Global Voices Online

L'actualite de Cote d'Ivoire writes that twelve people, including the head of Tommy, a local waste processing company, are set to appear before a court in Abidjan later this month; they are charged with “poisoning or conspiracy to poison” for illegally dumping 500 tons of toxic waste.  Tommy was under contract with Trafigura, a Dutch energy company, to process the waste after Trafigura decided it was too expensive to process in Amsterdam.

The date for the first Barcamp in Madagascar is set for October, 4th 2008 in Antananarivo. The user-generated unconference will follow in the steps of previous Barcamps organized in sub Saharan Africa (Nairobi, Kampala and Mauritius) . Other Barcamps related to ICT in Africa are also planned in Abidjan and Silicon Valley (BarcampAfrica) soon (en).

Théophile Kouamouo [Fr] reviews C'était pas gagné , an autobiography of Ivoirian football star, Didier Drogba.

Théophile Kouamouo proposes organizing “blogcamps” in Abidjan [Fr], meetings where local bloggers can share their experiences and train others who are interested in blogging.

Théophile Kouamouo comments [Fr] on President Laurent Gbagbo's recent anti-corruption operation in Cote d'Ivoire. He says: “The coffee-cocoa industry barons will be judged. But we don't talk much about the credibility of those that will judge them. Now, Ivorian justice is as ill as the political class[…] We need a true moral revolution, a subversion of our fake values”.

Carlos Serra [pt] reports some more protests against the increase in the cost of living, this time in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, where food prices have gone up. The sociologist-blogger forecasts these may not be the last ones: “I remember similar manifestations taking place recently in Cameroon, Burkina Faso and in our country. I predict that this phenomenon will be widespread in our continent.”

Misi writes about the popularity of African prints: “Everywhere you turn, Ankara is in-demand; you see people wearing ‘Ghana’, ‘Ivory Coast’ and ‘London Wax’ Ankaras. And the best part of it all is that it is affordable, in some cases cheaper than buying a cell phone recharge card.”

Emmanuel writes about the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana: “The surprise of yesterday was Ivory Coast's ouster from the championship. The Ivoirians probably underrated the Egyptians initially and before they started taking them seriously it was already late.”