IVORY COAST/BURKINA FASO: CIVIL WAR IN IVORY COAST IMPACTS NEGATIVELY ON ECONOMIES OF NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES LIKE BURKINO FASO

Record ID: 182402

  • Title: IVORY COAST/BURKINA FASO: CIVIL WAR IN IVORY COAST IMPACTS NEGATIVELY ON ECONOMIES OF NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES LIKE BURKINO FASO
  • Date: 25th March 2003
  • Summary: (L! 1) BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (RECENT) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEWS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN BOUAKE STREETS MAN HOLDING MUSLIM PRAYER BEADS BOY PLAYING WITH A MOSQUE IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF MAN SKINNING A GOAT CHILDREN PLAYING AT A FENCE FAMILY CUTTING UP MEAT IN COURT YARD VARIOUS OF MEN EATING MEAT AT A MARKET PLACE MEAT BEING SOLD AT MARKET MAN WEIGHING CHUNKS OF MEAT MAN HACKING PIECES OF MEAT (SOUNDBITE)(French) MAMADOU YAMBA, BUTCHER SAYING: "Before, meat was less expensive, but now there are too many obstructions on the road so cattle can't be transported as easily. We don't know how we're meant to sell anything." TRUCK CARRYING CATTLE PULLS UP MEN DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL ATTIRE LOOKING AT COWS COWS GETTING OUT OF TRUCK MAN HERDING CATTLE MAP ILLUSTRATING THE PROXIMITY OF BURKINA FASO, MALI AND IVORY COAST
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BOUAKE, IVORY COAST/POUYTENGA, BURKINA FASO
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAE296S9HG8D5V482EYFGZWNL9X
  • Story Text: The civil war in Ivory Coast is impacting negatively on the economies of neighbouring countries. In Burkina Faso, cattle farmers profits are dwindling as they search for new routes for export.
    It's a public holiday in the Ivorian city of Bouake.
    Muslims here are celebrating Tabaski, which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Traditionally, a sheep or goat is slaughtered for the occasion. But this year, the prices have doubled and sometimes tripled, so many families have had to abandon the tradition.
    In Ivory Coast, meat has become a luxury product. In one Abidjan market, the price of beef has gone up by seventy per-sent and customers are staying away. A butcher at the local market blames it on the recent crisis in the country.
    "Before, meat was less expensive, but now there are too many obstructions on the road," Mamadou Yamba said. "So cattle can't be transported as easily. We don't know how we're meant to sell anything."
    Ivory Coast depends almost entirely on its northern neighbours for its meat supply. Sixty percent of the meat in the country comes from Burkina Faso or Mali. The border between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast has been closed since the beginning of the crisis in September. And it's practically impossible to cross the north of the country, held by rebels of Ivory Coast's Patriotic Movement.
    The economy of Pouytenga, a small town in Burkina Faso, depends entirely on export to other West African countries.
    The biggest cattle market in West Africa is held here once every three days.
    Burkina Faso is known for its livestock -- cattle are its second biggest export after cotton. It's biggest market by far was Ivory Coast. But today, the wholesale dealers have to turn towards Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and Benin.
    Boureima Gnodogo, the biggest trader in the market, has already seen his profits halved. His only option was to look somewhere else.
    "We're trying to open up Nigeria, but when the cattle arrive there, they're skinny because the road is so long," he said.
    "They also fetch a lower price there than in Ivory Coast, and the Nigerian currency fluctuates a lot in relation to the CFA Franc."
    Jean Damiba is a middleman who sells for foreign clients and takes commission for every head of cattle sold. Transport is paid separately by the client. As a result of the crisis, his income has dropped -- from seventy to thirty-five dollars a week.
    "Before, I'd sell 30 to 40 heads of cattle to foreigners, but now they don't take more than 20. So things aren't good.
    And they're paying the price too. They come here, often they don't even have money, they're going bankrupt, so that's discouraging others," he said.
    The company that Mahamadi Sawadogo worked for used to make its money transporting to their various destinations in Ivory Coast. All twenty employees are now jobless.
    "The company had to close because of the war, we couldn't get into Ivory Coast anymore," he said. "People say that on Ivorian territory there are soldiers who tease you with their guns, it frightens us, we don't want to go there anymore."
    The more daring have been risking it for the past two months, trying to get into Ivory Coast through Ghana. The journey is a lot longer, dotted by bureaucratic difficulties -- and not entirely risk free.
    "Me, I don't go to Abidjan," Souleymane Korogo said.
    "Some exporters go there but not me. I don't want to take that risk, because when you arrive in Ivory Coast, you can run into problems. Foreigners are given a hard time there."
    Because the usual export routes were closed, Mali and Burkina Faso lost millions of dollars in import duties alone between September and December 2002.
    The cattle market is just one example of how this civil war is being felt far beyond the borders of Ivory Coast affecting the daily lives of all West Africans.
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