West Africa's Dollar Woes

...Despite promises of better pay and housing, the nation's small Army remains divided Of the six "gallows birds" set free, the only one who did not pledge loyalty to the regime was the smile military officer in the group And when the Chinese presented gifts of arms and ammunition to Sierra Leone, the impressive pile was stacked on the State House lawn, m the center of Freetown, while it was "tonally" decided which officers could be trusted with the consignment...

...Shortly before the dollar devaluation became official, concern about mutual economic problems brought together French Africa's Big Two...

...The current president, Hubert Magi, gave m to pressures from neighboring Togo's General Etienne Eyebeam m November and agreed to expel attorney No?l Kotuku, exiled leader of the Musty party of former Togolese President Silvanus Olympia, whom Eyebeam had assassinated m 1963 From his offices in Continuo Kotuku was directing a campaign against Eyebeam??s referendum to "reject civilian rule" as "inopportune and premature " When the Togolese general sent a plane to pick up Kotuku, Colonel Alley intervened Kotuku and his law partner, Benjamin d'Almeida, continue to work in Mahoney under the protection of Army bodyguards...

...In Mahoney, meanwhile, domestic political strife has suddenly flared to the open Uneasily ruled by three civilians rotating in successive two-year terms, the country was not expected to have another coup until 1974, when the least popular of the ton was due to take office But Colonel Alphonse Alley, a former junta leader, now seems set to move earlier, and a sudden downturn in the economy could prompt him to take over at any time...

...High on the agenda was the subject of Guinea, a mutual neighbor that poses the greatest foreign problem shared by the two Presidents Their countries are flooded by half a million Gunman refugees, and they have been accused by President Se-koru Toured of fostering plots against him Furthermore, Conakry's non-cooperation contributed to the recent collapse of another Senghor regional-development brainchild, the Senegal River States Organization It was undoubtedly easier for Houphouet-Boigny and Senghor to bury their hatchets with Tore??s back so available...

...More than two decades of power, including 11 years of independence, have inevitably eroded the credibility of both rulers with younger citizens Houphouet-Boigny, who has said privately that he will step down in 1975, will soon name a premier probably present finance minister Henri Konan Bedie, a fortyish liberal economist As in Dakar and Tunis, the Ivory Coast chief sees his premier as his crown prince, but in all three cases the post is more likely to prove the political kiss of death In 1969, Senghor announced retirement plans for 1977, he now intends to hang on until 1983, when he will be 77...

...Magi??s expulsion attempt triggered protest demonstrations by lawyers and students, who were already upset about the nation's high rate of intellectual unemployment and its low per capita income??which ranks below that of any other country on the West African coast Beset by massive budget and trade deficits, Mahoney has been unable to generate development capital, making it heavily dependent on French aid Though sound economic policy has been hindered by frequent changes m government, the door is hokey to start revolving again specially if Alley can reach an agreement with his mama political rival, Colonel Maurice Kouandete...

...A REGION IN CRISIS West Africa's Dollar Woes BY RUSSELL WARREN HOWE Accra America's economic sneeze is causing West African flu Almost everywhere, the political future is overhung with portents of fiscal disaster In Ghana, Prime Minister Kofi A Bosnia??s harsh austerity program—iincluding a 44 per cent currency devaluation...

...In poverty-stricken Dahomey, another colonel openly defied his President, indicating that the country's ninth coup in 12 years may be in the making Sierra Leone, calmer now than anytime in the past four years, is anxiously awaiting the delayed effect of last year's price collapse on the New York Diamond Exchange, the source of approximately 70 per cent of the nation's export income...

...Led to last month's coup d???¦tat by Colonel Ignatius K Acheampong...

...Sierra Leone's dependence on U S markets is matched by Stevens' suspicion of the US government He fears the CIA operates in his land, perhaps through the Peace Corps, and that local American diplomats maneuver against him without consulting Washington Yet Stevens never thought he would live to see the day when the bottom dropped out of the New York Diamond Exchange Along with the rest of West Africa's leaders, he can only hope that the U S economic recovery will benefit his nation as much as the recession hurt it...

...Politically more damaging than the military is the fact that little ever really changes in countries hake Sierra Leone In a recent interview Stevens told me, "The stress now is on economic development and especially on agriculture We need know-how We need capital " Whether he realized it or not, he was echoing the words of his predecessor 15 years ago Stevens went on to talk of self-sufficiency m food production, particularly rice, and possible new export crops By recognizing Peking, he noted, the country gained several Chinese rice experts, but lost its best restaurant, which was Taiwanese...

...Stability has been a problem in Sierra Leone, too, where President Sitka Stevens appears to have regained firm control after executing the leaders of last year's unsuccessful Army coup and assassination attempt He has released six prisoners who had been sentenced to death for treason and sent home the 200 Guinean troops summoned to safeguard his government Still, the 66-year-old ruler has a heart condition, and his eventual succession will undoubtedly precipitate another bitter struggle for power...

...student discontent, both Presidents closed their main campuses twice last year—partily in response to the influence of Jacques Oxcart, France's security chief in Africa, who has brandished the specter of how Parisian students "overthrew de Gaulle " The prime mover in the two leaders' recent reconciliation was Senghor, who is the more politically threatened at home Preindependence rivals in the French Legislature and regional adversaries ever since, both men now view themselves as competing aspirants for the Nobel Peace Prize (Senghor attempting initiatives m the Mideast, Houphouet-Boigny in South Africa) Only last October, the Ionian refused to meet with two white South African moderates, Roger Eglin and Helen Suzy-man, evidently because they had decided to visit Dakar first The following month, each of the um-partite states ordered its captive press to plug the other's favorite themes Finally, in December, Senghor traveled to Abidjan for the midsummer conference...

