| The African Union Citizen The African Union Citizen is an independent publication. Bringing Alive the Spirit and Letter of Agenda 2063 through Citizen Engagement All the articles are research-based. The uniqueness of the African Union Citizen is that it covers from economic, social to political affairs with relevance to a specific goal in Agenda 2063. Our readership spans from students, activists, scholars, faith leaders, business interests to public officials, the curious and the serious, and where Africa intersects with the global society. |
IN THIS EDITION SPECIAL IN-DEPT EDITION Here are the Articles with Related Segments |
LANDSLIDE! Stops to Slide to Global Extremism According to several news outlets, Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron declared victory in the race to lead France after early estimates Sunday showed him crushing right-wing rival Marine Le Pen to become the country's youngest-ever president.Macron, 39, won 65 percent of the vote compared to 35 percent for Le Pen, according to pollsters whose projections proved extremely accurate during last week's first-round voting. This is the first time no major party candidate contested at this leg of the presidential duel. He will be the youngest president after Napoleon Bonaparte. Le Pen has conceded defeat. The results amounted to a ringing repudiation of Le Pen's nationalist and anti-immigrant campaign and will prevent a further fracturing of the European Union following the United Kingdom's "Brexit" vote last year. Le Pen had pledged to hold a similar referendum in France if elected. Macron had called Colonialism a crime against humanity during a campaign in Algiers, Algeria. Read the story in connection with Colonial Relic and Repression or Monetary Stability? Reign of Françafrique and the Reins of CFA Franc The African Union Citizen is working on other researched-based In-depth Articles. Please see the headlines. Do not miss the SPECIAL EDITION ON THE GAME CHANGER Evelyn Joe Publisher, The African Union Citizen |
Colonial Relic and Repression or Monetary Stability? Reign of Françafrique and the Reins of CFA Franc Relevance to Agenda 2063 Agenda 2063: Aspiration 2: Goals 8 and 9: READ | | Colonial French Community of African and Malagasy Affairs | | Africa cannot evolve with CFA Franc. We need our own currency H.E. Idriss Déby Itno, President of Chad. This article is written against the backdrop of history. Just as the root cause stretches far back, so are the consequences far reaching into the future with more than 150,000 million Africans whose monetary policy is made by France and European Central Bank. Image: Courtesy Bloomsberg News: African Monetary Union Stirs Criticism of France. Photograph by Godong/UIG via Getty Images The picturesque introductions are meant to reduce abstract thoughts and invite critical thinking on these real life events. CFA originally stood for Colonies Francaises d'Afrique. Now it means either Coopération Finançière en Afrique Centrale (Central Africa) or Communauté Finançière Africaine (West Africa). The article is appropriately related to Goal 9 in Agenda 2063, which addresses the establishment of Africa's financial institutions. The Abuja Treaty of June 3, 1991 called for the creation of a single Pan African currency by 2023. It is also related to Goal 8 when political will is an imperative to make groundbreaking economic decisions. The establishment of the Continental Monetary and Financial Institutions: The African Investment Bank, The African Institute for Remittances; The African Credit Guarantee Facility, The African Monetary Union and the African Central Bank are part of the African Union's Fast Track/Priority Projects in the first Five Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063. The clamor for a Pan African currency was revived anew when officials discussed the issue at the sidelines of the AU Summit on June 11, 2015 in South Africa. African Union's Economic Affairs Commissioner, Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping, said African Central Bank governors have also met and deliberated on the establishment of an African Monetary Fund. Africa is placing heightened focus on regional integration and intra-Africa. The small sizes of individual African economies and need to achieve economies of scale in production and delivery are driving integration, which is addressed in Article 4 in this eNewsletter. There are several significant benefits of having a single currency area, which result primarily from the benefits of fixed exchange rates. Among the benefits are: - Elimination of exchange rate risk and continent-wide price harmonization.
- Transparency when producers and tourists can more easily compare the prices of international goods, services and resources.
