Senegal: Anti-CFA activists call for dismissal of French reps on BCEAO board

17 Septembre 2017

DAKAR,  Senegal , September 17 (Infosplusgabon) - Activists opposed to the CFA Franc have called for the "unconditional" withdrawal of French representatives from the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during a protest against the regional currency, held Saturday in Dakar.

"If this currency is an African currency, if this currency is not a colonial currency, what are the French for on the board of our central bank, to the extent of having a right to veto?" queried  Guy Marius Sagna, coordinator of the 'No to EPA' (Economic Partnership Agreement) and 'No to CFA'.

The CFA Franc is the currency of eight states in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo

"After 57 years of independence, the former French colonies are now able to manage their own currency without the interference of the former metropolis," said Sagna.

He also demanded that France should returns to the countries of the Franc zone their foreign exchange reserves kept in the French Treasury.

Sagna insisted that public awareness and mobilization campaign will continue until public opinion in the countries using the CFA Franc puts pressure on the rulers to "to cut the umbilical link between France and its former colonies on the question of currency ".

Meanwhile, rapper Cyrille Oumar Touré alias Thiat of the movement "Y en a marre" announced  that a caravan would soon be launched against the CFA currency.

"It will leave Dakar to Ndjamena, the Chadian capital, with the objective of collecting at least ten million signatures for an anti-CFA petition," he said.

For Thiat, Heads of State in the CFA zone must commit themselves to recovering the monetary reserves of their countries from the French Treasury as early as January 2018.

This demonstration, at Place de la Nation in Dakar, was convened by the NGO 'Urgences Panafricanistes' of the Franco-Beninese activist Kemi Séba who was expelled on 6 September from Senegal to France for being a "risk of serious disturbance to public order".

Several other associations opposed to the CFA currency took part in the demonstration.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/BIR/GABON 2017

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