France sabotaged Mali’s currency plans through a rigged multilateral conference

Evidence

Consequently, the French ministries of Cooperation and Finance asked the BCEAO to reduce their quantity to a minimum. Starting in 1961, France and the BCEAO devised an expedient to counter Mali’s monetary project: on the initiative of Paris, an ‘international conference’ was organised under the pretext of discussing the future of the franc zone with the members of the BCEAO. According to the historian Guia Migani, the idea was to involve Mali in the multilateral negotiations, knowing that at that point the country would have ‘greater difficulties in achieving a monetary reform harmful to other member states’. The plan worked. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 156

Categorization

• SEED: A concrete example of neocolonial institutional manipulation — how a ‘multilateral’ forum was used to thwart a weaker state’s monetary sovereignty.
• XREF: Parallels the Guinean scenario of thwarted monetary independence described in prior chapters. — connects to: France counterfeited Guinean banknotes to destabilize and collapse its economy — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 152; Mali’s departure collapsed and forced it back into the franc zone; France used the BCEAO Central Bank to paralyze a targeted African government — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 269

Related

• Mali’s departure collapsed and forced it back into the franc zone (similarity 0.93)
• France counterfeited Guinean banknotes to destabilize and collapse its economy (similarity 0.85)
• Pro-French merchants rioted against Mali’s new currency in 1962 (similarity 0.80)
• France denied Mauritania Treasury guarantees to deter its currency exit, but failed. (similarity 0.79)
• No franc-zone state dared request monetary independence, leaving France’s influence intact (similarity 0.79)
• France used the BCEAO Central Bank to paralyze a targeted African government (similarity 0.79)
• No franc zone state beyond Mauritania and Madagascar sought monetary independence. (similarity 0.78)
• Paris devalued the French franc unilaterally without consulting African states (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• France used the BCEAO Central Bank to paralyze a targeted African government #expands (0.75) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 269