In the spotlight: the cocoa of discord

Audio 04:27

Ivorian cocoa producers in a plantation near Sinfra, central region of Côte d'Ivoire, October 12, 2019. ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

By: Norbert Navarro

9 min

Publicity

Cocoa at 1000 CFA francs per kilo in Côte d'Ivoire.

One month before the expected date of the presidential election, Alassane Ouattara announces a farm gate purchase price for the cocoa bean that has risen sharply.

On the occasion of the launch of the 2020-2021 cocoa campaign, President Alassane Ouattara, currently in pre-election campaign for a third term strongly contested by the opposition, indeed announced yesterday Thursday in Yamoussoukro, capital of Côte d'Ivoire, a purchase price for planters of 1000 CFA francs per kilo all round, up, all at once, by 21% compared to the previous campaign!

“ 

Thank you, President!

 ", Launches

Le Patriote

, this newspaper close to Alassane Ouattara affirming that it would be" 

the farmers

 "who would thus thank the" 

head of state

 ".

Ouattara" spoils "the planters

 ", enhances the front page of

L'Expression

, the planters " 

say" yes "to Ouattara

 ", bids that of the newspaper

Le Matin

, these two dailies are also close to the Ivorian president.

The independent Ivorian press is more nuanced.

The front page of the

Soir Info

newspaper

thus underlines, in fact, that Alassane Ouattara announced “ 

good news

 ” to the peasants assuring them that he was their “ 

friend

 ”.

Another nuance, with that of the newspaper

L'Inter

, which belongs to the same press group as

Soir Info

, and which rather wonders " 

why Ouattara set the farm gate price at 1000 CFA / kg

 ".

Why ?

For the daily

Notre Voie

, the answer to this simple question is clear: it is " 

an electoral decision

 ".

This newspaper close to the tendency of the Ivorian Popular Front of Pascal Affi N'Guessan explains

in One 

that one month from the date scheduled for the presidential election, “ 

Ouattara wants to distract the peasants

 ”.

Moreover, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Adjoumani Kobénan Kouassi, defector of the PDCI, yesterday ambianced the meeting in Yamoussoukro during which the new price of cocoa was announced by President Ouattara, the daily

Le Temps

a ce morning, the impression that Adjoumani transformed the Yamoussoukro ceremony " 

into a real political space for the Rhdp (...) We have (vait) the impression that we were at a meeting of the Rhdp

 ", emphasizes this daily close to the ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.

Ouattara chocolate?

But the newspaper

Le Nouveau Réveil

goes even further by estimating that 1000F / kg for cocoa is nothing more than a " 

scam for planters, a great opportunity for crooked buyers and exporters

 ", it is " 

Ouattara's 2020 presidential campaign award!

 ".

And without delay, this daily close to the PDCI-RDA, the historic party founded by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the true king of planters, announces the response by signaling in the front page that " 

the opposition is preparing a big blow in Abidjan

 " , his colleague L'Héritage specifying that the Ivorian opposition would consider a " 

giga meeting at Félicia on October 10

 ", that is to say at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium in Abidjan.

As we can see, once again, the tension is high in Côte d'Ivoire, where, one month before the presidential election of October 31, the opposition " 

suspended

 " its participation in the Independent Electoral Commission, which is of concern. also the press in neighboring Burkina Faso.

Witness the Ouagadougou daily

Le Pays

, which emphasizes that " 

every day that passes in Côte d'Ivoire now brings its share of concerns about the holding of the presidential election

 ".

According to

Le Pays

, “things 

get more complicated for ADO (…) By sweeping aside the injunctions of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and ignoring the calls of the international community, it is a Alassane Ouattara who risks running alone in the presidential election

 ”.

A connoisseur of this issue,

Le Pays

warns that " 

the signals are bright red on the shores of the Ebrié lagoon

 ".

Condé / Ouattara, the obsession with the third term

His colleague

Wakat Sera

extends this analysis to Guinea.

How many more deaths to reach the third term?"

 ", Wonders this Ouagalan daily, by treating the Guinean President Alpha Condé and Ivorian Alassane Ouattara of" 

predators of democracy and human rights

 ",

Wakat Sera

denouncing" 

the drama that they are building, in their stubbornness in going to the 3rd term

 ”.

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