AFCON 2025 kicks off in less than a month. Gervinho, an Ivorian football legend, reveals the strengths Ivory Coast holds to defend their crown in Morocco.
After their home triumph in January 2024, the Elephants of Ivory Coast are dreaming of conquering Africa once again. And Gervinho shares that belief. In an interview with the CAF media team, the former Elephants winger believes Ivory Coast has the individual talent needed to get the job done.
Advertisement
“First, there are the individual qualities. In Ivory Coast, we’ve always had players capable of making a difference on their own, talents who naturally stand out,” Gervinho said. He added: “But the most important asset is the collective. We saw it at the last AFCON: when the team spirit took over, everything fell into place. The individuals put themselves at the service of the group, and that’s how the team moved forward. I also sensed incredible motivation. Even when outnumbered, some players transcended themselves for the country. That left the biggest impression on me.”
As a reminder, at AFCON 2025, Ivory Coast shares a group with Cameroon, Gabon, and Mozambique. The Elephants know the Indomitable Lions well, and they recently faced Gabon in World Cup qualifiers. Gervais Yao Kouassi admits the task won’t be easy for his nation: “In Africa, every group is tough. We grew up with this reality. We know each other, we know the playing styles, we know nothing is easy. The most important thing is to get through the group stage. With the quality of this squad, I sincerely think they have everything it takes to make it. And, the big matches always bring extra motivation. The young players love these occasions—it’s games like these that make great players.”
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council on Tuesday confirmed the West African nation’s presidential election results, securing President Alassane Ouattara’s fourth term, council president Chantal Nanaba Camara announced.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Ayen Deng BiorEditing by Bate Felix)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth term with a commanding re-election win, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday
The 83-year-old former international banker won 89.77% of the vote, his third consecutive decisive victory after the much closer election that brought him to power in 2011.
His predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to acknowledge defeat in that race, sparking a four-month war that killed around 3,000 people.
Ouattara has since overseen a period of relative stability and steady economic growth in the world’s biggest cocoa producer.
The turnout of around 50% was comparable to the presidential elections in 2010 and 2015 but far below the 80% who voted in the first round in 2010.
Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were not legally permitted to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lacked the backing of a major political party, making Ouattara the clear favourite.
The results are expected to be validated by the Constitutional Council in the coming days.
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Former Ivory Coast commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon on Sunday conceded defeat to incumbent Alassane Ouattara in the presidential election, he said in a statement, as partial results showed Ouattara with a large lead in many localities.
Billon was one of four opposition candidates challenging Ouattara, a former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund who is seeking re-election to a fourth term.
Billon tried and failed to get the backing of the opposition PDCI party, which is led by Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse who was ruled ineligible for Saturday’s election in the world’s biggest cocoa producer.
“The initial results place the incumbent President, Mr Alassane Ouattara, in the lead, designating him the winner of this presidential election,” Billon said in his statement, offering congratulations to Ouattara, who is 83.
Ouattara is the heavy favourite in the contest which unfolded without major disruption.
Provisional results are expected within five days.
(Reporting by Loucoumane CoulibalyWriting by Robbie Corey-Boulet)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast is voting in a presidential election on Saturday with incumbent Alassane Ouattara, 83, claiming credit for nearly 15 years of economic growth and relative stability while strongly hinting it will be his final campaign.
A former international banker and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ouattara took power in 2011 after a four-month civil war that killed around 3,000 people.
The war was triggered by the refusal of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, to acknowledge defeat in the 2010 election.
Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were deemed ineligible to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lack the backing of a major political party, making Ouattara the clear favourite.
Announcing his candidacy in July, Ouattara said a fourth term would be one of “generational transmission.” He reiterated the point at a lunch this week attended by journalists as well as his 73-year-old prime minister and 76-year-old vice president.
“We know that the country needs to renew its team,” he said. “It’s not easy to work at the same pace at our age.”
Ivory Coast’s median age is 18.
YOUNG IVORIANS VOICE SCEPTICISM
The world’s biggest cocoa producer is among the fastest-growing economies in the region. Its international bonds are some of the best performing in Africa.
Ouattara has tried to diversify economic output, with mining a key focus, while investing in schools and road infrastructure to attract more private investment.
“We have turned Ivory Coast around,” he said at a triumphant final rally in the commercial capital Abidjan on Thursday.
