Laurent Gbagbo's son calls for peace

The son of Ivory Coast's ex-President Laurent Gbagbo has told the BBC he wants peace and reconciliation. 

Michel Gbagbo, a university lecturer, was arrested along with his father in April 2011 after disputed presidential elections sparked months of violence. 

Laurent Gbagbo is currently in The Hague facing charges of crimes against humanity. His 43-year-old son, who was freed on bail on 5th August 2013, told the BBC's Tamasin Ford the charges against his family were politically motivated.  

To listen to this interview please click on this link or if you want to read the article click on this link to the BBC website.

The villain of Abidjan

A new villain has emerged in Ivory Coast - Delestron, a machete wielding Schwarzenegger lookalike with tiny leather pants.

Named after delestage, the French word for blackout, the cartoon
character roams social media sites

(Image courtesy of Delestron) 
telling people about the power cuts he's causing across Abidjan, a city that until recently rarely witnessed blackouts. The BBC’s Tamasin Ford reports from Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast.

To listen to this report please click on this link.

Cervical cancer - the silent killer

More than three quarters of all cervical cancer deaths occur in the developing world – largely because of the lack of screening programmes.  But another little known fact is that HIV positive women are between four and five times more likely to get cervical cancer.  

The BBC’s Tamasin Ford went to visit a clinic for HIV+ women in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast.  

To listen to this report, please click on this link.

Corruption - is it ever acceptable?

The government of Ivory Coast has launched a hard-hitting campaign to crack down on corruption.  It involves billboards with the words, 'It took away my wife' and 'It killed my son' as well as dramatic adverts on state radio and TV.  They’re high quality, shot in black and white, and involve a lot of men crying…pretty emotional stuff.  But what do the public think of them?

The BBC’s Tamasin Ford spoke to a group of students in Abidjan to find out.  To listen to this report, please click on this link

Pokou Princesse Ashanti - Ivory Coast's first 3D animated film

She’s sassy, courageous and she stands up to the ‘baddies’ who rule the kingdom. Princess Pokou of Ashanti was the young princess destined to rule the Ashanti kingdom of West Africa in the 18th century. Afrikatoon, a production company in Ivory Coast, has turned the story into a 3D animation - joining the small, but growing, number of African countries to produce 3D animated films. The BBC’s Tamasin Ford went along to the film première in Abidjan, the commercial capital.
(To listen to this report please click on this link)

(Image courtesy of Afrikatoon production company)

Women speak out against female genital mutilation

Women in the north of Ivory Coast, who have spent decades illegally circumcising women, are speaking out against the practice for the first time. 

Female circumcision, often known as genital mutilation or FGM, was outlawed in Ivory Coast in 1988 but the practice is still widespread. It can lead to infertility, problems during child-birth and even death. 

Latest figures show more than a third of Ivorian women have undergone FGM. Tamasin Ford reports from Seguela in the north of Ivory Coast.  (To listen to this report, please click on this link)

What is middle class in Ivory Coast?

Two Ivorians, considered to be middle class by the African Development Bank, tell the BBC's Tamasin Ford how they survive on between $2 (£1.30) and $20 a day.

Konan Kouassi Vercruysses, 26, runs a phone booth with his cousin. He works five-hour shifts, six days a week and attends university.

Kouadio Koffi, 29, is a security guard who shares a one-room house with his cousin. He works 12-hour night shifts, six days a week.

Click on this link to read their stories.

A woman's battle to get her land back - radio version

Women produce nearly half of the world’s food but in some countries they own as little as two per cent of the land – according to figures from the UN.  As world leaders meet in Belfast for the G8 summit, issues around land ownership are expected to be high on the agenda.  It’s thought if more women are given land and property rights, more food will be produced reducing the burden of the world’s food security.  The BBC’s Tamasin Ford follows one woman’s fight to get her land back in Guinkin, in Western Ivory Coast.

To listen to this report, please click on this link.

A woman’s battle to inherit land in Ivory Coast

A woman in rural Ivory Coast has been called to a meeting under the shaded veranda of the local chief's house to defend her right to inherit her husband's property.

Barely in her forties, she sits quietly with her head down; the town chief in the small village of Guinkin, close to the Liberian border, is doing much of the talking.

Occasionally she speaks up to give her side of the story: "My name is Helene Tiro.  I lost my husband two years ago and I don't know where to go with my children," she explains, beginning to look desperate.

"My husband's brothers have sold all the farmland. I even don't know where to find food for my children."

Everyone looks at Mrs Tiro, somewhat stunned - not at what she is saying but the fact she is saying anything at all. It is unusual for a woman in these remote rural areas to have such confidence to speak out against her own family.

"Today I am looking for a way to take back my land and feed my children," Mrs Tiro finally says defiantly.

She adds that she has seven children and no access to the land she has farmed on every day since she got married more than 20 years ago.

Her husband was among the more than 3,000 people who died during the six months of violence that erupted after the 2010 presidential elections when incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down.  Mrs Tiro not only lost her husband, but her means of earning her living too

To read the rest of this story please click on this link to BBC's website.

Ivory Coast finding reconstruction easier than reconciliation

At first glance, Ivory Coast has come a long way since 2010's post-election violence. But is the progress merely an illusion?

Construction sites loom at every twist and turn of the super six-lane highways that weave around the Ébrié lagoon in the heart of Abidjan. Roads are being widened. New apartment blocks and shopping malls are joining 1970s skyscrapers on the skyline. And the final touches on a shiny new high-rise tower signal the African Development Bank's return after more than a decade.

Two years after the post-election conflict, when more than 3,000 people were killed, Ivory Coast's economy is bouncing back. With the country relieved of nearly $8bn (£5bn) in debt after reaching

(The inside of a cocoa pod.  Ivory Coast is the world's biggest exporter)

completion point of the heavily indebted poor countries initiative, investors are returning and GDP climbed to 9.8% last year.

"The recovery has been very impressive," said Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank's head of economic policy and poverty reduction in Africa, on a recent visit. "Not just economically speaking, but institutionally."

But amid the praise of the government's economic success under President Alassane Ouattara, the former deputy head of the International Monetary Fund, there are accusations of "victor's justice!, continued human rights violations and revenge attacks.

To read the rest of this article, please click on this link to the Guardian's website.