Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Dapa Arnaud gives a list of the 10 most active african presidents [fr] on social media. At the top of the list is  president Paul Kagame in Rwanda:

In place since 2003, the president of Rwanda is the most active on the internet.  According to the Ecofin agency, Paul Kagame interacts with many users on Twitter through his account @PaulKagame. His personal website named “The Journey Continues, Dukomeze Imihigo” is also one of the most visited websites in the country. His presence is also quite strong on other social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Flickr or YouTube.

What if the football history of Côte d'Ivoire was doomed in a particularly strange way? A story written in such a way that superstars cannot ever put their hands on the continental trophy ? What exactly do Didier Drogba and Laurent Poku lack to win a Africa Cup? They are both talented [..] but they fail where other less talented players have found success.

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“@diabyMohamed: #drameplateau I have just been arrested by the police for our citizen action to provide helping hand to victims in cote d'ivoire…
with @cyriacgbogou who spent the night at the police crime unit of plateau

Humanitarian bloggers Mohamed Diaby and Cyriac Gbogou wrote on twitter that they were put under arrest on January 4th for allegedly interfering with disaster recovery and fraud attempt while trying to help organize support for the victims of the stampede on new year day in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Tree trunks laying on the road seem to have triggered the stampede that killed 60 and injured 49 during a new year celebration in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The fact that the area was not adequately lighted may have contributed to the terrible tragedy.

Israel Yoroba in Abidjan reports on a lethal stampede [fr] as people gathered to watch fireworks at the Plateau district to ring in the new year. A hashtag #drameplateau was set up to give real time updates and on how one can help the victims. This is the third disaster of this kind since 2009 [fr] in Côte d'Ivoire.

Ivorians should abstain from bombing the Head Quarters of the UMP (The main Conservative Party) in France and help them move forward with the recount.

Notre Vision in Côte d'Ivoire draws a humourous parallel [fr] between the fiasco during the latest election [fr] to select the new leader of the UMP party in France and the post-electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire in 2010-11. La Voix de Russie in Russia cheekily observes that France might need some election observers from China or Russia [fr] to make sure there are no fraud during the next electoral process.

Upon hearing that a government reshuffle [fr] will be announced today at 12h30 local time, blogger MacMady invites her readers to speculate on who stays and who will be let go [fr]. The government is also engaged in a vigorous debate on social networks [fr] on multiple office tenures by political leaders.

Seven African nations of ECOWAS namely Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo have agreed with Malian government [fr] to send 3,300 soldiers a year to Northern Mali to take back control of northern Mali from Islamist fighters. Other nations outside the ECOWAS might also send in troops.

Logo of the Afripedia project, a project to provide offline access to wikimedia projects for Francophone Africa;  CC license-3.0

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S.B comments on the start of health workers’ indefinite strike in Abidjan. On Connection Ivorienne, he states [fr] that:

From the total no-fees for healthcare initiated by the state of Côte d'Ivoire after the end of the post-electoral crisis to free selected healthcare services, employees of certain health institutions have yet to receive their salary in a regular manner. What's worse is that their manager did not get any payments for the past 16 months.

Ouédraogo of Ouagadougou wrote the following on mondoblog.org :

The Confederation of African football adopted a shameful regulation during its general meeting on Monday, September 3, 2012, stipulating that only members of the Executive Committee may run for President of the governing body of African football. A settlement which eliminates, in theory, the main competitor of Issa Kilipytiboe from the next scheduled election in March 2013, Ivorian Jacques Anouma.

Frederick Gore Djo Bi wrote [fr] on africavox.com about the rise of racism against black Africans in Tunisia. In his post, Bi  quotes a testimony of Fabien Siei, an Ivorian engineering student living in Tunisia since 2007 [fr]:

Not a day goes by without a black African suffering from racial abuse. The most often-used insult  is “Guira Guira,” which, according to some means in a local dialect “big monkey”. For many Tunisians, we black Africans are savages.

Bernard Assandé narrates the latest attack [fr]  on the Force Républicaine de la Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI, the national army of Côte d'Ivoire) in Dabou on August 15. The army regained control of the city after a night of confrontation.  On August 6, 7 people were killed in Abidjan [fr] after similar attacks. Fighting were also reported on August 13 in the Pehkan Military Barracks close to the Liberian Border.

In Abidjan, Cyriac Gbogou introduces on his blog [fr] the citizen collaborative project Civroute [fr] that he co-founded. This online plateform will collect information sent by car drivers on the state of road circulation and potential traffic jams on the ivorian avenues via SMS, Twitter or Facebook.

Honoré Kouassi wrote [fr] on the webpage of L'intelligent d'Abidjan: “African countries, particularly those of Sub-Saharan African, are not shielded from the financial crime that has developed over the past ten years in various forms. This crime is a danger, not only for the economic and financial system, but for political and social stability in the states as well.”