“The country has experienced extraordinary growth since 2011. And this growth must continue.”
Not everyone is convinced.
“We are tired of seeing old people making decisions for us, the younger generation,” said Landry Ka, a 22-year-old student.
“We are young and we want someone who really understands the problems facing young people in Ivory Coast, someone who will come and enable us to find jobs.”
Ka said he is backing Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady and Ouattara’s highest-profile challenger. She is 76.
The youngest candidate in the race is former commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon, at 60. He failed to get the backing of the main opposition party PDCI, led by Thiam, who is 63.
“Many young Ivorians express deep scepticism toward the political elite, citing persistent unemployment, economic inequality, and a lack of meaningful representation,” said Chukwuemeka Eze, director of the Democratic Futures in Africa Program at Open Society Foundations.
HUNDREDS ARRESTED DURING CAMPAIGN
More than eight million people are registered to vote on Saturday. Polling stations open at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT.
Provisional results are expected within five days. A runoff will be held if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.
Though Ivory Coast has a history of election-related violence, this year’s campaign has been mostly calm, with scattered protests in numerous locations including the political capital Yamoussoukro.
The government has deployed 44,000 members of the security forces throughout the country and enforced what Amnesty International said was a disproportionate ban on protests.
Hundreds have been arrested, and the interior ministry said dozens had received prison terms of up to three years for offences including disturbing public order.
Government spokesperson Patrick Achi, a former prime minister, told Reuters that the government protected freedom of speech but was also determined to maintain order.
“Let’s keep stability, and then the generation to come will improve. But at least the economy that went through so much won’t again be destroyed,” he said.
(Reporting by Media Coulibaly and Robbie Corey-Boulet; Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Ange Aboa; Editing by William Maclean)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Simone Gbagbo, a former first lady in Ivory Coast who was once wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, is running for president on Saturday, marking a new chapter in her political career without her ex-husband.
The 76-year-old politician, known in the West African nation as the “Iron Lady”, is the most high-profile name among those who were allowed to run against incumbent Alassane Ouattara, who is widely expected to win a fourth term.
Simone Gbagbo played a leading role during the tumultuous tenure of former President Laurent Gbagbo, which was marked by civil war from 2002 to 2007 and again after the 2010 election.
“All the ministers respect me, and I am often placed above them,” she once told the French newspaper L’Express.
FROM ARREST TO FOUNDING A NEW PARTY
Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to acknowledge defeat to Ouattara in 2010 led to fighting that killed around 3,000 people and ended when the couple was arrested together at their Abidjan residence.
In 2021, Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce, bringing to a close a partnership that stretched back to their days as young opposition activists. A year later, Simone Gbagbo launched her current party, the Movement of Skilled Generations, which she has described as rooted in social democratic principles.
Arthur Banga, a historian and political analyst, said he does not expect Simone Gbagbo to win this year because her new party has a limited voter base.
“But she is positioning herself for the future,” he told Reuters, noting that she could take advantage of the void left by Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, a former Credit Suisse CEO. Both their candidacies were rejected by the electoral commission.
“She will become the leader of the political opposition after these elections,” Banga said.
BACKGROUND IN OPPOSITION POLITICS
Simone Gbagbo started her political career as a trade unionist in the 1970s when she opposed the single-party rule of the country’s founding President Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
In the 1980s, she co-founded the Ivorian Popular Front party alongside Laurent Gbagbo, whom she married in 1989, and other opposition figures. She entered national politics in 1995, winning a seat in the National Assembly during general elections dominated by then President Henri Konan Bedie’s Democratic Party.
Her husband went on to assume the presidency five years later.
After their arrest in 2011, Laurent Gbagbo was sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but Ouattara’s government refused to transfer Simone Gbagbo.
Instead she went on trial at home and in 2015 received a 20-year sentence for crimes against the state.
In 2018, Ouattara granted her an amnesty in a move widely seen as an effort to ease political tensions.
PLEDGE FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
Simone Gbagbo’s platform features a national reconciliation plan that would involve both justice and reconciliation for past political violence.
Her party has said she would introduce a general amnesty law to release all political and military prisoners and facilitate the return of exiles.
Simone Gbagbo is also known for her call to achieve “true monetary autonomy” in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, by replacing the euro-pegged CFA franc with another currency at the subregional level.
