(by Massimiliano D'elia) A question we have asked ourselves so many times. Why is Africa, notoriously rich in natural resources, unable to grow its economy? A continent that has seen the greatest number of coups in the world. But who arms and trains the militias to encourage such coups? The African continent, rich in natural resources and with the youngest population in the world, why can't it just emerge?
The African continent seems to be closed in on itself, it seems to be blocked by something bigger that is scary, which brings death. Without a way out the only way for the population, now exhausted, is to run away, even risking their lives in difficult crossings by sea.
Too many contradictions that apparently do not have an answer. Perhaps, however, one of the answers, the most awkward one, could just be the continuum colonial politics "under the table" of the French cousins.
In this regard it is very interesting what reported the with the BBC last year on the affair of a Benin activist, Kemi Seba, arrested on suspicion of burning a banknote worth 5000 CFA. He was later acquitted by a court in the Senegalese capital. The arrest came following a complaint from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), as the burned banknote was deemed to be his property.
The CFA is a currency of the colonial era that is still used in several former French colonies in Africa.
Kemi Seba
Seba is one of the many activists who demand the abandonment of the CFA, because it is considered a relic of French colonialism.
During a demonstration, then Kemi Seba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capochichi, in a symbolic public protest against the CFA, burned a bill from 5.000 CFA.
The CFA is used in 12 French-speaking African countries, as well as in Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.
The BCEAO, which prints banknotes for West Africa, has challenged the public destruction of what it considered to be its property.
Seba was acquitted due to a technical problem. The Senegal penal code punishes the destruction of banknotes rather than that of a single banknote.
Seba is part of one of the many movements in continuous growth against the use of CFA.
What is the CFA?
The CFA franc was created by France at the end of the 40 years as a legal tender in its then African colonies, and is one of the most important signs of France's continued influence on its former colonies.
The CFA franc is pegged to the euro with financial support from the French treasury.
While some consider it a guarantee of financial stability, others attack it as a colonial relic.
What are the arguments for and against the currency?
Proponents argue that it protects the 14 countries that use it from inflation and uncertainty, pointing to neighboring Guinea as an example of what could happen if the CFA were abandoned.
Guinea is a former French colony in Africa that has its own currency. But it regularly addresses currency deficits with recourse to the central bank to ensure its stability.
However, critics, such as those who lead the anti-CFA movement, claim that true economic development for 14 African countries can only be achieved if they get rid of the currency.
They argue that in exchange for the guarantees provided by the French treasury, African countries channel more money into France than they receive in aid.
They also argue that they have no say in deciding on the monetary policies accepted by the European countries of the Eurozone.
Why are people not happy with the CFA?
Seba would have been aware of a perverse program of the CFA franc when he showed up at the demonstration and incinerated the note.
However, for most of the young people who participated in the protest, his act was a legitimate sign of challenge against a currency that they consider a symbol of the economic and financial domination of France and of the foreign countries that share it.
A young demonstrator told the local media, the act of burning the note was like when Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader, burned his passbook in protest against the laws of apartheid.
But the anger is not only directed at France, but also towards the African leaders that the activists accuse of being accomplices with France.
Most youth movements in favor of democracy in West Africa, such as Y'en a Mare in Senegal and Balai Citiyen in Burkina Faso, have raised the issue of CFA as a key element in their campaigns.
These movements believe that the end of the CFA will put an end to France's strong influence on the economies of their countries.
What does France reply?
Officials in France have not commented on the anti-CFA movement, probably because every answer would only serve to further stimulate activists.
France is in a delicate position. Whatever comes from Paris in defense of the CFA could be considered a proof of the interest of France in keeping the currency of the colonial era.
In any case, no French president before Emmanuel Macron had ever expressed a willingness to let go of the CFA.
However, Macron during the presidential election campaign had said that the decision to move away from the currency can only be taken by African countries, without specifying the way however.
No African leader of the 14 countries affected by the issue has publicly responded to the comment of his colleague Macron.
While deepening the question I came across a very interesting editorial published by ItaliaOggi which deals with the CFA currency question, after hearing Mohamed Konare, a Pan-African activist.
