History informs us about the West's original view of Africa. A study of the key periods in their relationship, notably the slave trade, colonisation and even Covid-19, raises questions about the sincerity of Western development policies directed towards Africa. Indeed, after colonisation, which gave access without protocol to African natural resources, post-colonial cooperation with Africa is now part of the continuity of an exploitation of the continent that intends to be in conformity with post-World War II international law. Africa, which has failed to integrate since the birth of the OAU in 1963, is today unable to integrate, to fight misery, poverty and underdevelopment, to confront violent extremism, to study global phenomena on its own, to defend its identity and to express its point of view in an original way on the international scene. It even proudly assumes its role as a stepping stone to the established powers. The Covid-19 episode would therefore have been very revealing for Africans.