Alternative currency for Sahel alliance states ‘now ready’ – Gbagbo

APA-Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) The former president of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who denies having ever “robbed the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), discusses relations between the central bank and member countries of the regional financial institution.

“The young people of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have already launched their currency. It’s already ready, it’s just a question of deciding where it will be produced, but we’ll see,” Laurent Gbagbo declared.

Gbagbo was speaking on Saturday 6 April 2024 at the second Renaissance Festival organised by his political party, the opposition ‘Parti des Peuples Africains – Côte d’Ivoire’ (PPA-CI), in Agboville, in the south of Côte d’Ivoire.

“You see, little by little people are cutting (the bridge) with Dakar (BCEAO headquarters.) I’m telling you, all countries will scrap the CFA francs. Before, we were afraid,” said Laurent Gbagbo, noting that his “first book on the CFA franc was written in 1984.”

“Back in 1984, I was already denouncing the CFA franc, but at the time people were afraid. But now everyone knows that it’s no good. But I tell you, in ten years’ time, you’ll see who’s still at the BCEAO in Dakar,” he said.

For him, “people are going to leave one by one” the Central Bank of West African States. He explained why he had severed ties between the central bank and the government of Côte d’Ivoire during the Ivorian post-election crisis of 2010-2011.

“The people who say that Gbagbo robbed a bank are not only false, they are lying,” he insisted, adding “if they want to accuse me, let them accuse me of having nationalised two French banks (…) and of having left the BCEAO.”

“On this question of the robbery of which I am accused, I have asked the leaders of my party to present all the details of the economic and banking action, and between now and Tuesday, we are going to publish this in the newspapers in Côte d’Ivoire, so that everyone can read it and make up their own minds,” he announced.

“When I was in prison in The Hague, they put me on trial here in Côte d’Ivoire and then we talk about the BCEAO robbery. Mr. Gbagbo? Robbing a bank? I miss eating,” he quipped.

According to the former Ivorian president, “they know very well that what I did, they can’t say. Because if they want to blame me for something, they have to say that Gbagbo nationalised two French banks in Côte d’Ivoire. That’s the truth.

“If they say that, they know that Ivorians will like it. Otherwise, they can also say that Gbagbo cut ties with BCEAO-Dakar and that he took his autonomy in Côte d’Ivoire at the level of the central bank, but they can’t say that now either, because that’s what AES is currently doing. And there are many Africans who want to do that,” he continued.

“Yes, I left Dakar and turned our branch of the ECOWAS into a central bank. But I was the first of many to follow. Many will do the same. So they can’t say that. They no longer had any resources other than to arrest me,” Mr. Gbagbo stressed.

The former Ivorian head of state recalled that “they first started to threaten the former governor of BCEAO, Dakoury Henri, who replied that since when has BCEAO been involved in resolving electoral (presidential) problems in a country?”

Then, “the interim governor who replaced him was playing tricks on us, ensuring that Côte d’Ivoire (which weighs 40 percent in UEMOA did not have the money it needed. So I said it wasn’t possible and I cut the bridge with Dakar,” he reveals.

“And I took the BCEAO branch in Côte d’Ivoire as our central bank. As a result, everything we earned went straight into our own Central Bank. And it was with this system that we continued to pay civil servants,” he explained.

“I didn’t rob the bank, but if I did, we know who robbed the ECOWAS bank. The BCEAO branch in Man (west) was robbed, and the branches in Korhogo (north) and Bouake (centre) were robbed during the 2002 rebellion. Where has the money gone? he asked.

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