...Motivated by a late-blooming religious conscience, a need for South African capital, the glitter of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the influence of Oxcart, Houphouet-Boigny wants to become the racial peacemaker of South Africa Thus far, however, he has failed to gain the support of any major power on the continent, not even the four small neighbors with which the Ivory Coast has economic ties Indeed, last June's African summit roasted him for breaking ranks Equally inept at public relations, Senghor was unable to make his Mideast mission look at all convincing When Israeli wags dubbed his exotic group the "Four Wise Men," he thought flattery was intended In March, he banned French and African reporters and this correspondent, before going to the Middle East, he at least lifted the import restriction on Jejune Enrique, French Africa's main weekly—whitch responded with a contemptuous cover cartoon about his mission Senghor's new-found friendship with Houphouet-Boigny may ease the special pain of isolation, but for both men the pipe-of-peace ceremony is a smoke screen designed to obscure ebbing fortunes at home...

...pay of lower-echelon civil servants, ordered a huge government subsidy to reduce basic food prices to their previous levels, and later nullified Bosnia??s devaluation of the cedi...

...Busier had also raised savings bank interest rates from 2 5 to 7 5 per cent, to lure mammy-traders' money from what Shamans call the "bra banks " A more urgent need, however, is foreign exchange to pay off the debts that currently consume 25 per cent of the nation's earnings abroad It seems inevitable that the regime will have to write off some loans or at least fix an annual debt service ceiling Furthermore, meaningful aid will probably elude an un-elected junta even more than it did Bosnia??s administration...

...That should help consolidate the junta's support in urban areas, where unskilled laborers earn only 55 cents a day exactly the price of a single yam in city markets before the subsidy went into effect Busier had written off the urban vote and concentrated on massive development projects in the countryside, hoping to keep a majority of the predominantly rural population behind him As a result, the nation is expected to become self-sufficient in rice and fish by the end of the year, and in all foodstuffs by 1974, perhaps with an exportable surplus If the agricultural program succeeds, it should deflate food prices in the cities...

...Senegal??s Leopold Seder Senghor, 65, and the Ivory Coast's Felix Houphouet-Boigny, 66—for nine days of talks, ending a quarter-century of antagonism They discussed the possibility of lowering the parity of the already overvalued French African franc to make their exports more competitive, and considered putting limitations on the transfer of funds out of their countries In addition, Senghor revived his old proposal for a French African common market Even in the unlikely event that the market idea materialized, it would offer only limited benefit to Ghana, whose economy is still laboring under the enormous foreign debt incurred during the reign of Kama Nkrumah Last year Ghana's cost of living rose 15 per cent, bringing it to four times what it was at independence in 1957 The dollar crisis halved the world price of cocoa, the country's mama export crop, and import bills are now paid 11 months late Measures taken by the Busier government hurt foreign business interests facing it nearly impossible to attract new investment capital without appreciably improving the domestic situation...

...Upon seizing power, Colonel Acheampong suspended the Constitution, dissolved Parliament, and set up a National Redemption Council to deal with what he called Ghana's "grave economic crisis" He told newsmen later, "We are almost like a nation at war without an external enemy The council has therefore decided to place the economy on a war footing " Though he urged his countrymen to accept necessary sacrifices, he quickly moved to raise the us sell Warren Howe, a frequent NL contributor, is the African bureau chief of the Baltimore Sun...

...Acheampong has promised that he will relinquish control to a democratically elected government "as soon as circumstances permit " After ousting Nkrumah in 1966, the military reigned three years before restoring civilian rule, and it could take several years to put the economy back on an even keel Nonetheless, Ghanaians are genuinely dedicated to democracy Indeed, Bosnia??s popularity was undermined by his attempts to intimidate critics, to pressure the courts m ways reminiscent of Nkrumah, and to abolish the country's labor confederation for seeking a minimum daily wage of 83 cents Senegal's galloping economic crisis was triggered by poor harvests, accelerated by domestic political problems, and brought to a head by the dollar devaluation Ivory Coast has more fat to live off than Senegal, but unemployment has hit volatile Abidjan, a city of savage contrasts between white and black living standards Houphouet-Boigny now sees his famous Bahamas-style boom tapering off because of a capital shortage, and he has braked his politically important drive to push prosperity into the countryside Faced with broadening...

...In foreign affairs, Stevens strongly opposes dialogue with South Africa and settlement with Rhodesia's rebel regime He foresees greater Russian and Chinese intervention m the southern half of the content, where he thinks whites have missed the interracial boat No Leftist himself, Stevens backed Biafra, maintains that "Socialism has no meaning in Africa," and has kept his nation's currency exchange "free" in the face of a budget deficit and an 8 per cent rise in living costs last year (U S aid, incidentally, is minimal ). Comparing public expectations with present realities, Stevens wonders whether the multipartite parliamentary democracy that brought him to power as leader of the previous opposition can endure He is proud of the country's independent judiciary, but does not believe politics can be kept off the bench "Look at Washington," he says A burly former labor leader, he thinks the labor movement should "join the government," and that the press can only be "reasonably" free...