Uganda, April 13 -- Exiting a longstanding currency union - as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger propose to do by leaving the CFA franc zone, comprised of West African states that use the French-backed currency pegged to the euro - is not a decision to be taken lightly.

For the departing members, in particular, alternative monetary arrangements could prove elusive and better solutions may be overlooked.

Furthermore, while other former French colonies - including Tunisia in 1958, Algeria in 1964, and Mauritania and Madagascar in 1973 - successfully left the franc zone, the context was Bretton Woods. Accordingly, the order of the day was comprehensive capital controls, strong international support for decolonisation (notably from the United S...