The reconstruction of Congo-Zaire is a huge task. The country ranks 141 out of 174 in the United Nations Development Programme index of human development for 1996. At the same time, Alliance leaders are right when they say that Congo-Zaire has colossal material and human resources. A series of progressive measures could be implemented, benefiting from the legitimacy earned by overthrowing former president Mobutu Seke Seko. First could come a monetary reform, with the aim of reducing the country's catastrophic inflation rate, so as to protect the buying power of the population and encourage the re-launching of economic activities.
Monetary reform is never socially neutral, since it almost inevitably re-distributes wealth.
A progressive reform would involve exchanging old Zaire bank notes for a new currency at a fair exchange rate for a sum reflecting reasonable personal savings. Those with more cash than this would have to deposit their Zaires in a blocked bank account, until they explained where the money came from. Wealth that cannot be justified could simply be confiscated. The rest could be exchanged for the new currency, but at a lower exchange rate The Sandinistas introduced a reform of this type in 1985. Belgium did so after the Second World War.