Suy Kahofi writes [fr] on Africa Vox about free medical care in  Cote d'Ivoire : “The completely free care has, certainly, relieved the people, but it has been marred by problems : shortages in the supply of drugs, lack of nursing staff… The health professionals themselves  do not seem to be convinced that care should be completely free, because it results in abuses…”

Following moves by ECOWAS (The Economic Community of West African States) to defend democracy in West Africa Rumbidzai argues that Southern Africa needs an ECOWAS: “The Southern African Development Committee [Community] (SADC) on the other hand has increasingly displayed its inadequacy to address similar issues. In 2008 when Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe lost an election to Morgan Tsvangirai and the subsequent runoff was marred by horrendous violence, SADC did not make a firm decision to respect the people’s choice.”

Suy Kahofi wrote on mondoblog [fr] regarding the atmosphere in Senegalese polling stations in the capital of Côte d’Ivoire: “This voting process has been, above all, a time of reunion for Senegal nationals living in Côte d'Ivoire, and the good-natured atmosphere seen outside the polling stations has also been felt within.”

Reacting on an article about the spread of cybercrime in Côte d'Ivoire on abidjan.net ,  Moussa Delafontaine Coulibaly shares his own experience with cybercrime [fr]: “[I think] that these [cybercriminals] ought to be tracked down and persecuted. Because of them, my Paypal account has been blocked since last December and I do not dare to make any purchases online anymore. “

Kouamouo writes that the ICC has issued a warrant today to arrest former Ivorian president Gbagbo [fr]. In the comment section, Akpe wonders why Gbagbo has to be sent to Europe and not tried in Côte d’Ivoire.

Kingsuy blogging from Côte d'Ivoire writes in this post [fr]:  “Fad or symbol of unconsciousness of some mothers? Either way, it is difficult to figure why so many young pregnant women are still drinking so much while attending “maquis” (local eatery);  but many of them will still find a way to convince you that this is no big deal”

Kanigui writes [fr] in his blog Actu et Opinion: “Living in certain districts of Abidjan means accepting that there will be no running water from time to time.  The inhabitants of Koumassi Remblais, Cocody Angré, or even Yopougon Ananeraie go frequently through the agony of reduced water pressure or outright shortages .”

Gamelmag blogs about the use of social media for citizen engagement in West Africa: “Government-to-citizen engagement- Ghana's Constitution Review Committee put together various channels such as Facebook, Twitter and SMS to collate views from individuals as part of the country's constitutional review process.”

Y. Doumbia  writes about the measures taken by the Ouattara Administration to halt corruption [fr] : ” Under Ouattara today, the situation has radically changed. The state budget is managed with greater parsimony. Additionally, Ouattara also did away with the BNETD (the National Bureau for Technical Research and Development). The agency allowed for ministers to hire non-governmental experts for specific projects. This agency was in fact used by ministers to create fictional positions and then collect the allocated salaries themselves.”

Siriki Moustapha explains on africavox.com [fr] why equal pay for women still is a subject of debate in Ivory Coast: “These are men of varying socio-economic and intellectual levels; they do not think of themselves as old-fashioned, enemies of women, or even anti-feminist. Their logic is that the Ivorian woman demonstrates such immaturity that the question of wage equality shouldn't even come up.”

Nadia Khouri-Dagher observes in her article about the journey of the cocoa bean [fr] on afrik.com that: “West Africa represents 70% of world cocoa production, but only 3% of world cocoa consumption.”

Suy on  la Côte d'Ivoire au jour le jour – Ivory Coast day by day posted an audio recording [fr] of the Secretary General of the Ivorian presidency announcing the line-up of  the new government, noting also that some already consider as ”overmanning” a line-up of 36 ministers.

After weeks of uncertainty about his whereabouts, an alleged audio recording of Charles Blé Goudé [fr], the former Ivorian Minister of Youth under ousted president Laurent Gbagbo, has appeared in the Facebook group, “RESEAU MONDIAL FACEBOOKERS POUR GBAGBO” (Worldwide Network of Facebookers for Gbagbo). In the recording, posted by Cyrius Oscar Chic Choc, Blé Goudé says: “I've experienced the symbolism of my own funeral in my lifetime, which my grandfather often told me about,” and affirms, “I am alive.”

Amnesty International published a report about Cote d'Ivoire [fr, PDF] on May 25 in conclusion of a field survey: Looking back on 6 months of post-electoral violence. In this document [fr] the organisation warns that, “The conclusions of this report clearly show that all of the conflicting parties have committed crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Abidjan.net details the programme and heads of state invited to the investiture ceremony [fr] of President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire, which is to be held in the political capital Yamoussoukro on Saturday, May 21. Sixty six foreign delegations will be attending.

Youtube User Vespuca17 posted on May 1, 2011, a video [fr] of pro-Gbagbo militiamen chanting the name of the new President of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, ‘ADO'. To some this is one sign of the possible reconciliation the country has been seeking since the capture of former president Laurent Gbagbo.