She has also said she would support countries from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in West Africa, where military leaders have seized power in coups in recent years. Those countries – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – have an antagonistic relationship with Ouattara.
Earlier this month, Simone Gbagbo’s campaign gained backing from Charles Ble Goude, a close ally of her ex-husband who like Laurent Gbagbo was acquitted by the ICC in 2019.
“Simone Gbagbo has demonstrated that she is a committed politician and, above all, a pragmatic woman,” Banga said, adding that she seems poised to strengthen her popular legitimacy by running in this election, which is widely expected to be the last time Ouattara, 83, runs.
“Let’s not forget that 2030 will be different,” he said.
(Reporting by Ange Aboa and Anait MiridzhanianEditing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Frances Kerry)
ABIDJAN. Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara called on the country’s youth to vote in large numbers in the upcoming presidential election, touting himself as the candidate most committed to their welfare during a campaign rally Saturday.
Ivory Coast, a nation of 32 million and one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses, is due to hold its presidential election on Oct. 25 with Ouattara running against four other candidates.
The election is being held amid political tensions after key opposition figures were barred from running, including former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam.
Speaking at a rally in the capital of Abidjan, Ouattara, 83, said he is seeking a fourth term to fulfill his promises of a better life for young people. “I have always been committed to offering the best to our youth, so that you can start businesses, work, learn, and be independent,” he said.
After changing the constitution in 2016 to remove presidential term limits, analysts say Ouattara has high chances of winning the election with little challenge from the other candidates.
The Ivorian leader has said he is committed to addressing the country’s security and economic challenges. However, opposition leaders said his government has failed to meet expectations and suggested that those barred from running were removed from the ballot to pave way for Ouattara’s victory.
The ban on key opposition leaders has prompted protests that authorities have tried to block. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, with some already sentenced to time in jail.
At Saturday’s rally, Ouattara and his party officials pitched his candidacy to thousands of youths in attendance. The Ivorian leader has “done a lot for young people, and we want him to continue,” said Florine-Auxane Loukou Bledja, one of the local leaders of the ruling party’s youth movement.
Former Ivory Coast First Lady Simone Gbagbo has gone from hiding in a bunker in an attempt to avoid arrest to defiantly announcing she will run for president.
In an extraordinary comeback, the controversial 76-year-old was this week surprisingly allowed to contest October’s elections, calling on supporters to help “build a new nation”.
For years, Gbagbo worked side-by-side with her ex-husband Laurent, and was considered to be the power behind his throne.
Now, with a criminal conviction and a divorce behind her, she takes centre stage as a presidential candidate in her own right.
Gbagbo was Ivory Coast’s first lady from 2000 to 2011 and was dubbed “the iron lady” due to her reputation for toughness.
While her supporters fondly called her “maman” (French for “mum”), Gbagbo was feared within the party she set up with her husband, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).
“All the ministers respect me. And they often consider me above them,” she told French magazine L’Express during her husband’s presidency.
At rallies, Gbagbo often invoked her evangelist Christian faith, firing off spirited, eloquent speeches in support of her husband.
Gbagbo met Laurent in 1973, at a time when both were powerful figures in Ivory Coast’s trade union movement.
Gbagbo had degrees in history and linguistics, and as a teacher, was a key member of various educators’ unions.
The couple’s relationship was also built on the struggle against then-president Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
The Gbagbos protested against Houphouët-Boigny’s autocracy, which lasted for 33 years, calling for multi-party democracy.
Simone Gbagbo gave passionate speeches in support of her husband – next month she herself will take centre stage [AFP via Getty Images]
As a result of their activism, the pair were jailed several times.
“I engaged in political struggle against the former regime alongside men,” Gbagbo recalled In her l’Express interview.
“I spent six months in prison, I was beaten, molested, left for dead. After all those trials, it’s logical that people don’t mess with me.”
In 1982 the pair co-founded the FPI. That same year, Laurent fled to France following harassment from Houphouët-Boigny’s security forces and Gbagbo was left to raise the couple’s twin daughters alone.
After six years apart, Laurent returned and the pair married in an intimate ceremony, with less than 10 guests present.
The Gbagbos soon had further cause for celebration. In 1990 Houphouët-Boigny finally caved in, allowing the first national elections in Ivory Coast since independence three decades earlier.
