With the withdrawal of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso from the ecowas group, France is losing its neo-colonial sphere of influence. The question is when the French colonial currency, the CFA franc, will also be completely shunned by these countries. This is creating a further geopolitical power vacuum, which has recently manifested itself in the fact that France now has to pay considerably more money for its uranium imports from Niger, if they are delivered at all.