Others have argued that a monetary union will result in a loss of sovereignty over monetary and exchange rate policy, especially in the case of asymmetry shocks that occur when microeconomic conditions have different impacts on different parts of a country or different countries making up a region. This was also the concern for the Euro Zone. If Africa is considering a Federation or Co-federation this concern would not be valid. On sovereignty and exchange rate, the CFA Zone has no sovereignty to begin with and the three types of CFA currency in Africa are not interchangeable. India, Indonesia, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles and Sri Lanka use the rupee. Experts argue that regional trade is what drives economic growth. Following on the trade, the global economy is likely to take shape around currency poles in coming years. It will be important for African countries to have their own poles, alongside international currency poles (the Dollar, the Euro and the Yen). Citation:African Union debates over common currency A Pan African currency is attractive if it would be more stable in terms of maintaining its purchasing power or better than the currencies it replaces. "This may come from a strong institutional framework within the monetary union, achieving more discipline over fiscal policies insulating the regional central bank from pressures to provide monetary financing." Today Confronts History Colonialism reflects the dark era in which powerful Western empires rationalized the conquest and justified the economic exploitation of resource-rich regions in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The inhabitants were ill-equipped to fight off the invasion of the military powers and countries in Africa were partitioned and portioned without regards to anything else while indigenous cultures were systemically undermined. According to | | | 1945: René Pleven, French Finance Minister. |
the then French Minister of Finance, René Pleven, creating the CFA Franc was France's "show of France's generosity and selflessness, metropolitan France, wishing not to impose on her faraway daughters the consequences of her own poverty by setting different exchange rates for their currency." In the late 1950s, many African colonies were still a part of the French Empire. However, with successive uprisings, France was forced to reckon with the inevitable drive for independence as other colonialists. Under President Charles de Gaulle, the French government decided that in the eventuality its interests in the former colonies must be protected. In that frame of mind, the French craftily organized its former colonies in the CFA countries in a system of "compulsory solidarity," which consisted of a formal obligation for the 14 African states to put 65% of their foreign currency reserves into the French Treasury and an additional 20% for financial liabilities. In order to hold on to its former colonies and to maintain its global superpower status, France devised means to shape the policies of the newly independent African countries to suit her economic needs in the post-colonial era. This was accomplished through a complex web of shady relationship, both informal and formal, between the French secret service and African politicians in what was dubbed Françafrique. More than 70 years after the currency was minted and the invention of Françafrique in the mid 1950s, a confluence of influence is driving the force to abolish CFA Franc and to dismantle whatever fashion of Françafriqueexists. The dynamics are igniting and stirring debates as never before. Today, from Dakar throughout the former colonies to the Diaspora; public officials and public intellectuals; activists and relativists; presidential palaces in Africa and aspiring occupants of Élysée Palace in Paris, the dual issue is taking a life of its own, even if mainstream media is not reporting the effects and significance. The picturesque summaries depict France's coin and culture in Africa. First, this account is a capsule. August 25, 1958: Above right above: Before the Qui or Non, vote, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea told a campaigning President Charles De Gaulle sitting in the middle: We have told you bluntly, Mr President, what the demands of the people are ... We have one prime and essential need: our dignity. But there is no dignity without freedom ... We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery." Left: Sékou Touré and Ben Bella of Algeria in March 1964. Both were members of the Casablanca Group. In what historians have described as phenomenal, it captures the core of Françafrique - brutal and patronizing all at once. On September 28, 1958, the French Constitutional Referendum for the fifth Republic was organized throughout French colonies and France Metropolis on its adoption. For the colonies, the "Yes (Oui) Vote" meant the