IVORY COAST: Protesting farmers burn cocoa beans in sanctions protest after banking system collapses

Record ID: 181829

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Protesting farmers burn cocoa beans in sanctions protest after banking system collapses
  • Date: 18th February 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FEBRUARY 17, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FARMERS BURNING BAGS OF COCOA BEANS / FARMERS WAVING PLACARDS (SOUNDBITE) (French) PATRICK AYEMOU PLANTEURS, SAYING : '' It is to tell the European Union we are fed-up, that's all. The European Union should not mix politics and the farmers, it is not possible." VARIOUS OF FARMERS WALKING TO EUROPEAN UNION BUILDING - FARMERS WAVING PLACARDS VARIOUS OF FARMERS STANDING NEXT TO EUROPEAN UNION SIGNS SHOUTING ''IVORIAN COCOA, IVORIAN COCOA'' (SOUNDBITE) (French) FARMER WALKING WITH SIGN SAYING : ''Ivorians don't want to die,with the cocoa money we are taking care of our parents. The cocoa money is taking care of everybody, we put our children at school with the cocoa money, we don't want to die'' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LINING OUTSIDE ECOBANK OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (French) STUDENT JULES CAMARA SAYING: ''The situation is getting on everybody's nerves because they closed down the banks with the money everybody had in this bank. Today when you look at the line (of people) we don't know who is RHDP (pro Ouattara) who is LMP(pro Gbagbo) and according to me, the best solution would be not to involve the banking sector with politics.'' VARIOUS OF STREET SCENES, BIAO AND BICICI BANK SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ELECTRICIAN LUDOVIC ZINGA SAYING: ''I think a solution must be found rapidly. Personally I am worried because I don't know what tomorrow will bring.'' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE SOCIETE GENERALE - PEOPLE LINING UP OUTSIDE BIAO (INTERNATIONAL BANK OF WEST AFRICA)
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2R2U5HKA0O2YVFVS8GJJN2B8X
  • Story Text: Several hundred cocoa growers chanting anti-European slogans marched on the EU offices in Ivory Coast on Thursday (February 17) and burned a pile of cocoa sacks to protest against sanctions crippling the industry.
    A pile of several 60-kg sacks of beans were set alight as planters carried banners reading "Shame on the EU" and "No to economic slavery" and gathered outside the European Union's Abidjan headquarters in the late morning.
    There were no reports of violence.
    The cocoa industry in the world's top grower is grinding to a halt, partly as EU sanctions imposed on incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters to try and force him from power after a contested election kick in.
    "We reject EU sanctions on our cocoa because we are not involved in politics," Blehoue Aka, president of the planters' association, wearing a traditional farmers straw, said at the protest.
    "We are growers and without cocoa, we and our families risk dying," he added. He delivered a letter of protest as the bags of cocoa smouldered and beans spilled out onto the street.
    Although it is not an official embargo, the EU has barred all EU companies from doing business with Ivorian institutions seen backing Gbagbo, who is resisting international calls to step down.
    These include the cocoa regulators, which means exporters have stopped registering new beans for export and stopped buying beans up-country, and the two main ports that ship them out.
    This has led to a collapse of farmgate prices.
    Combined with a collapse in the banking system this week, the ban is likely to make life tougher for Ivorians already suffering from decades of crisis and instability since a 2002-3 civil war divided the country.
    Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo's rival, who is internationally recognised as president even though he remains holed up in a U.N.-protected hotel, has also called for an export ban. Millions of people, including 700,000 or so small farmers, rely on Ivory Coast's cocoa industry and analysts expect the smuggling of beans through neighbouring countries will rise.
    Ivory Coast's biggest bank, a unit of Societe Generale suspended operations on Thursday, the latest in an exodus of foreign banks that is turning a political crisis into financial meltdown. Shutters were down on branches across Abidjan, the main city, while agencies still open were swamped with customers trying to withdraw cash.
    The financial system in the world's top cocoa grower is on the brink of collapse as a result of a post-election power struggle between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara that is entering its third month.
    Gbagbo has defied international pressure to step down after U.N.-certified results showed Ouattara won a Nov. 28 poll. But he has been cut off from the West African central bank and sanctions aimed at squeezing his finances are kicking in.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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