Brussels, 19/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Central Bank of the West African States (BCEAO) launched, in Dakar (Senegal) on Monday, an information campaign on the euro to last six months and covering the eight countries belonging to the UMEAO. The BCEAO Governor, Charles Konan Banny from Côte d'Ivoire, recalled on this occasion that the changeover to the euro, on 1 January 2002, will not change the value of the CFA franc. Tied to the French France since 1948, the CFA franc will remain anchored to the euro at the rate fixed on 1 January 1999, that is, 1 euro for 655.957 CFA francs but, given the disappearance of the French franc, this rate will mean quite a change for the West Africans used to a simple conversion - the French franc was worth 100 CFA francs. While stressing that the euro is "above all the business of the Europeans" and that it will have "not be legal tender" on the territory of the UMEAO States, Mr Konan Banny noted that the European currency concerned West Africa "a little more than the others" and therefore justified an appropriate information campaign for the citizens of the region.