African colonies would become part of the new French community. | | | Ahmed Sekou Toure (C), President of Guinea announcing in front of the National Assembly, the independence of Guinea, flanked by Diallo Saifoulaye (R), the President of the Parliament. | The "No (Non) Vote" meant the colony wanted to be free from France and would be granted independence. Only Guinea Conakry among all the colonies opted for the second proposition. With a turnout of 85.5%, 95% voted to reject the French Constitution and Guinea declared her independence on October 2, 1958. See results from all the colonies: Stunned and furious, De Gaulle lobbied NATO nations and other countries not to accept Guinea's independence. He, then, ordered immediate scorched-earth measures. Guinea did not ask the French to leave. But Guinea's audacity to vote "Non" was so unnerving to the French sensibility that the reaction was unbecoming of the civilized - to put it gingerly. Otherwise, you can say they acted like exemplary hooligans. The three thousand French people left the country, taking all their properties and destroying anything that could not be moved: schools, nurseries, public administration buildings were crumbled; cars, books, medicine, research instruments, tractors were crushed, horses, cows in the farms were killed, and food items in warehouses were burned. France flooded counterfeit money in Guinea to destroy the country's economy. Even other people in the West agreed that France was misbehaving. The purpose of this heinous performance was to send a clear and loud message to all other leaders in the colonies of the swift and high consequences that await those who act independently against French design in Africa. Surely, the message spread through the African French speaking elites in the colonies. None ever plucked the courage to follow the example of Sékou Touré whose slogan was "We prefer freedom in poverty to wealth opulence in slavery." Such was the French "shock and awe" response that it instilled fear in the spine of a generation of men thereafter. | A MUST READ: GUINEA'S PHENOMENAL NO VOTE | The total episode characterized Franco-Africa relations. Read to the end to hear what the two French Presidential candidates, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, are saying today about CFA Franc and the culture of Françafrique for different reasons. Enter Jacques Foccart "Monsieur Afrique - Mr. Africa." Jacques Foccart (far left) was France's Chief Adviser on African Policy and was also the co-founder of the Gaullist Service d'Action, which specialized in covert actions and masterminding military coups in Africa. After De Gaulle, he retained his functions during Georges Pompidou's presidency, served in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's and President François Mitterrand's administrations in the same capacities. Foccart, known as "Mr. Africa" "was a cunning and secretive manipulator who, astonishingly, kept the African countries in line at a time when Africa was spinning with galvanized anti-colonialist passions and Pan Africanism across the Atlantic. "The generation of African leaders preferred personal relationships to treaties and diplomatic links. Mr Foccart encouraged them to see de Gaulle as a loving father, with the African presidents as children who still needed guidance. As de Gaulle's man, Mr. Foccart became the African leaders' protector and kingmaker, deciding when France should intervene to prop up an ally and when it should allow a coup to remove a recalcitrant ruler." (The Economist). Of course, France engineered coup d'état and none happened to her detriment. Head of States of Francophonie and Charles De Gaulle | French President General De Gaulle with decorated Negroes in Paris | Une Garden Party dans le cadre des réunions de la «Communauté française» à la veille des festivités du 14 juillet 1960. French national holiday: Bastille Day A Garden Party as part of the meetings of the "French Community" on the eve of the festivities of July 14, 1960. Charles De Gaulle's African Friends Sept. 22, 1967: Président Ivoirien Felix Houphouët Boigny interviewé par la presse. Une image qui résume son rôle de chef de file de la famille Franco-Africaine. Ivorian President Felix Houphouët Boigny interviewed by the press. An image that summarizes his role as leader of the Franco-African family. Houphouët Boigny was also nick named "Big Brother" by the white men around Jacques Foccart who ensured the perpetuation of French toehold in Africa from De Gaulle to the next regime. Paris, Palais de l'Elysée.18 juillet 1967. Jacques Foccart, chargé des relations africaines, et Hubert Maga, président du Dahomey. Paris, Elysée Palace, July 18, 1967. Jacques Foccart, in charge of African relations, and Hubert Maga, president of Dahomey. Foccart was once described as "discreet, small, bald, elegant but classical, there is no equivalent