Cocoa farmers: A mirror to Ivory Coast's divisions

 

Farmers in the Ivory Coast grow most of the world's cocoa beans

Ivory Coast's cocoa farmers hold the country's future in their hands in Sunday's presidential run-off.

The preferred candidate of the central Baoule ethnic group was eliminated in the first round of voting, leaving the farmers playing the role of king makers.

Tension is high in the centre-west region where many of the Baoule farmers live as migrant workers, currently harvesting cocoa for chocolate.

Meanwhile leaflets calling for migrants to be driven off the land have been widely circulated - inflaming tensions after the first round of voting on 31 October.

"To vote, it's not easy at all," said Ahoutro Kouassi, a Baoule tribal chief in the town of Gagnoa, the home town of President Laurent Gbagbo.

"If you haven't accepted to vote how they say, they beat you up around the corner."
Rural rivalry   Sunday's vote sees Mr Gbagbo take on former IMF economist Alassane Ouattara, in a run-off intended to reunite the country eight years after a civil war.

The stakes are high and the contest is getting personal with each side accusing the other of being responsible for the coups and conflicts of the past 11 years, which left the New Forces rebel group in control of the north.

Sunday's battle between Mr Ouattara and Mr Gbagbo has strong fault lines; respectively, north v south, Muslim v Christian, economist v historian, liberal v socialist and technocrat v populist.

Disputed elections could see the emergence of the violent street protests seen at the height of the civil war.

But a peaceful outcome would pave the way for resurgence in economic growth, in a country that was once known as the economic miracle of West Africa.

The central Baoule farmers - from the country's largest ethnic group - voted massively for one of their own in the first round - former President Henri Konan Bedie.

But he came in third with 25% of the vote and is now calling on his supporters to vote for Mr Ouattara.

In the centre-west, Baoule cocoa farmers work alongside northerners and foreigners, who have all migrated to the area to farm land traditionally owned by the original inhabitants of the area, Mr Gbagbo's Bete ethnic group.

This creates tensions as migrant communities are likely to support Mr Ouattara, who hails from the north, and the original inhabitants of the area who generally vote for President Gbagbo.

There is little protection in the rural villages far from the eyes of the Ivorian police and the 8,000-plus UN peacekeepers in the country.

Footballers urge peace "We need to ask people to be calm and not to make any threats so that things can be more peaceful," said Emile Kambou, who works for Ivorian Human Rights Movement (MIDH) in Gagnoa.

They are calling on the authorities to beef up security in the cocoa belt for this weekend's election.

For now, intimidation has mainly been verbal, but MIDH confirm two Baoule farmers were beaten up and needed to be hospitalised. The farmers have since fled to their home region.

"I hope that both presidential candidates will encourage their supporters to respect the right of all Ivorians to choose their leader without fear of intimidation or reprisal," said former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who heads an election mission from the Carter Center.

Ivory Coast's football stars have also got involved, with Didier Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Toure and Gervinho calling for peaceful elections.

The Baoule make up around 23% of the population and their traditional region lies in the centre of the country, particularly around the Ivorian capital Yamoussoukro.

Ivory Coast's first President Felix Houphouet-Boigny was a cocoa-farming Baoule chief who made Yamoussoukro, his home town, the capital in 1983.

After Houphouet-Boigny's death in 1993, Mr Bedie, also a Baoule, became president until he was overthrown in a coup in 1999.

Mr Ouattara promises that if he is elected president on Sunday, Mr Bedie, 76, would be his "boss" and that he would immediately start governing from Yamoussoukro, until now a capital in name only.

Both candidates are fighting hard to secure the Baoule vote.

In the last couple of weeks, Mr Ouattara held a political rally in the capital with about 2,000 Baoule chiefs and paid his respects at the tomb of Houphouet-Boigny.

Mr Gbagbo followed with a political rally in Sakassou, home to the Baoule's traditional queen mother, along with 2,500 tribal chiefs from the Akan people, a larger ethnic grouping that encompasses the Baoule.

"Each side is trying to gain the Baoule camp for their own," said George Kouame, a Baoule man shopping at one of the main markets in Yamoussoukro.

"We don't have a problem with Bedie calling on us to vote Ouattara, but this a democracy and everyone will chose for themselves," he said.

 

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African press calls on Gbagbo to go

Press comment in Africa differs on how the West African regional bloc Ecowas should try to mediate in the Ivory Coast election stand-off. Outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to cede power to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara after the disputed 28 November election.