Laurent decided to run for president, his wife a key figure in his campaign.
“Laurent had the good-natured gab, Simone the uncompromising discourse,” French newspaper Le Monde said of the Gbagbos’ political partnership.
In less flattering terms, Ivorian opposition newspaper Le Patriote wrote: “Laurent Gbagbo – expansive, warm, and devious… his wife, Simone Ehivet-Gbagbo – enigmatic, cold, and secretive.”
In an election marred by allegations of widespread rigging, Laurent lost the presidential race to Houphouët-Boigny by a landslide.
He did, however, win a seat in the National Assembly and five years later, his wife gained one too.
Gbagbo campaigned for her husband once again when he ran for president in 2000. This time, he won, after all other opposition candidates had been excluded by the military leaders who had seized power.
But, once a champion of democracy, the new president began adopting draconian measures to stifle political dissent. His backing of the concept of Ivoirité, or Ivorieness, pushed soldiers in the north to take up arms and the country was divided in two.
It is thought his wife had huge influence over the security forces, who were used by the administration to silence opposition voices.
Furthermore, presidential elections slated for 2005 were postponed six times, with Laurent saying he needed to establish control of the whole country before he could hold elections, although he eventually agreed to them in 2010.
In a surprise result, he lost to Alassane Ouattara – Ivory Coast’s current president – but refused to accept the result. This attempt to stay put sparked another devasting civil war in which more than 3,000 people died.
After the vote, Gbagbo fiercely defended her husband’s decision to stay on, dubbing Ouattara a “bandit leader”.
“The time for debates about the elections between Gbagbo and the ‘bandit leader’ is over,” she said in an address to supporters.
“Our president is firmly established in power and he is working.”
Eventually, as pro-Ouattara forces backed by French troops advanced on the presidential residence, the couple took refuge in a bunker. They were arrested there, and hauled off to a hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city, effectively ending the five-month conflict.
After they were captured, photos of the fallen Gbagbos circulated amongst Ivorians [Reuters]
At her trial five years later, Gbagbo described her detention at the hotel.
“I myself arrived with my buttocks exposed, my nudity exposed. I was subjected to several attempted rapes in broad daylight, all in the presence of French soldiers who were filming,” she told the court.
Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years for “attempting to undermine the security of the state”, disturbing public order and organising armed gangs during the civil war.
However, just three years later, President Ouattara granted Gbagbo an amnesty in what he said was a move to foster reconciliation. This is why she was allowed to stand in next month’s election, despite her conviction.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) pursued separate charges against Gbagbo in 2012, also relating to the civil war, but they were later dropped.
The ICC went after Laurent too – they charged him with crimes against humanity and he spent seven years in custody at The Hague.
The couple have long maintained their innocence, rejecting all charges against them as politically motivated.
Laurent was eventually acquitted by the ICC and returned home to Ivory Coast in 2021.
But there would be no tear-jerking reunion with his wife – days after landing on Ivorian soil, the former president filed for divorce, having fostered a relationship with journalist Nady Bamba.
Gbagbo hit back at her husband – through her lawyer, she accused Laurent of “blatant and well-known adultery” and “abandonment of the marital home”.
Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to step down after the 2010 elections triggered a bloodbath [AFP via Getty Images]
The former first lady has since been quietly and methodically rebuilding her political base, following her break from the FPI.
She founded a new party, the leftist Movement of Capable Generations (MGC) and in her campaign for next month’s election pledges a “modernised” and “prosperous” Ivory Coast.
Gbagbo’s candidacy is not only politically significant but symbolically powerful in a country where women remain largely underrepresented in national leadership.
Only 30% of Ivorian parliamentarians are women, and few have held senior roles in government.
Gbagbo’s reputation for activism and democracy has been tainted, but she is still seen as one of the strongest challengers to Ouattara in next month’s poll.
A political veteran with powerful rhetoric, she looks set to gain the backing of her husband’s supporters, after he was barred from running himself.
But in this election, the spotlight will be firmly on Simone Gbagbo. And should she win the presidency, the “iron lady” would make history as Ivory Coast’s first female president – yet another milestone in a turbulent, four-decade long political career.
Additional reporting by Nicolas Negoce in Abidjan
More Ivory Coast stories from the BBC:
[Getty Images/BBC]
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Four of the defendants arrested in connection with a 2016 Islamic extremist attack that killed 19 people on an Ivory Coast tourist beach appeared in court Wednesday to face murder and terrorism charges.