in the Fifth Republic. Jacques Foccart has nothing of the fanatical imagination of the founder, the Father of the Franciscan. Francisca, that immense web which was to keep under its fold the Empire which France needed to become a great power again." Courtesy African Archives. What Has Changed Today? As many African countries approached their 50th Independence within 4 | | Former President Wade Abdoulaye of Senegal | | years, on November 19, 2007, the then President Abdoulaye of Senegal provided rare insights on the billions belonging to the African countries. "The African people's money stacked in France must be returned to Africa in order to benefit the economies of the BCEAO member states. One cannot have billions and billions placed on foreign stock markets and at the same time say that one is poor, and then go beg for money" he said. | Chad's Minister of Justice, H.E. Ahmat Mahamat Hassan | "We will Dare Because It Is Our Destiny." | | Professor Mamadou Koulibaly | | Professor Mamadou Koulibaly, a former Ivory Coast Minister of Finance and Budget respectively, and former Speaker of Ivory Coast National House of Assembly summarized the main facts: "Although the administration ofthe CFA currency was entrusted to a common central bank (comprising BCEAO and BEAC), these so-called African banks were only African in name." | | | Kako Nubukpo, former Togolese Minister of Forecasting and Evaluation of public policies calls adherence to CFA: Voluntary Servitude and anti-African development. | " The reality is that they have no clout and are nothing more than huge bureaucratic institutions which have no monetary policies of their own. They exist to give the CFA countries the impression that they too are masters of their own monetary destiny, which in reality is not the case." "For instance, the foreign reserves of the CFA African states are deposited in the French Treasury, but no African country is capable of telling you exactly how much of this hard-earned foreign reserves belong to them. Only France has privilege to thate information." Professor Koulibaly says the tie to the euro makes goods 20-30 percent more expensive in the CFA zone. This is a hardship for the 90 percent of people in the region who don't have bank accounts and cannot easily convert their cash to euros. There are three types of CFA Francs but they are not interchangeable. | Kako Nubukpo: Le Franc CFA est un Outil de la Servitude Volontaire (The CFA Franc is a Tool of Voluntary Servitude). Interview in French. | Push Back CFA Franc has its supporters among them French and IFM officials, and Africans who believe the criticisms are misplaced, indicating that Franc is just managing the African deposits, and CFA stabilizes and facilitates trade, more specifically with France. "It's not that France is necessarily wanting these funds," says Anne-Marie Gulde, a deputy director of the Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund. "It's a necessary evil for them, in order to backstop the [fixed exchange rate] of the CFA franc" she concluded. We Want Our Money Back: CFA (Critics) to France A headline article by Dana Sanchez with AFK Insider Screams The deposits held by the French government earn just 0.75 percent interest to guarantee that the CFA franc stays convertible into euros at a fixed exchange rate of 655.957, the report said. The low interest rate is just one of the arrangements that angers CFA countries, according to Bloomberg News. Others include claims that being tied to the euro CFA Franc discourages investment, primarily serves the interest of France, and is an idea whose time has passed. Back in the day, a Head of State would be overthrown through military coup and officials were punished for critiquing the CFA Franc. An article indicates that Dr. Kako Nubukpo, then the Togolese Minister of Forecasting and Evaluation of Public Policies became the target of certainLaBanque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO) leaders. A copy of a letter obtained by Financial Afrik, signed by Mr. Kossi Tenou, the National Director of the BCEAO in Lome and addressed to the governor of the Central Bank of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (l'UEMOA), Mr. Meliyet Koné, was forwarded to President Faure Gnassingbé. They wanted some measures against Dr. Nubukpo. The author attacked Dr. Nubukpo and characterized remarks to "resemble stubbornness more than an intellectual contribution." The article and letter was translated from French to English by Liana Cramer: READ | Villeneuve-la-Garenne near Paris, France. International Day of Mobilization against Franc CFA L'Organisation non gouvernementale internationale Urgences Panafricanistes (URPANAF) Non-Governmental Organization Pan-African Emergencies. URPANAF held conferences were held in 41 cities, in more than 20 countries, on 3 continents. In this capacity-filled program, about a thousand