My friend lived through that, and he showed me photos to prove it, I couldn’t see any other white person in the remote places from which he was sending those photos. Not that Bujumbura was full with white people. Maybe Senegal is the exception that proves the rule reguarding Western Africa, but another friend who lived in Abidjan (still does, lost contact with her) had the same expat in a bubble experience. Again, this was not a matter of “my friend said”, as we were Skyping in late 2010 after some elections there and as bullets were flying around even in the posh area (one of her EU colleagues got killed by a stray bullet as she was staying inside her apartment, by the window).

I mantain my opinion about the Lebanese and how they’re viewed in the US, heck, the Italians were not seen as white-white until very recently while the Mexicans or the Argentinians still aren’t.