Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Ivory Coast heads to the polls Sunday for a referendum on a new constitution their president insists will heal a nation beset by violent turmoil, but which the opposition says is dangerously anti-democratic. Given that President Alassane Ouattara’s political foes have called for a …
Read More »10 years on, Ivory Coast toxic waste clean-up ‘not complete’
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Ten years after an international oil-trader dumped 500 tonnes of toxic waste in Ivory Coast, killing 17 people and harming 100,000, the stench remains, though the compensation is unpaid. A decade on, Ivorians “still complain of the smell from the waste when it rains …
Read More »Ivory Coast seeks protected status for staple cassava dish
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | France has done it with Champagne, Italy with Parma ham and Japan with Kobe beef; now Ivory Coast wants to protect the status of one of its most popular foods. Attieke — pronounced atchekay — is a side dish made from fermented ground cassava. …
Read More »World mourns ‘King of Congolese rumba’ Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba was a warrior of African music & an Africa legend whose music will endure. He acted, sang, wrote songs, performed on world stages — Min. Nathi Mthethwa (@NathiMthethwaSA) April 24, 2016 Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Papa Wemba, one of Africa’s greatest music stars, has died …
Read More »Ivory Coast crisis has lessons for Uganda
By Mubatsi Asinja Habati The political impasse in Ivory Coast following presidential elections has caught the world’s attention. President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to quit after losing the election to opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara who the Ivorian electoral commission declared winner. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to Godber Tumushabe, the …
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