François-Xavier Verschave

François-Xavier Verschave (October 28, 1945 – June 29, 2005) was primarily known as one of the founders of the French NGO Survie ("Survival"), over which he presided since 1995, and as coiner of the term Françafrique, an expression designating the specific form of neocolonialism which has been endured by the former French Colonies.

Verschave also researched the concept of global public goods and the economic theories of famous historian Fernand Braudel. Survie was created in 1983 by the Manifeste des 54 prix Nobel ("Manifesto of 54 Nobel Prizes") as an NGO advocating against underdevelopment.

An economist by training, François-Xavier Verschave was responsible from 1983 for economic policy and employment policy at Saint-Fons municipality, located in the suburbs of Lyon. President of Survie since 1995, he was also editor of its monthly newsletter Billets d'Afrique et d'ailleurs.

François-Xavier Verschave forged the term Françafrique as a parody of the term "France-Afrique" used by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, former president of Côte d'Ivoire (1960–1993), to boast of the good relations between the imperial power and the newly independent countries.

Verschave's famous books La Françafrique (1999) and Noir silence (2000) have become standard works for anyone interested in the Rwandan genocide specifically, and generally the dissimulated policies followed by the French Republic in former colonies, in particular by opponents - who haven't always been political adversaries - French president Jacques Chirac and right-wing MP Charles Pasqua, involved in the Angolagate.

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