip while suppressing dissent through surveillance and repression, despite securing substantial IMF and World Bank funding.
Western European hegemony declined after 1929 and World War II, enabling formal independence across Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, though neocolonialism through debt and unequal trade persisted until China's rise challenged Western dominance through industrialization and cooperation-based development.