Ouagadougou, October 30, 2025 – During a panel discussion in Ouagadougou, people of African descent and members of the African diaspora attended a powerful conference on Africa's economic and monetary challenges. The guest speaker, Dr. Williams Wallace , made a resounding appeal for the abolition of the CFA franc and the creation of a unified African currency , based on the continent's own resources, as a prerequisite for genuine financial independence.

According to Dr. Wallace, the CFA franc is nothing more than an "instrument of economic control" designed to perpetuate the structural dependence of African nations. "As long as we use a currency printed and controlled from abroad, our development will remain blocked," he asserted, elaborating on the theme of "Economic Enslavement: The IMF, the CFA Franc, the Plunder of Resources."

Breaking with international financial institutions

The speaker also argued for a clean break with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which he accused of trapping the continent in a cycle of impoverishment through their conditional loans. He proposed the establishment of an African sovereign development fund and the creation of an independent common currency.

Debt dispute and resource valuation

Addressing the issue of debt, Dr. Wallace argued that the sums owed by African countries are "more than offset" by the undervalued natural resources (gold, uranium, diamonds, etc.) supplied to the rest of the world. "They take our resources cheaply and resell them for hundreds of times more. We owe them nothing," he insisted, demanding a reassessment of the debts and the denunciation of agreements signed "under duress."

The AES, a model for monetary unity

To realize this vision, Dr. Wallace called for African unity around a single, sovereign currency, citing the euro as a European success story. He specifically identified the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a potential spearhead for this initiative: "The AES countries can create a common currency, initially local, then digital, before extending it to the whole of Africa."