Konare promoted a rather unusual political demonstration in mid-September in Rome. Only young Africans, who had emigrated for some time to Italy and other European countries, took to the streets and challenged Emmanuel Macron's African policy in France in front of the French embassy in Piazza Farnese. The goal, as he himself states in a long interview on the web (Byoblu), is to explain to Europeans the colonial-type methods with which France continues to command and plunder in Africa as many as 14 states, once its colonies, which have become independent in the 60s, but only on paper.
The French game on these countries, Konare argues, is above all economic and monetary, and is designed in such a way as to guarantee Paris an iron control of their currency, as well as an exclusive monopoly on the rich materials they abound (gold, uranium, , gas, cocoa, coffee), with a twofold result: enriching France and its entrepreneurial elites on the one hand, with an immeasurable transfer of wealth (around 500 billion dollars a year, according to some estimates); on the other hand, to impoverish indigenous peoples to the point of misery, who are thus forced to flee due to hunger towards Italy and Europe.
The pivot around which the entire system of French control over the 14 African countries revolves is the colonial franc, known as the CFA franc, a currency that France imposed on its colonies in the 1945, immediately after the Bretton Woods agreement, which regulated the system monetary after the Second World War. Originally the acronym CFA stood for "French colonies of Africa", but in the 1960s, following the recognition of the independence of the French colonies decided by Charles De Gaulle, its meaning has changed: "African financial community".
A purely formal recognition of the end of the colonial regime, since the Franc CFA retained all the bonds it had from the beginning on local economies. We are talking about 14 States of the Sub-Saharan area and Central Africa, with a population of about 160 million units, for which the official currency is the Franc CFA, coined and printed in France, a country that has established all the characteristics and it holds the monopoly. Here is their list: Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
The first constraint of the CFA franc is the obligation for 14 countries that use it to deposit 50% of their monetary reserves with the French Treasury. In practice, when one of the 14 countries of the CFA franc exports to a country other than France, and collects dollars or euros, it is obliged to transfer 50% of this collection to the Bank of France. Originally the share to be transferred to France was equal to 100% of the collection, then it fell to 65% (reform of 1973, after the end of the colonies), finally to 50% from 2005. Thus, for example, if Cameroon, after expressly authorized by France, exports packaged clothes to the United States worth 50 thousand dollars, must transfer 25 thousand to the French Central Bank. A system that does not miss a penny, as the monetary agreements on the CFA franc provide that there are representatives of the French State, with a right of veto, both in the boards of directors and in those of the financial institutions of the former 14 colonies .
Thanks to this transfer of monetary wealth, France manages as many as 50% of the foreign currencies of the former 14 ex-colonies, investing them heavily in government bonds issued by its Treasury, thanks to which it has been able to finance generous public spending for decades, often unaware of the constraints of Maastricht. And Konare, in the web interview, recalls that when Angela Merkel asked the various French governments to deposit 50% of the reserves of the 14 ex-colonies at the ECB, instead of at the French Central Bank, the answer has always been a dry one. no.
Among the numerous constraints imposed by the agreements on the Franco CFA, there is also the "first right" for France to buy any natural resource discovered in its former colonies. Hence the control of Paris on raw materials of enormous strategic value: uranium, gold, oil, gas, coffee, cocoa. Only after an explicit "non-French interest" is the permission to look for another buyer. But beware: the major economic assets of all the former 14 colonies are in the hands of French who have settled for some time in Africa, becoming billionaires on the palate (above all, Vincent Bolloré and Martin Bouygues). So much so that Konare finds it fair to say that "Africans live in countries owned by the French. While to the Africans, Macron's France leaves only the crumbs. And often not even those: only misery ».
From this widespread poverty, says the Pan-African activist, the migratory waves to Europe originate. "A journey that I'm the first to discourage," says Konare. "Italy does not have enough work for its young people; it is unthinkable that they find it for those in Africa. Young Africans must engage more in their own countries to demand the end of French colonialism and robbery, and to build the United States of Africa, a federation of independent and sovereign states. A utopia that can become reality ".
Very interesting to read
http://www.africanews.it/14-paesi-africani-costretti-a-pagare-tassa-coloniale-francese/