Both Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara say they are Ivory Coast's rightful leade

Most commentators call for pressure to force Mr Gbagbo out, whereas one seeks a coalition to overcome the divisions caused by the election.
There are also concerns that a pattern of coalition governments after controversial polls in Zimbabwe and Kenya could encourage incumbent rulers to refuse to accept electoral defeat.

NIGERIA'S VANGUARD
Laurent Gbagbo should be told in clear terms that he has become part and parcel of his country's problem and should be humble enough to accept defeat and hand over power to the man who according to the results, won the run-off. This is a historical opportunity to heal the wound which over seven years of political conflict has [been] inflicted on the country and it is not too late for Gbagbo to display statesmanship by stepping down.

JIBRIN IBRAHIM IN NIGERIA'S GUARDIAN
A second exclusion of Ouattara in a context in which he had already won a free and fair election would definitely precipitate civil war if pro-active measures are not taken to restore the sovereignty of the Ivorian people.

LIBERIA'S DAILY OBSERVER
Mr Gbagbo took part in the electoral process; however, he should have demonstrated genuine concern by abiding by the results. His current behaviour has put his sincerity into question and indeed, he needs to step aside.

GHANA'S CHRONICLE
The Chronicle believes the only language Gbagbo and his foolhardy military advisers might understand, is brute force. There must be a means of whisking him away from Government House at Yamoussoukro to answer charges of treason. He has needlessly brought Cote d'Ivoire to the brink of another civil war.
BURKINA FASO'S LE PAYS
Russia and China have refused to join other influential members of the UN in the pro-Ouattara coalition. The situation is not really surprising for those who know the UN's "big guns", which have rarely excelled in their unity on an issue. State interests have too often taken precedence over the defence of legality and legitimacy.

FELIX C EBOLE BOLA IN CAMEROON'S LE QUOTIDIEN MUTATIONS
[Gbagbo and Ouattara] admit, even though without having to spell things out, that massive fraud, vote obstruction and ballot box stuffing took place... the "international community" as one rushed to proclaim Alassane Ouattara as the winner. This attitude risks... erasing any chance of a speedy return to lasting peace.

NICHOLAS SENGOBA IN UGANDA'S DAILY MONITOR
The attempts by the African Union to cause mediation - which seem more like pampering a criminal - point worryingly in one direction. That we may have a repeat of what happened in Kenya and Zimbabwe where the one who has forcefully usurped the power of the people is allowed to remain in power but form a coalition government.

NDIMBY A IN MADAGASCAR'S L'EXPRESS
Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters are trying to make people swallow hook, line and sinker the faultless decision by the Constitutional Court, half of whose members and the chairman were appointed by Gbagbo.
KENYA'S THE STAR
The danger of installing yet another coalition government in Ivory Coast is that it encourages heads of state to refuse to leave office... The African Union and the international community should take a tough line in Ivory Coast to ensure that Ouattara is installed a president.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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Ivory Coast: Two presidents, one crisis

 

The election dispute has prompted days of street protests

At a petrol station in Abidjan's Cocody district, about 50 people wait in line, and a queue of cars runs out on to the road.

These people are waiting for gas - not what Americans call gas, but bottled natural gas, which is in short supply.

"They're refusing to unload the bottles," says an exasperated Michel, who has been waiting for several hours.

It is increasingly difficult to find gas in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast - a country with two presidents and two prime ministers (and three first ladies, joke the wags).
Almost all the international community and the Ivorian independent electoral commission recognise the opposition leader and former International Monetary Fund economist, Alassane Ouattara, as the winner of the 28 November poll.

But Laurent Gbagbo, who has been president since 2000, is keen to stay on. He is backed by the Constitutional Court, which annulled about half a million votes from Mr Ouattara's strongholds and swore Mr Gbagbo in for another five years.

A presidential election that was supposed to close a chapter on a decade of violence and instability is starting to look like simply another paragraph in a story of endless political wrangling.

Deja vu 

Businesses are only timidly reopening. Economic life in the world's biggest cocoa producer shut down while Ivorians waited for the results. 

Now they are waiting to see what the results mean.
"We wait until nine o'clock in the morning before heading out to work," said Dr Coulibaly, who works at a medical clinic in Cocody.

An overnight curfew keeps people in their homes until sunrise, and Abidjan has seen several days of street protests by opposition supporters unhappy at what they see as a stolen victory.

At the packed main market in the city's Adjame district, prices have shot up because of a lack of deliveries from the interior.