Authorities last week had released the names of 18 defendants accused in the Grand-Bassam killings, which were later claimed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
It was the nation’s first terror attack of its kind, and deepened fears that Islamic extremism was spreading further south from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso. In the year after the killings, suspects also were arrested in those countries as well as in Senegal.
Prosecutors did not address where the other defendants were on Wednesday or whether they might appear at a later date.
Prosper Kouassi, a defense lawyer representing the detainees, could not provide an explanation either.
“We were presented the four people, it is the four people we will defend,” Kouassi said.
Grand-Bassam is linked by highway to Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial hub, and was a popular weekend destination for beach-goers. The victims that day included 11 Ivorians, four French, one German, one Lebanese, one Macedonian and one Nigerian.
When gunfire broke out on the beach on that Sunday afternoon in 2016, many holidaymakers initially thought they were hearing fireworks. As the jihadis approached closer with their Kalashnikov assault rifles, terrified tourists and workers at the beachside bars and restaurants tried to seek refuge in nearby hotels. Some beachgoers who were in the ocean at the time of the attack were able to swim out against the waves to safety.
Among those in the courthouse to watch the proceedings Wednesday was Odile Koko Kouamenan, whose son was there that day in 2016 and has never been the same since, she said.
“The scene happened in front of him,” she recalled, “He was a witness on the ground and so traumatized that he left the city and went to the village for a year.”
Her son needs follow-up care, which he hasn’t gotten, she added.
“If the state can face him and help him, that’s all a mother wishes for her child.”
———
Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Former Youth Minister Charles Ble Goude, who was acquitted of crimes at the International Criminal Court, returned home Saturday to Ivory Coast after more than a decade of exile.
He arrived in Abidjan on a commercial flight and made no comment at the airport, which was heavily guarded by police.
Ble Goude was the leader of the Young Patriots, a pro-government youth organization seen by many as a militia, and youth minister under Former President Laurent Gbagbo.
More than 3,000 people were killed in violence that erupted after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by his rival in the 2010 election, current Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.
Ble Goude was ultimately cleared in 2019 at the International Criminal Court, along with Gbagbo, of responsibility for crimes including murder, rape and persecution following the disputed election.
Judges halted the trial before defense lawyers had even presented evidence, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case, and appeals judges upheld the acquittal.
Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast last year and while some had feared his return could set off new unrest, Gbagbo was received by Ouattara himself and has mostly maintained a low profile.
Human rights groups say the Young Patriots created a climate of terror, erecting barricades and checkpoints where they attempted to identify “enemies of Ivory Coast” — meaning supporters of Ouattara. Because Ouattara is from northern Ivory Coast and one side of his family has roots in Burkina Faso, anyone having a northern name, as well as immigrants from neighboring nations, became targets.
Until Gbagbo was forced from power in April 2011, Ble Goude held regular rallies where he used increasingly xenophobic rhetoric, which many believe incited his supporters to violence — claims that he has denied.
“Can you show me a single video, or a single audio, where I asked the youth of Ivory Coast to hurt foreigners?” Ble Goude told The Associated Press in 2012 from an undisclosed location. “These are vulgar lies that I deny. It’s not true.”
Ble Goude was later arrested in 2013 in Ghana after nearly two years in hiding, and then was extradited to the ICC. After his acquittal, he sought financial compensation, saying that he was “the victim of a wrongful prosecution amounting to a grave and manifest miscarriage of justice.” ICC judges rejected the claim earlier this year.
———
Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed.
TUNIS, Tunisia — Leaders of French-speaking countries gathered Saturday on a Tunisian island to discuss debt relief, migration, food and energy shortages, with a soaring cost of living across Africa, Europe and the Middle East due to war in Ukraine as the backdrop.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the presidents of six African nations were attending the 18th annual meeting of the 88-member International Organization of Francophonie, which promotes relations among nations that use French as their primary language.
European Council President Charles Michel also was in Tunisia for the two-day summit, the organization’s first gathering in three years following pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Louise Mushikiwabo, the group’s secretary-general and Rwanda’s former foreign minister, said the participants plan to issue a final declaration on major political, social and economic issues after the summit ends on Sunday.
