Côte d'Ivoire: road hauliers demand the reopening of land borders
The Union of Road Drivers of West Africa, Mauritania and Morocco, Ucrao, has appealed to the Ivorian government to reopen the borders and allow them to resume their activities.
(Illustrative image) © Getty Images/Alan Thornton
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Côte d'Ivoire closed its land borders in 2020 to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
But unlike the rest of the sub-region, this measure is still in force, to the despair of carriers.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Marine Jeannin
Until March 2020, Sylla Pape Anzoumane's daily newspaper was on the road between Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire.
But since the Covid-19 pandemic, land borders have been closed and international buses stopped.
So at over 60, the Guinean had to find another job.
“
Everyone has been put on technical unemployment.
Myself who am there, I converted myself as a delivery man.
I have a car, I buy water from the Lebanese and I supply the shops, for 200 francs.
»
In Côte d'Ivoire, Ferkéssédougou (here in June 2020), close to Burkina Faso, is suffering economically in these times of a pandemic.
Issouf SANOGO / AFP
The Union of Road Drivers of West Africa, Mauritania and Morocco, Ucrao, has appealed to the Ivorian government to reopen the borders and allow them to resume their activities.
The 24,000 employees in the sector are now without income, according to figures from its secretary general, Daouda Bamba.
“
It's almost 300 companies, Ivorians and non-Ivorians, who reside in Côte d'Ivoire to transport people between states.
And today, all these 300 companies are bankrupt.
Because it will be three years that these companies do not exercise, are inactive and pay their taxes.
»
Questioned on this point during the press conference following the Council of Ministers on 9 November last, the government spokesman, Amadou Coulibaly, invoked "
security reasons
" and promised that "
as soon as the situation permit, the Ministry of the Interior and Security will make all the necessary arrangements
”.
►
To read also Ivory Coast: Ferkéssédougou, a city at a standstill due to border closures
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Ivory Coast
Coronavirus
Transportation
Economy
Trade and Exchanges