We would especially like to acknowledge our debt to our close collaborators. Xavier Debrun has coauthored with us several papers on monetary unions in Africa, and our book builds on that work. Heather Milkiewicz put together much of the data used in this book, has mastered the technology of creating maps, and has done much of the statistical analysis. Finally, Masson 9/23/03 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AEC-African Economic Community, created by the 1991 Abuja Treaty AMU-Arab Maghreb Union, a regional group that includes Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. APRM-African Peer Review Mechanism: an instrument of the NEPAD that will review countries' performance in the area of governance and exert peer pressure to improve it. AU-African Union, a pan-African organization whose Constitutive Act entered into force in 2001; it aims to bring about economic and political integration. BCEAO-Banque Centrale des états de l'Afrique de l'ouest: the central bank of WAEMU BEAC-Banque des états de l'Afrique Centrale: the central bank of CAEMC CFA franc zone-a common currency area that uses the CFA franc which is pegged to the euro with the assistance of the French Treasury. Its African members are comprised of two groups of countries (plus the Comoros), WAEMU and CAEMC, each with its own central bank and its own currency. In French, franc CFA stands for franc