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Geopolitics In The News

Africa’s Ageless Presidents And The Stunting Of Democracy

Paul Biya, 92, has been reelected for an eighth seven-year term, while Alassane Ouattara, 83, will serve a fourth five-year term in Côte d’Ivoire. The question of democracy remains unresolved in Africa, where countries that regularly change their leadership are still in the minority.

Categories
Food / Travel Green

Global Melting? How Climate Change Is Reshaping Chocolate’s Future

The devastating effects of rising temperatures include denying to people across the world their favorite staple sweet. While 2050 is the date cited for the risk of chocolate disappearing, there are efforts to reverse the effects of climate change on the production of cocoa.

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In The News

From Abidjan To New Orleans, Shaking Out The Origins Of Twerking

Popularized by raucous music videos, sometimes considered quasi pornographic, this phenomenon has its origins in the ancestral Afro-descendant dances and advocates the liberation of the body.

Categories
Ideas

China’s ‘Stadium Diplomacy,’ A Winning Formula In Africa

For decades now, Beijing has been generating good will — and gaining privileged economic access — by donating and renovating sports facilities in select African nations.

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In The News

Ahmed The Elephant, A Mystic Man-v-Nature Tale In Ivory Coast

The pachyderm was believed to have special powers, but was also seen as dangerous, and ultimately was transferred to a nature reserve. What does his story tell us?

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In The News

COVID-19 In Ivory Coast, Where Social Distancing Is Nearly Impossible

Self-quarantining is a concept incompatible with a culture that helps the sick and greets them with open arms.

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Geopolitics Ideas Society

Ivory Coast Tries To Keep Terrorists From Crossing Border

They shall not pass: Since July, soldiers have stepped up patrols along the country’s 1,600-km border with Mali and Burkina Faso.

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In The News

In Ivory Coast, Stars Campaign To Keep People From Emigrating

ABIDJAN — Jumping and dancing to the rhythm of the popular urban music zouglou, they snap pictures on their smartphones of their idols performing onstage. Always smiling and never sitting still, Ivory Coast’s millennials have been nicknamed the “génération pressée pressée,” the generation that is always in a rush. Young Ivorians are dynamic and curious, […]

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Economy Society

African Cashew Farmers Cash In On Lactose-Intolerant Americans

Salty-snack junkies, the lactose-intolerant and lovers of Asian food are providing an economic boost for farmers in the war-torn northern provinces of Ivory Coast.

Categories
Society

The ‘Black Jackie Kennedy’ In Ivory Coast Inheritance Battle

BOSSEY — Her elegance dazzled the world’s most powerful men. When she stood next to her late husband Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast’s first president who served from 1960 to 1993, it was impossible not to notice the graceful Marie-Thérèse. “Everywhere I went, I would transcend,” says the former first lady, now 84. “Besides, he did […]

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Economy Society

Because No One Wants To Imagine A World Without Chocolate

Too small and not productive enough, cocoa plantations can no longer meet global demand. Industrialists are intervening to help the farmers and save an indulgence beloved the world over.

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blog Society

The Heavy Lifting To Save Ivory Coast’s Endangered Elephants

DALOA — The Ivory Coast was on the verge of losing its last forest elephants. It is a risk with some bitter irony, as elephants are the emblem of the nation. So a rescue operation like those already carried out in Zambia and Malawi, but unprecedented in West Africa, was launched at the end of […]

Categories
Society

Cocoa Farming vs. Chimpanzees In Ivory Coast

In Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest source of cocoa beans, illegal cultivation has spread into Mont Péko National Park, threatening both wildlife and the well-being of children.

Categories
Eyes on the U.S.

Four Years Later, Obama’s African “Brothers” Give Him Mixed Marks

-Essay- On September 18, I was returning from Benin where I had been presenting my latest book, and came to the Aneho border crossing, on the Togo side. After a customs officer spent a long time questioning me on the reasons for my travel in his charming country, writing down where I had been in […]

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