Ivory Coast’s cocoa sector faces relentless struggle with child labour

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is facing mounting demand from Western consumers for ethical chocolate -- a product that is ecologically sound and made without child labour. In a widely publicised operation named Nawa 2, police picked up dozens of children in a crackdown in Soubre, the country's cocoa-producing heartland 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of the economic capital Abidjan.

His supporters had been waiting ten years for this day. Laurent Gbagbo basked in a hero's welcome for his grand return to Abidjan. It took a brief rekindling of Ivory Coast's civil war to force out the former president when he refused to concede the 2010 election to current leader Alassane Ouattara. After the case against Gbagbo fell apart at the International Criminal Court, we ask about the terms and conditions of the return of a larger-than-life political figure.

An Ivory Coast court on Wednesday sentenced former prime minister and rebel leader Guillaume Soro in absentia to life in prison on charges of plotting a coup against his former ally President Alassane Ouattara.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, are meeting 10 years after a power struggle between the two saw 3,000 people die and Gbagbo banished. Could real reconciliation be in the cards?

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo signaled an image of reconciliation — a decade after a civil war erupted as they vied for power.

For more than six decades, the cocoa that Richard Ambassa Mbassiga harvested from his plantation in central Cameroon faithfully paid for everything his family needed. Irregular rainfall and prolonged dry seasons have since sucked the moisture from the soil, killed cocoa trees, and cut the yield from his farm.

Ivorian medical staff are receiving the first doses of the Ebola virus vaccine as the country records its first case in nearly 30 years.

Ivory Coast has started rolling out a vaccination campaign against Ebola after recording its first known case of the disease in more than a quarter of a century.

Italian oil company Eni announced a huge offshore find of oil and gas resources in Ivory Coast. The discovery comes after a $185 million (€156 million) investment in energy exploration by two foreign firms.

From planting trees to raising awareness and developing new solutions for waste, three young environmental activists in Abidjan are looking for inclusive ways to stop global warming.

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo vowed on Sunday (October 17) to continue in politics "until my death" as he launched a new party following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court and return from a decade abroad. Gbagbo, president from 2000-2011, returned to Ivory Coast in June after being acquitted in 2019 by the Netherlands-based court on war crimes charges for his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat in an election.

In Ivory Coast, painters, photographers, designers and sculptors are choosing to settle in the city of Grand-Bassam, away from the urban chaos and air pollution of Abidjan. The historic UNESCO World Heritage city, located an hour from the economic capital, is attracting more and more designers in search of a more serene and affordable lifestyle. As the once-popular artisanal village of Grand-Bassam grapples with a drop in tourism, a new generation of artists from diverse backgrounds is reclaiming this historic cultural centre and breathing new life into it. Our correspondents report.