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.