The price of beef has gone up by 25% in the past week, and potatoes are up by 60%.
Very little cocoa is being transported to Abidjan from growing areas, as people are afraid that stocks could be destroyed during riots. Cocoa prices have risen to a four-month high.
"I don't think we're going to be out of the mess for the next month - it's going to drag on for years," said Eric, a local journalist.

"It looks like deja vu," he said.
The previous presidential elections held 10 years ago were judged "calamitous" even by their eventual winner, Laurent Gbagbo.

That time, both Mr Gbagbo and the incumbent military leader General Robert Guei proclaimed victory, holding swearing-in ceremonies a day apart.

This time, the oaths were taken hours apart; one at the presidential palace, one "by letter".
'Hotel republic' "There is only one president in Ivory Coast - the winner is Dr Alassane Dramane Ouattara," said Toure, a supporter speaking near the Riviera district hotel where Mr Outtara's "government" is based.

 

UN peacekeepers are protecting the hotel where Mr Outtara's "government" is based

 

The luxury Golf hotel is heavily protected by razor wire and UN peacekeepers, with three tanks parked at the main entrance.

"He's been recognised by all the UN, Europe and all the world - he is the only one. We want democracy in Africa; Gbagbo is finished," Toure says.

But Vanessa, a Gbagbo supporter, sees things differently.

"The hotel is a republic," she jokes. "This is the presidential palace of Alassane. Gbagbo's is over on the side. So really, we've got two presidential palaces."

Others say say Mr Ouattara might effectively become president of the north of Ivory Coast, where he is most popular.

On Saturday, he accepted the resignation of the prime minister for the past three and a half years - former rebel leader Guillaume Soro - and promptly reappointed him.

 

Mr Soro controls the New Forces rebel movement, which has only partially disarmed and controls 60% of Ivorian territory in the north.

Mr Ouattara himself comes from the north and won a huge majority there in the first round of elections. In the second round, Mr Gbagbo's supporters annulled around half a million votes in the north, giving them a technical victory at the Constitutional Council.

Vanessa says Mr Gbagbo is a born political fighter and will come out on top.
"He's already said, a thousand dead to my left and a thousand to my right, he'll move forward."

Some 17 years since the death of Ivory Coast's founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the country has still to find its way, nostalgic for a past when Ivory Coast was a bastion of stability and prosperity in West Africa.

"It's a shame Houphouet is dead - because if he was alive we wouldn't be seeing all this. That's the truth. It's because Houphouet-Boigny is dead," said Vanessa.
 

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UN backs Alassane Ouattara as Ivory Coast president

The UN Security Council has issued a statement saying that Ivory Coast opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara won the disputed presidential election.

 

Alassane Ouattara has made his headquarters at a hotel in Abidjan, guarded by the UN

The statement came after three days of debate at the UN, in which Russia expressed concern that the UN was exceeding its mandate.
Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo is defying international pressure and continuing to cling to power.

His stance led West African regional bloc Ecowas to suspend Ivory Coast.
In its statement, the 15-nation Security Council said it condemned "in the strongest terms any effort to subvert the popular will of the people" in Ivory Coast.

"In view of Ecowas' recognition of Alassane Ouattara as president-elect and representative of the freely expressed voice of the Ivorian people as proclaimed by the Independent Electoral Commission, members of the Security Council call on all stakeholders to respect the outcome of the election," it added.

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN in New York says it was perhaps a concession to Moscow that the council spelled out that it was following the lead of Ecowas.

According to diplomats, Russia had argued that supporting one candidate in the disputed poll exceeded the UN's mandate.

However, US representative Susan Rice said the UN mission in Ivory Coast was empowered to certify the election under a peace treaty signed after the country's 2002 civil war.
UN envoy to Ivory Coast Choi Young-jin told the council that Mr Ouattara's victory was "irrefutable".

Diplomats said other members of the council had strongly urged Russia to drop its opposition, especially the three African states.

The Security Council's endorsement of Mr Ouattara now leaves Mr Gbagbo with almost no supporters in the outside world, our correspondent says.

In Abidjan, both men have named their own Cabinets, heightening tension in the country.
Mr Ouattara is operating from a luxury hotel, guarded by UN peacekeepers.

Earlier, Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf warned its former rebel fighters not to get involved in the Ivory Coast crisis.

Liberian fighters were involved in Ivory Coast's 2002 civil war, which left the country divided, while Charles Taylor launched his Liberian rebellion from Ivory Coast in 1989, sparking 14 years of bloodshed.

 

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Is 'I Am No. 4' the Next 'Twilight'?

