Ouattara

Ivory Coast
Worried Ivorian cocoa traders turn to Ouattara for help

Local cocoa exporters are experiencing significant supply issues and may not manage to honour the contracts that expire when the main 2022-2023 harvest ends this month. Citing lack of action from the cocoa regulatory board, they are asking the president to step in.

Ivory Coast
Chinese defence giant Norinco set to land FACI armoured vehicle contract

The Ivorian army is close to placing a firm order for some 50 Chinese infantry fighting vehicles to boost its capacity to deal with the insurrection threat posed by armed groups. Arms dealers Gaby Peretz and Ben Moctar have quietly gone to work in Abidjan in an effort to take advantage of the demand for new equipment.

West Africa
French armed forces minister Lecornu due in Abidjan and Dakar

France's armed forces minister Sébastien Lecornu will travel to Ivory Coast and Senegal in the coming days, though his schedule has yet to be finalised

Palace Intrigues
Alassane Ouattara, Antonio Guterres, Gianni Infantino, Ahmed Kogri

Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Ivory CoastOuattara plies pressure on banks

EthiopiaAntonio Guterres in Tigray

AfricaFIFA's Infantino's gesture to CAF federations

Chad-EgyptChadian spymaster Ahmed Kogri's 24h Cairo stopover

Central African Republic
MINUSCA still waiting for Ivorian peacekeepers

The deployment of a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) of Ivorian peacekeepers to boost the UN mission, MINUSCA, in the Central African Republic was first broached in 2021 but has not yet happened. The troops should however arrive by mid-2023.

Palace Intrigues
Félix Tshisekedi, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Faure Gnassingbé, Alassane Ouattara

Intrigues big and small... Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

DRC Tshisekedi's mysteriously large salary

Congo Sassou keeps his memoirs to himself a while longer

France/Togo General Germanos' death leaves hole in team

Ivory Coast Cocody Bay's foul smells get under Ouattara's nose

France, Ivory Coast
Veolia loses water deal to local Ivorian firm Sodeci

Despite support from the French finance minister, waste and water management giant Veolia has lost the contract to run the Adzopé drinking water treatment plant on La Mé river in Ivory Coast. Local firm Sodeci, whose boss has friends in high places, has bagged the deal.

Palace Intrigues
Alassane Ouattara, Laurent Gbagbo, Emmanuel Macron, Teodoro Obiang, William Ruto, Dadju

Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Ivory CoastOuattara, Bédié and Gbagbo to meet in Yamoussoukro

Equatorial GuineaMacron suggests meeting with Obiang to end Paris private mansion dispute

KenyaRuto administration's appointment of Kenyatta's cousin ruffles the ex-presidential family's feathers

France/AfricaRapper Dadju tours Africa, from Libreville to Abidjan

France, Ivory Coast
Hollande could join Merkel in Yamoussoukro

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due in Yamoussoukro on 8 February to receive the Félix-Houphouët Boigny Prize from UNESCO at the invitation of President Alassane Ouattara. She may see a familiar face there: that of former French president François Hollande

Guinea
Diallo and Touré ponder their junta strategy from Abidjan

The opposition politicians Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sydia Touré have had a discreet meeting in the Ivorian capital and are continuing to push for a dialogue to be held with the junta outside Guinea. But they also have to contend with the manoeuvring of ousted president Alpha Condé, who is currently based in Istanbul.

Palace Intrigues
Alassane Ouattara, Marine Le Pen, Teodorin Obiang, Father & Soldier

Intrigues big and small: every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara's grand real estate plans in Kong

France/Senegal Le Pen's private meeting with billionaire Mimran

Equatorial Guinea Teodorin Obiang's new clothes

France/Africa French foreign ministry fixated by Father & Soldier

Ivory Coast
Ivorian high society haunt Sofitel Abidjan to be closed for renovation

The Accor hotel group plans to close the Sofitel Hotel Ivoire Abidjan for a major renovation before the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which is due to take place in Abidjan in January 2024.

France, Ivory Coast
Ouattara to dine with Macron at Elysée

Dans le cadre de son séjour en France, le président ivoirien rencontrera son homologue à l'Elysée. Les deux hommes doivent se retrouver dans le cadre d'un dîner.

Ivory Coast
Ivorian employers' association boss Ahmed Cissé selects his team

To assist him throughout his term at the helm of the CGECI, the businessman has handpicked three figures with close connections to the government.

Ivory Coast
Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo reconnect in secret

On 10 January, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara ordered the payment with arrears of the financial sum that Laurent Gbagbo had been claiming for over two years. Shortly afterwards, the two men spoke by telephone, and have agreed to meet in February.