United States Embassy (Abidjan)
26 June 2008
This daily press review is compiled by the Information Section of the Public Affairs Office of the American Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
The war against corruption in the coffee and cocoa industry and in other sectors of the Ivorian economy and the upcoming elections were the major issues in Friday's Ivorian Press.
1. L'Intelligent d'Abidjan (an independent daily) carried a headline which said: "Revelation - investigation on the coffeee and cocoa industry: how the court fooled Gbagbo." According to the paper, the detention of the officials of the coffee and cocoa industry are showing that the court does not play Laurent Gbagbo's game. The paper said the intention of Gbagbo when he asked the court to investigate, was not to send his friends who supported him during the war to jail. When the scandal started, he asked the Minister of Agriculture to maintain Tape Do, Chairman of the board of coffee and cocoa and Henri Kassi Amouzou, head of the Fund for the Development and Promotion of the Activities of Cocoa and Coffee Producers (FDPCC) in their positions until the end of the investigation in May 2008. For the paper, the precision of the date for the end of the investigation shows that Gbagbo's intention was only to dismiss these officials from their positions, not to send them to jail. This explains the behavior of some of the coffee and cocoa officials who still refuse to see the examining magistrate.
2. Le Nouveau Réveil (a daily close to the former ruling PDCI) carried a headline which said: "Operation clean hands in the coffee and cocoa industry, the farmers let down a bomb: here is the list of embezzlements and ministers involved." According to the paper, during a meeting yesterday at their headquarters, the spokesperson of the farmers said that it is the coffee and cocoa money which finances the ruling FPI party's meetings. They demanded the release of their leaders and asked the government for an explanation about the sequestered accounts. The farmers said they don't understand why it is their leaders who are accused of embezzlement of funds because it is the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Economy who are the only persons who have authority to sign for these accounts. The money that was given to the arrested leaders of the farmers was given to them by these two ministers who have not been arrested. The farmers estimated that out of the 600 billion CFA that the coffee and cocoa industry generated, only 160 billion have been used. The farmers are now demanding an audit of this fund.
3. "After the arrest of their leaders, the farmers revealed: the coffee and cocoa money funded the ruling FPI party's meetings; Minister Gon Coulibaly, Bohoun Bouabré and Charles Diby accused; an unlimited strike announced" is the front page story of Soir Info (an independent daily). According to the paper, the National Association of Coffee and Cocoa producers (ANAPROCI) made a statement yesterday in which it revealed that it was the producers' money that was used to help Gbagbo fight the rebels. It is the same money that they gave to him to organize the resistance and to support patriotic movements in 2004. The bank statements requested when Charles Konan Banny was Prime Minister were never published. The farmers concluded that Alphonse Douati, former Minister of Agriculture; Gon Coulibaly, the current Minister; and former and current Ministers of Economy and Finance, Bohoun Bouabre, Charles Konan Banny and Diby Charles were the ones who embezzled the funds. The farmers demanded the immediate release of their leaders without delay since the real culprits -- who are the ministers and members of the examining committee -- are still at liberty.
4. Le Patriote (a daily close to RDR) carried a headline which said: "Investigation in the coffee and cocoa industry, producers attack Gbagbo; why are people responsible for toxic waste dumping at liberty? Where are the 2 billion CFA given to the presidency for the students? we financed young patriots and the ruling FPI party meetings." The paper reported that the National Association of Coffee and Cocoa producers (ANAPROCI) disapproved of the way their leaders are humiliated. They made a list of people who managed the coffee and cocoa money and asked the government to arrest the real culprits. They also don't understand why those responsible for the toxic waste which killed many people in Abidjan were freed and even reinstated in their functions. For the farmers it is because these people are the secret funders of the regime. For the farmers there is a double standards and they think their leaders must be released.
5. L'Intelligent d'Abidjan also reported that during an interview with Ali Keita, the spokesman of Alliance pour la Nouvelle Cote d'Ivoire (ANCI), a new political party, he revealed that the date of November 30 is just a reference for the elections in Cote d'Ivoire. M. Keita told journalists that he does not understand why people are making a fuss about the November 30 date. For him people are behaving like the sky will fall if the elections are not held on November 30. He asked people not to forget that there could be reasons to move the date.
6. L'inter (an independent daily) reported that the radio of the UN operations in Côte d'Ivoire announced yesterday that the UN has agreed to give 2 billion CFA as its contribution for the funding of the elections in Cote d'Ivoire.
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