Stories from Quick Reads and Cote d'Ivoire
Documentary ‘Too Black To Be French’ Wants to Start an Honest Conversation on Race in France
“Too Black to Be French” is a documentary made by Isabelle Boni-Claverie, a French-Ivorian writer and filmmaker. Boni-Claverie's goal is to provide unexplored ideas and start a conversation on French society's inequalities and discrimination. The documentary includes commentary and analyses from renowned Francophone thinkers such as Eric Fassin, Pap Ndiaye, Achille Mbembe, Patrick...
The First Edition of the Africa Web Festival Will Kick Off in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
The first Africa Web Festival will take place in Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire (November 24-26). The festival will give the opportunity to any designers in Africa to participate in a contest (registrations are open until October 12) Vous êtes journalistes, développeurs, producteurs de web tv, de web radio ; vous êtes créateurs et...
Online Networks Help Relief Flood-Plagued Côte d'Ivoire
Abidjan and other regions of Côte d'Ivoire have been plagued by heavy downpour and floods for the past weeks [fr]. Local residents got organized on social networks to bring relief to stranded citizens. On twitter and facebook, #CIVSOCIAL is the hashtag for emergency humanitarian reliefs. It was created in 2011...
Reasons to Cheer for the Ivory Coast in the World Cup
On the website LaMula.pe, Juan Carlos Urtecho explains his reasons for supporting the Ivory Coast in the World Cup match with Colombia on Thursday, June 19: Desde que les ganaron a Japón en su debut, los marfileños se han vuelto mis preferidos en este mundial. […] Uno escoge a sus...
A 80 Year-long Wait: Niger Gets its First Train Station
On April 7, Niger inaugurated in the capital Niamey its first train station ever [fr]. The authorities already projected the construction of the train station 80 years ago but the project never took off. The event will kick start the construction of railroads between Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire....
Château-Rouge: A Prominent African Food Market in Paris
In order to find ingredients for African cuisine in Paris, the go-to place is still the Château-Rouge area located in the 18th District, specifically in the Rue Dejean street market [fr] that operates every day except Monday. The African Expatriate explains why the market is such a draw for many...
Job Market Trends in the Mobile Phone Industry of Côte d'Ivoire
Alain François Loukou, a research fellow and teacher at the Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire, wrote an extensive report on the evolution of IT in Côte d'Ivoire [fr]. He shares the following table on the recent evolution of the mobile phone market in his country in terms of mobile penetration, jobs, turnover...
Do You Speak Nouchi? Ivorian Politicians Would Like to Know
What is Nouchi [fr]? Let's start with what it is not: it is not Creole and it is not a dialect. Nouchi is a coded language that originated in the 70's on the streets of Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d'Ivoire. It's a mix of French language and West...
French Strategical Report to Counter China's Economic Influence in Africa
Top Francophone economists & diplomats (namely H El-Karoui from Morocco, T Thiam from Côte d'Ivoire, L Zinsou from Benin, J-M Severino and H Vedrine from France) submitted a joint report [fr] that outlines the strategy that France should implement to remain competitive on the African Market in the near future. Joel Té-Léssia highlights...
Massive Railway Project between Niamey and Cotonou Underway
A 1,500 km-long railway project between Niamey, the capital city of Niger and Cotonou, the capital city of Benin has been green lighted by the authorities of the two countries and construction will begin on March 2014 [fr]. Francois Ndiaye in Niamey unpacks the set up of the financial agreement [fr] that includes...
The FIRE Awards Winners for Internet Development in Africa
The FIRE programme awards, an initiative of AFRINIC, acknowledge the actors from the African region who strive to provide solutions to internet development for the African Continent. The 2013 FIRE Awards Winners are : Nikohapa Ventures Ltd for their customer engagement platform (Kenya) HSoft Africa, Ltd for an adapted mail-order pharmacy (Benin...
Gift from French Investing Group Bolloré to Ivorian University Stirs Controversy
French investing group Bolloré [fr] made a donation of 6 electric buses to the University of Felix Houphouët Boigny at Cocody in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The first two buses were delivered on October 16 under great scrutiny from the Ivorian press and social media. In fact, the donation stirred a...
The Influence of Francophone Africa on the French Language
The news site Afrik.com features an article on the way in which African slang has influenced the French language [fr], and informs us that Verlan is no longer a preferred language of rappers : For a long time, there have been certain words, such as [Arabic greetings] “Salam alaykum” or “hamdu’llah”,...
Tchip: The “Shaking My Head” Meme from Africa
Nadéra Bouazza explains what being “tchippée” [fr] means for french speaking black communities. Tchip is the sound one makes when he/she disapproves of the behavior/action of someone else (roughly similar to the “shaking my head” internet slang). The “Tchip” sound is used across most black communities and has become an internet meme:
News Websites Indicted over Land Grab Report
News Websites Rue89 and Basta Mag are indicted [fr] following charges by French investment and industrial holding group Bolloré over a report in which they implicate Bolloré [fr] in land grab activities [fr] in Africa. The report lists the group's activities in Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Politis, a weekly analysis website, reacted...
Delestron, the Supervillain that Embodies Blackouts in Côte d'Ivoire
Ivorian citizens have created a cartoon character named Délestron (délestage means blackouts in french). Delestron has also its own facebook page which has gather more than 5,000 fans since its creation in March of 2013. Ivorian twitter user Lord225 posted a picture from his account: Hier… delestron a frapper fort....
African Presidents Active on Social Media
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...
Côte d'Ivoire's ‘Elephants’ Doomed?
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...
Ivorian Bloggers Under Arrest for Allegedly Interfering with Disaster Recovery While Trying to Help
“@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...
Struggling to Make Sense of the Deadly Stampede on New Year Day in Abidjan
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...
Ivorian and Russian Bloggers Make Light of the Electoral Fiasco for the Presidency of the French Conservative Party
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...