They will also focus on “ways to boost the use of the French language around Europe and in international institutions as its use declines compared to English,” Mushikiwabo said.
The presidents of Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Mauritania, Niger, Burundi and Rwanda are representing more than 320 million French-speaking people across the African continent, including Tunisia, organizers said.
The president of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, did not attend the summit amid escalating tensions with neighboring Rwanda, President Paul Kagame was in Djerba. The Congolese government tweeted Saturday that Tshisekedi stayed away to condemn “Rwandan aggression.”
Congolese Prime Minister Sama Lukonde traveled to Tunisia in the president’s place, the government said. Lukonde refused to appear in the family photo during the opening session because of Kagame’s presence.
Congolese authorities accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, which Rwanda denies. Violence by armed groups in eastern Congo has forced hundreds to flee over the past few months, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the two French-speaking African nations.
The summit and a two-day meeting of the organization’s economic forum next week are taking place amid tight security. Tunisia has been in the grip of a political and economic crisis.
In preparation for the international meetings, authorities also gave Djerba a makeover, building new roads and improving infrastructure around the island that is a major tourist hub and home to several historical sites, including one of Africa’s oldest synagogues.
The meetings are expected to boost the standing of Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has been criticized by the West for granting himself sweeping powers over the past year after sacking the prime minister and dissolving parliament.
Said said the moves were necessary to save the North African country amid protracted political and economic crises, and many Tunisians welcomed them. But critics and Western allies say the power grab jeopardized Tunisia’s young democracy.
Last month, the Tunisian government reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $1.9 billion loan that is designed to ease the country’s protracted budget crisis and calm the simmering discontent over soaring food and energy shortages.
———
Barbara Surk in Nice, France and Yesica Fish in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
KOREAGUI, Ivory Coast (AP) — For more than 40 years, Jean Baptiste Saleyo has farmed cocoa on several acres of his family’s land in Ivory Coast, a West African nation that produces almost half the world’s supply of the raw ingredient used in chocolate bars.
But this year Saleyo says the rains have become unpredictable, and he fears his crop could be yet another victim of climate change.
“When it should have rained, it didn’t, it didn’t rain,” Saleyo said as he inspected the ripeness of one of his cocoa pods. “It’s raining now, but its already too late.”
Cocoa farming employs nearly 600,000 farmers here in Ivory Coast, ultimately supporting nearly a quarter of the country’s population — about 6 million people, according to the Coffee-Cocoa Council.
And it makes up about 15% of Ivory Coast’s national GDP, according to official figures.
National production remains on track because the amount of land being cultivated is on the rise. But experts say small-scale farmers are hurting this year. For the cocoa tree to fruit well, rains need to come at the right times in the growing cycle. Coming at the wrong times risks crop disease.
Some who are used to producing 500 kilograms are looking at only 200 kilograms this year, said Jean Yao Brou, secretary-general of the Anouanze cooperative, which helps farmers bring their crops to markets.
“Our producers have big worries with the production,” he said.
Crystal Palace player Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace is one of a small number of players to have … [+] represented two countries. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Returning to the country of his birth for the first time in 20 years, Wilfried Zaha wasn’t expecting such a warm welcome.
It was October, 2017, and the Crystal Palace player had flown to Abidjan, in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), West Africa. As he entered the airport building, he was mobbed by fans who had waited to welcome him.
“The first time I went back, there was genuine love I was getting and I had done virtually nothing,” Zaha tells me in an exclusive interview.
“There were thousands of people waiting for me at the airport. It was ridiculous! I’d just decided to come back and play for Ivory Coast. I didn’t know how happy they were that I’d decided to play for my country.”
Zaha is one of a relatively small number of professional soccer players to have represented two nations at international level. The first country he represented, England, will play at the World Cup finals starting on November 20. Ivory Coast will not.
Zaha was four when his family moved from Ivory Coast to South London and he represented England at youth levels. He briefly appeared in two friendly matches for the senior England team, the second of which was in August, 2013. Having been overlooked for future squads, Zaha decided to represent Ivory Coast in November, 2016.
“I had my ups and downs with England at the time and obviously Ivory Coast came and spoke to me and the space where I was at, I just thought, ‘I think it’s best I play for Ivory Coast,’” he says.
