AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Confusion grows as in addition to oppostion pressure for Prime Minister's resignation, farmers of the country's main export cacao call a strike

Abidjan (Fides Service)- The 15 October has come and gone, the programme to disarm militia has not started (see Fides 14 October 2004) and the political crisis in Ivory Coast is increasingly complicated. Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra appointed following peace agreement signed in France in 2003 to help the country find away out of the crisis which broke in 2002. Diarra heads an interim government abandoned in recent months by several opposition members and guerrilla representatives which control the north of the country. It is mainly the leader of the Ivorian Peoples Front, the President’s party, Pascal Affi N'Guessan who is calling for the resignation of the Premier. N'Guessan was prime minister when the peace agreement was signed and he had to step down because of the agreement.
If the political situation is ever more confused, at the social level a strike called by cacao industry workers, the country’s main resource, is causing havoc. Ivory Coast is the world’s main producer of cacao. Trade unionists threaten to burn trucks if they are seen anywhere near ports. The strike is about low prices paid to farmers for cacao seeds. The cacao farmers’ confederation is demands ing at least 400 CFA Francs (0,75 dollars) a kilo compared to the 320 CFA Francs (0,60 dollars) offered by buyers. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 19/10/2004 righe 23 parole 289)