In December 2019 a meeting in Abidjan between President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire and French President Emmanuel Macron resulted in them signing a cooperation accord between the eight members of the Union monétaire ouest-africaine (UMOA) the monetary authority for the West African members of the zone and France (AC Vol 61 No 4 'Eco'-logical concerns)...

Succession gossip – rarely quiet for long in Abidjan – is simmering after President Alassane Ouattara appointed a new deputy and reshuffled the cabinet and the top ranks of the ruling Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP)...

NEW VICE-PRESIDENT KONE COULD HIT THE AGE BAR The newly appointed Vice-President Tiémoko Meyliet Koné shares many attributes with President Alassane Ouattara...

Pro-government nationalists will feel vindicated in their resentment by the social media circulation of what purports to be a recorded call between former Malian premier Boubou Cissé and the Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara discussing the impact of sanctions on Mali and the naivety of the Bamako leadership (AC Dispatches 14/01/22 Turning up the heat on the junta)...

A leaked audio recording revealed Côte d'Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara floating the idea of Ecowas military support for the Burkinabè forces fighting against jihadis and criminal gangs...

In Côte d'Ivoire too unease is mounting at President Alassane Ouattara's controversial third term and the continuing dominance of old guard politicians although jihadists have also briefly penetrated the north (AC Vol 63 No 1 Après nous le déluge...

These three known as the 'elephants' are: Henri Konan Bédié who inherited the leadership of Houphouët-Boigny's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) and succeeded him in power before being ousted in a 1999 coup; Laurent Gbagbo elected President in controversial 2000 polls following a short-lived period of junta rule; and current President Alassane Ouattara who came to power in 2011 following nine years of on-off civil war that saw the country split in two between north and south (AC Dispatches 23/7/21 The elephants talk reconciliation)...

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo's Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) has splintered and its former leader helms a new party; President Alassane Ouattara's Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) is split over the succession; and Henri Konan Bédié's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) is under strain as questions grow about the future of its veteran leader (AC Vol 62 No 13 Old foes re-enter the ring)...

And many Ivorians were profoundly disappointed when President Alassane Ouattara used the excuse of an earlier constitutional change to justify standing for a third term last October (AC Vol 61 No 17 Citing force majeure Ouattara will run for a third term)...

New ruler moves to pre-empt Ecowas The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has been reflecting on the regional response to events in Conakry with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said to have spoken with the new military ruler Colonel Mamady Doumbouya on Monday while Ghana's Nana Addo Akufo-Addo organised an 8 September emergency regional summit...