“Before my mindset was playing for England, I grew up here. But even through those years, the Ivorian people still supported me through everything. They still showed me love. So when that came about and the space I was in, I just thought, ‘this is the time.’
“I feel like it’s paved the way for a few other players … there are so many now who decide to play for their home country, so it’s nice to see.”
Zaha has represented Ivory Coast since January, 2017. In March, he was set to make history as the … [+] first former England player to play against England, in a friendly with the Ivory Coast. Zaha missed the match with an injury. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Getty Images
FIFA rules allow multinational players aged 21 and over to change the country they represent, providing their appearances for the first nation were in non-competitive fixtures.
There are several reasons a player with a multinational background chooses to represent one country over the others for which they are eligible. They may choose the nation where they grew up, that they know best. They might want to represent the place where they were born or the homeland of their mother or father. It could come down to their relationship with the coach or other players.
Zaha, who has previously been subjected to racist abuse online, remembers the “hate” he received after his decision to play for Ivory Coast was made public.
“People who watch football, just don’t tend to see us footballers … as human,” he says.
“There are still the odd messages saying if I was still with England I’d be playing all the time now. But then there’s the other thousands that say the reason why I don’t play for England is because I chickened out or I’m not good enough.
“That’s the same old stuff. It’s the same old hate.”
Was it, perhaps, hard for some people of single nationality to understand a player can feel a connection to two countries at once? That someone might feel both Ivorian and English at the same time?
“I just realized not everyone’s capable of understanding these things,” Zaha says.
“There are so many players who play for one country but you see how they’re heavily invested in where they were born. I see it all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it, people make their choices.
“People have different reasons why they play for certain national teams. Playing for your home country (outside Europe), there are not as many opportunities as playing for a European country.
“With African countries, we’re improving slowly. We’re not at the stage of England where everything is top notch – first-class flights, first-class hotels, all of these things. I’ve said publicly there is stuff I want to change with the African mentality where if you want to be the best, you need to provide the best for the football players that you have, which other countries do.
“People have different reasons why they play but my choice was just to face that head on and go and play for my country.”
The 2017 trip to Ivory Coast made a big impact. Zaha, who has given 10% of his salary to charity since signing his first professional contract, established a foundation that funds an orphanage in Ivory Coast run by his sister. The Zaha Foundation also supports widows and other community and development projects for young people in the country and, Zaha says, he is planning to do more.
In the UK, he supports charitable causes including a South London soccer academy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he offered free accommodation to staff from the UK’s National Health Service.
His latest project is a fourth division, semi-pro soccer club in Ivory Coast which Zaha has bought with his brother, Carin. The plan for Espoir Club D’Abengourou, based in the capital Yamoussoukro, is to offer opportunities for young players.
“Going back to my country just opened up my eyes to a lot of things to be thankful for,” Zaha, who is working with The MailRoom agency to help promote his charitable projects, says.
“I just wanted to invest back in my country. I was thinking of different possibilities to help and when my brother came to me with the football club opportunity, it just made me think, ‘imagine all the aspiring kids that are watching me that want that same opportunity.’
“So if you do well you get an opportunity to thrive and you can end up playing for my club. There are so many people who want to play and there’s just not many opportunities.
“I just thought, ‘the love I’m getting, let me see if I can give it back somehow.’”
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – AUGUST 15: Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace scores their team’s first goal past … [+] Alisson Becker of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Crystal Palace at Anfield on August 15, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Getty Images
A fast and skillful attacker, Zaha is one of the Premier League’s most exciting players. Many believe he would have been a valuable addition to England’s World Cup squad. England manager Gareth Southgate previously met with Zaha in an effort to convince him to stick with England but, by then, Zaha’s mind was made up.
Ivory Coast has qualified for the World Cup three times – in 2006, 2010 and 2014. It narrowly missed out in 2018 and again this year.
Zaha, who turns 30 later this month, has maybe one more chance to play on international soccer’s biggest stage.
“I’ve made my bed now, I’ve got to deal with it. There’s no regrets at all,” he says.
“I’d love to be a player that features in the World Cup, what player wouldn’t? But that’s where we are at right now and we’re fighting to be a team that makes it there.”
If there is any bitterness, any thoughts of what might have been, Zaha hides it well.
“100%!” he says when asked if he plans to watch the World Cup on television.
“What on earth am I going to be doing if I’m not watching the World Cup?”
