<Tr> <Td> Italian Libya </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Today part of </Td> <Td> Benin Burkina Faso Guinea Ivory Coast Libya Mali Mauritania Niger Senegal Togo </Td> </Tr> <P> French West Africa (French: Afrique occidentale française, AOF) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger . The capital of the federation was Dakar . The federation existed from 1895 until 1960 . </P> <P> Until after the Second World War almost none of the Africans living in the colonies of France were citizens of France . Rather, they were "French subjects", lacking rights before the law, property ownership rights, rights to travel, dissent, or vote . The exception was the Four Communes of Senegal: those areas had been towns of the tiny Senegal Colony in 1848 when, at the abolition of slavery by the French Second Republic, all residents of France were granted equal political rights . Anyone able to prove they were born in these towns was legally French . They could vote in parliamentary elections, which had been previously dominated by white and Métis residents of Senegal . </P>

How many french speaking country in west africa