The decades when the continent couldn’t raise major funds on ordinary commercial markets are over, but there are still worries about over-indebtedness. by Sanou Mbaye The nations of sub-Saharan Africa, in the post-independence euphoria of the 1960s, wanted to end the international division of labour under which they exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods. … [Read more...] about Africa borrows on the open market
UEMOA
Liberating Africans from the CFA “franc” trap
Nowadays, African countries are wooed because they are perceived as the spearheads of the world economy. The Economist, the English weekly newspaper, predicts that in the next five years, seven out of ten fastest growing economies in the world will be in Africa: Ethiopia (8.1 per cent), Mozambique (7.7 per cent), Tanzania (7.2 per cent), Congo (7.0 per cent), Ghana (7.0 per … [Read more...] about Liberating Africans from the CFA “franc” trap
West African expectations of Europe
Institute for peace support and conflict management (IFK) Africa-Workshop January 26th to 27th, 2006: Sorting Out the Mess: Wars, Conflicts and Conflict Management in West Africa To assess the expectations West Africa can look forward to from Europe, there is, first, the need to understand the root causes of the problems that have beset the populations and the … [Read more...] about West African expectations of Europe
How the French Plunder Africa
France's unchallenged political, economic, and military domination of its former sub-Saharan African colonies is rooted in a currency, the CFA franc. Created in 1948 to help France control the destiny of its colonies, fourteen countries--Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Bissau … [Read more...] about How the French Plunder Africa
How best can the EU support the new AU Key Questions for Contact Person
Background The yearning for regional cooperation and economic integration in Africa was born in the United States within the pan-African movement in the 19th Century and has been kept alive ever since among the masses, the elite and the members of the Diaspora. This hope is so compelling that all African leaders have felt obliged to put it heartedly or lukewarmly on their … [Read more...] about How best can the EU support the new AU Key Questions for Contact Person
Franc Zone must go
The Heads of African States, some of whom would not hesitate to shun an OAU meeting but would rush to meet the French President at the bi-annual gathering, display everlasting dependence whose foundations are made up of a scar and a web. Nothing illustrates better the incapacity of Francophone African leaders to break away from the former coloniser than the declaration, in … [Read more...] about Franc Zone must go
CFA Franc: a Colonial relic
The former sub-Saharan French colonies did not have to fight for their independence. De Gaulle, then President of France, granted it to them. These countries undertook immediately to dismantle the federal structure in which they were operating and erected trade barriers between them. Paradoxically, they kept the CFA as their common currency. They surrendered the management … [Read more...] about CFA Franc: a Colonial relic