The folks at DreamWorks are clearly hoping that impatient twi-hards will flock to see "I Am Number Four" with the same obsessive zeal as they did with Stephanie Meyer's tales. The first full-length trailer for the film just came out. Check it out below:

As you can see, the movie is about an alien who happens to take the form of a young, golden-haired hunk played by Alex Pettyfer. While his sequentially-numbered brethren have been knocked off by a shadowy band of Nosferatu-like villains in exotic locations like Malaysia and Kenya, Four has holed up in America's heartland. There he attends high school; falls for Sarah, a young lass with great teeth; and tries to not look like an alien. That latter part proves to be difficult when his extraterrestrial powers, like lightning shooting out of his hands, begin to manifest. As the bad guys start to close in, in steps Number Six, who just happens to look a lot like Four's high school sweetheart except with superpowers and with handy sword skills.

The parallels between this flick and the "Twilight" series are pretty hard to miss. The male lead is a brooding otherworldly dude torn between love and his duties to his clan. And while he might not get sparkly when in sunlight, Four can shoot sparks from his hands. His love interest, Glee's Dianne Agron, is a rebellious teenager who frequently finds herself in trouble. There's high school angst, longing looks, and fair amount of running and leaping through the woods. There's even promise of a love triangle, though this time it's a supernatural guy caught in a love triangle between two women instead of a normal girl torn by the affections of two supernatural (and frequently shirtless) dudes.
The movie is based on the first of a reportedly six-part series co-authored by none other than disgraced memoirist and Oprah-foe James Frey along with Jobie Hughes. Hollywood was interested in the novel even before it was published. Michael Bay brought the manuscript to Steven Spielberg who quickly optioned it. Both A-list filmmakers are producers for the flick. Bay protégé D.J. Caruso, who helmed "Disturbia" and "Eagle Eye," directs. That's a lot of Tinsel town clout behind a book that hasn't proved itself in the marketplace.
It remains to be seen if the movie will be a hit, much less a box-office favorite franchise on par with "Twilight," but clearly the titans of Hollywood are betting on Number 4.
"I Am Number Four" opens everywhere on February 18.

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10 Spectacular Ski Homes for Sale

The snow is starting to fall and ski resorts around the country are opening up, as early birds take to the slopes. If you’re itching to schuss with style, take a look at these 10 gorgeous ski retreats where après-ski means returning to decadent living in which heated indoor pools, home theaters, and wine cellars are the norm after you’ve navigated bone-jarring double-black diamond runs.

1. Montana Mansion – Whitefish, MT

For Sale: $20 million
No, that’s not a ski lodge — that’s a $20 million home for sale.
Located along the Chair 3 Tenderfoot Lift of the Whitefish Ski Resort in Montana, this massive stone-and-timbered mountain getaway on 1.34 acres offers warm elegance with 14,958 sq ft of living space, and includes 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.
Watch movies in the family theater on rich, plush-red lounges, or take in views of the Whitefish slopes and Bad Rock Canyon, plus peaks of the Great Bear Wilderness and Glacier National Park from the multiple decks.
Additional features: elevator, humidity controlled ski locker room, and remote access to security system.

2. Deer Valley Masterpiece — Park City, UT

For Sale: $21,900,000
No need to lug your ski gear to the lodge if you own this 13,536-sq ft beauty that offers direct ski-in/ski-out access onto Deer Valley’s Mountaineer ski run, which connects to the four-person Deer Crest mountain chair lift.
Take in panoramic mountain views from 4,500 sq ft of heated decks and a patio. Amenities include outdoor pool, spa and waterfall, elevator, golf simulator, theater (right), DJ booth, native trout aquarium, steam room, sauna, and day spa. House sold furnished with some art exclusions.

3. Aspen Contemporary – Aspen, CO

For Sale: $19,990,000
Aspen’s Silver Queen Gondola glides quietly overhead as you ski out the door to start the day on one of the world’s most glamorous and exciting ski mountains. Return to this three-story contemporary ski estate and enjoy a private massage or the steam room. The 9,056 sq ft home has 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms and even a separate caretaker’s apartment.
And one will never go cold with six gas fireplaces scattered about. Other features include an outdoor kitchen, library, exercise room, theater, wine room, ski room, large entertainment area with wet bar and room for billiards and poker tables, elevator, and snowmelt decks, driveway and walkways.