people came to listen to the various speakers, including, Nicolas Agbohou, Ivorian economist and author of the book " Le Franc CFA and the Euro against Africa." On the ground organizing in the Diaspora is by Contemporary African Diaspora - residents from AU Member States. Several civil society forums and protests are organized across Africa and in the Diaspora to sensitize the cause on CFA. | Africa Matters to Paris African countries represent one of the largest geographical voting blocs in the United Nations and other international institutions their support carries moral clout. Paris needs Africa diplomatically, too, even if there is diminishing trading for French companies. For example, in 2011, Africa helped deliver the post of IMF managing director to former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (BBC). The omission of Africans to vote against the measure also gave the green light that helped the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy to secure UN Security Council for action against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. When Africa speaks in unison, the moral weight is resounding. For example, the resolve of ECOWAS in ending the Gambia electoral stalemate and the united backing of the AU made UN pronouncements mere formalities; not the decisive factors. A UN troop was not necessary. The West Africans took care of business. Leading French Presidential Candidates Ms Pen also criticized the killing of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, which she called " a serious mistake with serious consequences." Get more on CFA Franc, Françafrique, clamor for change of coin and culture in the DETAILS SECTION in the May 9th Publication. |
GAME CHANGER EDITION Other Researched-based In-depth Articles and Alignment with Agenda 2063 on May 9, 2017 H.E. Faki Moussa Mahamat: The Man with the Mantle Team Kagame Hits the Ground Running AU Institutional Reform President Patrice Talon of Benin Benin's Patrice Talon and the Ecowas Mystique We looked at the national policies of various Member States. While we note their overall agenda, we highlight the PanAfrican goals and values embedded in them. Meet President Patrice Talon of Benin! Weekend sightings: All Protocol Respected: Former African Union Commission boss, H.E. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, is running to be South Africa's next president. Do not call her Mrs. Zuma. Say Dr. Dlamini Zuma. She worked hard to earn her title as she reminded a reporter last week. Dr. Dlamini Zuma and the ANC Women's League launched their Molo Makhelwane programme (hello neighbour). African Economic Platform with Resounding Economic Independence: Call Africa's Unity and Integration Left: Mauritius's Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth H.E. Faki Moussa Mahatma Tony Elumelu, Tony Elumelu Foundation The No Jacket Presentation was gamely suggested by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. East African Community (EAC) Breaks Ground with EAC Diaspora on 2nd Manufacturing Expo Continental Free Trade Area Former Trade and Industry Commissioner: H.E. Fatima Acyl | Two Rivers Mall with a Dancing Fountain | Two Rivers Raves in Nairobi: No need to shop in Dubai or Paris, Africa has it! SMART DIASPORA: From 2002 | Launch of Global Diaspora Week by Former US Secretary of State John Kerry | Segments Who is in the Diaspora: Universal Practices Difference between AU and Member State Definition and Consequence Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Hypothetical Sixth Region and the Ramification of Oversimplification: No Coherent Results since 2002 The African, CARICOM and UNASUR Exemplars for Regional Development EACH IS ROOTED IN ITS ESSENCE Don't Confuse Diaspora Migration and Development and Global PanAfricanism Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester, UK in 1945 The Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester, UK in 1945 now belongs to the annals of history as the last most memorable before the dawn of the Independence era. For the first time, an impressive number of Africans from the Continent were present. The forum provided impetus and momentum for the numerous post-war independence movements. W.E.B Dubois; Trinidadian George Padmore; Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya; Hastings Banda of Malawi; Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana; prominent Jamaican Barrister Dudley Thompson; Obafemi Awolowo and Jaja Wachuku of Nigeria were among the ninety delegates, twenty-six from Africa. Many scholars, intellectuals and political activists would later go on to become influential leaders in various African independence and the American civil rights movement. "Torn away from his past, propelled into a universe fashioned from outside that suppresses his values, and dumbfounded by a cultural invasion that marginalizes him, the African, is today the deformed image of others." Citation: Kodjo, Edem. Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity from 1978 to 1983. Africa Tomorrow. New York: Continuum, 1987. Print. At its core, Pan-Africanism maintains that freedom from economic exploitation, racial discrimination, guide against cultural erosion and heritage maintenance can only be achieved through unity and cooperation to improve the quality of life of people of African descent with "the dignity, respect and emancipation of the people." Bring Back Pan African Congress; Abolish the Sixth Region By Dr. Kassim M. Khamis The Phenomenal Rise of the Diaspora One of the most salient features of contemporary globalization is the increase in migration around the world and its global force shaping the 21st century economy, social evolution, and political landscape in an age of instant technology. World leaders gather not to discuss an immediate global or refugee crisis but to sensitize and incentivize the Diaspora as potent partners in development in home countries and regions. | Kingsley Aikens: CEO Diaspora Matters: Go and Diasporize! | First in History: Diaspora included in UN Sustainable Development Goals The Magic of the Diaspora: From hard currency to soft power; Picking Up the AU Ball dropped in 2006 African Leaders are Connecting with the Diaspora with an increase in the establishment of Diaspora Offices. April 7, 2017: In an interview the newly appointed Minister for Moroccans Residing Abroad and Immigration Affairs, Abdelkrim Benatiq, said that his Ministry would assign "exceptional attention" to Moroccans Living Abroad. "Moroccans living abroad are strongly attached to Morocco and that the main mission of his ministry is to link them with their "native country." This will be through direct communication with them." The above statements hold true for Diaspora residents from specific countries or countries of ancestry. The Government has opened Diaspora Desk at major Embassies. Welcoming members of the Ghanaian Diaspora and other African nationals to the Ghana Embassy's Diaspora Professional Summit on the theme "The Role and Contribution of The Ghanaian Diaspora in National Development" on Friday, July 17, 2015, the then Ambassador Smith observed the trend: Global economic events beginning in 2008 have continued to shrink capital for development financing and budget support for developing countries. The Diaspora is filling the gap. Read more from other Member States and Regional Economic Communities with empirical evidence and Demonstrated Networks...to Live from Mogadishu, Somalia. In High Gear: Preparations for the 2nd East African Manufacturing Business Summit and Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda on May 23-25, 2017 include the role East African Diaspora play. What supportive financing schemes are in place (Diaspora Banking)? AU ECOSOCC and Secretariat in AU CIDO Untangling the knot of De Facto Confusion: The Acting Director of CIDO was right where the former ECOSOCC regime, December 2014-March 2017, was wrong, capricious, arbitrary and lawless: Election was unavoidable with budget consequence. Thin Agenda and Concept Notes Need Beefing and Alignment with Agenda 2063 AU ECOSOCC Determines ECOSOCC Advisory; not ECOSOCC Secretariat Why reliable AU ECOSOCC Advisory to African Heads of State must necessarily demonstrate interface with Member States constituencies in Africa and Continental or Contemporary African Diaspora (as relevant in Agenda 2063 goals). The AU Agenda Citizen Summit: September 22-24, 2017 Making It Happen: Agenda 2063 Citizen Summit African Citizenry in Africa and the Diaspora for Common Development And the Casablanca African Legacy Gala Popularizing Agenda 2063: A Living and Dynamic Framework for Africa's Development. New York, USA September 22-24, 2017 During the UN General Assembly Migration and Development in the Milestones |
ASPIRATION 2 BEINNG AFRICAN SHATTERING BORDERS A Committee ECOWAS DIASPORA Members Support the Membership of Kingdom of Morocco into ECOWAS Contact Ahmed Dean Kargbo. |
Zambia introduces Xenophobic Policing Agenda 2063 Goal: None Since the end of January 2017, Zambia entered the Xenophobic Hall of Shame in Africa. Zambia says marriage between police officers and foreigners, including other Africans, is prohibited for "national security reasons." This was according the law handed down by Police Inspector Kakoma Kangaja. So President Edgar Lungu seems to be okay with the law, which human rightists have denounced. In defending the ban, Zambian police spokeswoman, Esther Mwaata Katongo, shared her reasoning with reporters, we cannot just sit and watch men in uniforms marrying women from foreign countries." Katongo declined to identify the nationalities of the foreigners, but some local citations referred to Rwandans, according to AFP reporters. |
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