Highlights: Ivory Coast: resumption of evictions in Abidjan, Koumassi scrap dealers affected in turn. After the communes of Yopougon and Attécoubé, it was the turn of the scrap dealers' district of Anoumabo. Hundreds of occupants, warned by the town hall this Wednesday, only had three days to evacuate their workshops or homes. The government adopted this week support measures for those evicted, in particular a rehousing plan and compensation.

The Ivorian government has launched a new wave of “evictions” in Abidjan, the name given to the destruction of informal neighborhoods by public authorities. After the communes of Yopougon and Attécoubé…

Ivory Coast: resumption of evictions in Abidjan, Koumassi scrap dealers affected in turn

The Ivorian government has launched a new wave of “evictions” in Abidjan, the name given to the destruction of informal neighborhoods by public authorities.

After the communes of Yopougon and Attécoubé in recent weeks, it was the turn of the scrap dealers' district of Anoumabo, in Koumassi in the south of Abidjan, on Saturday March 16.

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Young people in the ironworker district of Anoumabo, in the commune of Koumassi in Abidjan, during an eviction on March 16, 2024. © Marine Jeannin / RFI

By: Marine Jeannin Follow

From our correspondent in Abidjan

“

The State is behaving like a thug

!
The law is trampled on in Côte d'Ivoire, to give the impression that in Côte d'Ivoire, everyone lives at ease.
But that’s not the case

!

» Near this scrap dealer, furious, young men search the rubble after

the passage of the excavators

, looking for cables or pieces of sheet metal that they can resell... Hundreds of occupants, warned by the town hall this Wednesday, They only had three days to evacuate their workshops or homes...

“

We did not receive any notification, we did not have any notice

,” reports Kalif Konaté, vice-president of the Ivorian scrap dealers association.

We learned about it on social media.
We don't have the means to anticipate.
What we can remove directly, we remove.
What we can't, we leave to them, they will come and demolish it.
What is certain is that we were only told

“just prepare for the day after tomorrow, because after tomorrow, that's all the rest we're going to have to do”

The government adopted this week support measures for those evicted, in particular a rehousing plan and compensation... But these measures are very insufficient, judges civil society activist Pulchérie Gbalet, who has just founded a coalition of NGOs , evacuated and threatened with eviction.

“

The first measure says that we will give 250,000 CFA francs [around 380 euros, editor’s note] to each household

,” she recalls

.
And what do these 250,000

francs do

?
With 250,000

francs, today in Abidjan, you can only stay in a precarious neighborhood.
So, we move people to send them where we are going to move them again.
It does not make sense.
And that’s not development.
That, ultimately, is waging war on the poor.

The coalition has started to identify the affected populations, to enable them to seek compensation or legal recourse.

The Anoumabo scrap dealers are trying to save what can be saved while waiting for the return of the excavators, Monday March 18, 2024.

Read also Ivory Coast: support measures for the “displaced”, those displaced from precarious neighborhoods

Ivory Coast: resumption of evictions in Abidjan, Koumassi scrap dealers affected in turn

Ivory Coast: resumption of evictions in Abidjan, Koumassi scrap dealers affected in turn

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