4. Park City Crib – Park City, UT

For Sale: $7,995,000
Snow not to your liking today? Then, attack your own massive indoor rock-climbing wall that has several “cracks” modeled after rock faces found on Yosemite, Joshua Tree and climbing spots around the world.
Located within the Canyons Ski Resort, this home was featured in an episode of MTV’s Teen Cribs, which follows an entrepreneurial dad and an adventuresome family who have every amusement imaginable at their fingertips.
Inside are open spaces with curved walls and floating staircases and the entryway is filled with 19th century pre-Impressionism art. Other play areas include a spacious game room with pool and foosball tables, a home theater, and a family room with central control panel for the home’s electronics. Furnishings are negotiable.

5. Tuscan-style Estate – Aspen, CO

For Sale: $35,750,000
Tuscany comes to Aspen in this 18th-century inspired estate built from 40,000 sq ft of hand-cut limestone. Featured on VH1’s "Fabulous Life Celebrity Real Estate Splurges," this 16,000 sq ft estate sits on 2 acres of land. Views of the surrounding meadows and Mt. Sopris and Mt. Daley can be enjoyed from the 5,000 sq ft of patios and decks — 5,000 sq ft!
In addition to 7 suite bedrooms and 7 full baths are a massive great room, large kitchen with two islands, plush home theater, exercise room with steam room, library with bar, wine cellar, spa, fire pit, and a stream that runs though the back of the property and into a large pond with a 15-foot waterfall (right). The only thing missing is an indoor pool. Maybe that’s why the original price of $43.8 million in 2008 has been lowered to $35,750,000.

6. Ketchum Elegance – Ketchum, ID

For Sale: $10,950,000
Yes, there are some of the requisite timber-and-beam touches, but this Sun Valley area estate is more reminiscent of an estate in southern Italy.
Choose to entertain on the terrace by the infinity edge pool or in the Italian wine cafe designed like a grotto with a contoured brick ceiling.
This 12,057 sq ft family estate contains 7 bedrooms and 8 baths and was designed for large groups, but can be scaled down for smaller gatherings. Located in close proximity to Sun Valley and the Warm Springs section of Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain.

7. Gated Teton Estate – Teton Village, WY

For Sale: $29,500,000 Located at the base of Wyoming’s challenging Jackson Hole Ski Resort, this grand rock-and-timber masterpiece sits on 10.63 private acres overlooking streams and gardens.
The home fits in with its rugged surroundings in Grand Teton National Park and contains more than 23,000 sq ft, including 7 bedrooms, 7 baths, guest quarters, a 12-seat theater, two offices, an extensive 4,000-bottle wine cellar, 1,200-sq ft professional gym, elevator and koi ponds. Located minutes from the gondola.

8. Adirondack Camp — Lake Placid, NY

For Sale: $10,500,000
Surprise, surprise! New York state breaks the West Coast stranglehold of glitzy ski homes with this rustic Lake Placid, NY offering. While this home is not glitzy in the traditional sense, it does demand some notice.
Known as Camp Balsam, this 13,500 sq ft multi-building compound on four acres is on a peninsula jutting into Lake Placid and combines elements of feng shui and green technology. The three-story main residence contains an elevator, four suites, plus a two-bedroom apartment. Also on the property is a restored log cabin-style, antique guest house with four bedrooms. Other features include a media room, gym, spa, wine cellar, winterized boathouse, lakeside bath house and an indoor pool. Whiteface ski area, which has the greatest vertical drop in the East and where the Olympics were held in 1980 and 1932, is just 12 miles away.

9. Norwegian Lodge - Vail, CO

For Sale: $15,900,000
Traverse down the slopes and right onto the doorstep of this cheery yellow, Norwegian Lodge-style home that sits at the base of Vail, the largest ski resort in the U.S. This home contains 8,308 sq ft, 6 bedrooms and 6.5 baths on one-half acre of prime Vail real estate.
Heavy woods are pervasive inside the home with walls, floors, box-beamed ceilings wrapping the surroundings. The home’s great room contains a magnificent fireplace and stairs lead up to an exposed balcony and bookshelves. Tasteful stone patios surround the home and inside is a heated lap pool.

10. Tranquility – Zephyr Cove, NV

For Sale: $100 million
Yes, we saved the best for last because let’s face it: All others pale in comparison to this incredible property that is one of the most expensive homes for sale on Zillow.
Owned by Joel Horowitz, the co-founder of Tommy Hilfiger, this northern European-inspired mountain estate sits on 210 acres overlooking Lake Tahoe, plus it has its own private lake. The main residence comprises 20,000 sq ft., plus there are seven other buildings: conservatory, guest residence, art studio, boat house pavilion, gymnasium with indoor basketball court, stable, and additional residence for guest and staff. Additionally, there are two par-3 golf holes, 16-car garage, and a gatehouse. Minutes to the Tahoe ski resorts.

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