As Gbabgo seizes Central Bank assets in Ivory Coast, a look at the arcane institution

Dakar, Senegal
When an infrastructure-strapped backwater such as, say, Guinea-Bissau looks to borrow the tens of billions of West Africa CFA francs it needs to tar rural roads and string power lines, its functionaries fly here, to La Banque Central des États de l’Afrique d’Ouest: the central bank for eight West African nations (Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Niger). It's where government debt is sold in the form of treasury bills to whatever arcane financiers harbor a niche interest in owning a chunk of Africa's debt.........

"We've never really known the ins and outs of how the bank is governed," Eurasia Group Africa Analyst Anne Fruhauf said in a phone interview. "It's always been extremely nontransparent." ...........


According to Mabri, Gbagbo's functionaries cashed themselves checks from the country's bank account; sold their own treasury bills in the midst of a near civil-war climate; sidestepped regulations; transferred Central Bank funds to commercial banks that recognize, or at least do business with Gbagbo.

And the world outside the Central Bank is still trying to comprehend how he managed it.

Ivory Coast's Troubles Bleed Into Neighboring Liberia........

Adding to Liberia's already mounting problems, is the flow of Liberian mercenaries into the Ivory Coast and the flow of more than 100,000 Ivory Coast refugees into Liberia. “It’s a serious threat to the stability of Liberia and, I might say, to the stability of all neighboring countries,” said Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in an interview. “There’s been a lot of investment for peace in this sub-region; we’re beginning to see the result of that investment,” she added. “If nothing is done to resolve the crisis, all of these efforts will be undermined.”

The mercenaries are fighting on behalf of the Ivory Coast's entrenched leader Laurent Gbagbo— not recognized by the United Nations—as rebels in the north of the country battle for control. “According to what we hear, both sides are recruiting Liberian mercenaries,” said Harrison S. Karnwea Sr., Liberia’s interior minister. “When people have been used to living on violence, they have got no profession to earn their living on.” On Thursday, fighting had escalated in the Ivory Coast capital city of Abidjan where forces loyal to Gbagbo clashed with forces in support of U.N.-recognized president Alassane Quattara.

Originally posted by notsofunnyguy
www.cnn.com...

Didn't he just say this to Qaddafi?

This is going to get old real quick.

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