The French In Africa, Part 2

From EU Referendum: France's little Iraq

This is only the latest episode in the unhappy relations between France and the Ivory Coast. This West African country, having been a French colony since 1893, was formally made independent in 1960, although its economic assets and major businesses have since remained largely under French control. The French own 45 per cent of the land and, curiously, the buildings of the Presidency of the Republic and of the Ivorian National assembly are subject to leases concluded with the French.

I thought the French were all about love and "joie de vivre". But then one must break a few eggs (or shoot a few Africans) to make a souffle.