THE Democratic Republic of Congo’s central bank announced on Wednesday the country’s reviled former currency – the New Zaire – is being completely withdrawn from circulation after a year-long phase-in of the Congolese franc. The old notes, introduced during the rule of the late dictator Mobutu sese Seko in what was then Zaire, have ceased to be legal tender and can now only be exchanged at the central bank, officials said in a statement. The new bills replace the Zaire at one Congo franc for every 100000 New Zaires. Black market trading of the new notes at unofficially reduced rates for foreign currency has flourished despite the prospect of death sentences for offenders. The old currency notes, popularly nicknamed “prostates” in a reference to the glandular cancer that afflicted Mobutu, carried the image of the dictator in his trademark leopard-skin hat and black-rimmed glasses.