Latest news with #IvoryCoast
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Ivory Coast Sees Oil Output Increasing More Than Fivefold by 2035
Ivory Coast expects its oil output to increase more than fivefold in the next decade, boosted by recent discoveries and the start of production at two offshore fields. 'By 2035, crude-oil production is expected to reach at least 500,000 barrels per day, placing our country among the top five oil-producing countries on the continent,' Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Mines Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly said. 'Natural gas will account for 1 million cubic feet per day.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Former Chelsea star is hit with FIVE-YEAR ban from football and fined after furious row with Samuel Eto'o
Former Chelsea star Geremi has been handed a five-year ban from football by Cameroon's FA and fined £13,000 following a dispute with federation president Samuel Eto'o. The 46-year-old, who earned 118 caps for Cameroon - the joint-second highest in the country's history - lifted the Premier League title with Chelsea in both 2005 and 2006. He also enjoyed spells at Real Madrid, Middlesbrough, and Newcastle before hanging up his boots in 2011. Since retiring, Geremi has often found himself at the centre of controversy. He previously held a role with the National Union of Footballers of Cameroon (Synafoc), but has now been hit with a lengthy ban after a fallout with Eto'o. The feud between the pair dates back to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast, during Cameroon's clash with Gambia. Geremi was reportedly involved in a heated exchange with a member of Eto'o's staff, which quickly escalated and resulted in the two having to be separated by those nearby. Reports in Cameroon claim Geremi was 'forcibly removed' by nearby security on the orders of FeCafoot officials - and the governing body has now ruled that the former midfielder must serve a lengthy ban as a consequence of his actions. 'We declare Geremi Sorel Njitap, the president of Synafoc, guilty of breaking the behaviour rules of our code of ethics,' a statement read. We sentence him to a ban from all forms of football activity for five years, and to a fine of ten million West African francs [£13,000]. He has ten days to submit a written appeal.' Geremi's assistant, Daniel Blaise Ngos, has also been sanctioned over the incident, receiving a two-year ban and a £6,500 fine. Geremi is expected to launch an appeal against the ruling, with reports suggesting he could take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to overturn or reduce both the ban and £13,000 fine. He made headlines last year after splitting from his wife following DNA tests that revealed the two children he believed were his were actually fathered by her former partner.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Who is Palace target Diomande?
With Marc Guehi potentially on the move, Crystal Palace are reportedly interested in replacing him with Sporting centre-back Ousmane Diomande for a club record Coast-born Diomande, 21, has long been on the radar of top European sides. He joined the academy at Danish club Midtjylland in January 2020 and made his senior debut three years ago on loan with Portuguese second division side performances earned a mid-season move to Sporting, where Diomande was nurtured by Ruben Amorim. He started the coach's last home game in charge of Sporting as they beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League last November. Diomande, who has nine caps for his country, made 46 appearances in 2024-25 as Sporting won the domestic attempted and completed more passes than any other player in Portugal's top flight last season and also carried the ball five metres or more up the pitch on an unrivalled 598 occasions, highlighting his ball-playing is strong in the air too. His 65% success rate in aerial duels was the seventh highest in the division, and 11% more than Guehi managed in the 2024-25 Premier League.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Thithi president!': Supporters rally for banned Ivorian opposition hopeful
Despite a heavy downpour and slippery roads, supporters of presidential candidate Tidjane Thiam poured into Abidjan's streets in the thousands on Saturday to march on the offices of the Ivory Coast electoral commission. Decked in the white and green colours of Thiam's main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the demonstrators chanted his nickname – 'Thithi president!' – in a show of support for a candidate now officially barred from the vote. Placards reading 'There's no Plan B!' flew high amid protest songs. 'We strongly denounce the arbitrary and unjustified removal of President Thiam, as well as other major opposition leaders,' PDCI's executive secretary, Sylvestre Emmou, one of few people allowed through a large police barricade to submit a complaint to the commission, told his soaked compatriots. 'This is unacceptable and dangerous for peace and democracy in our country,' he said. The protests highlight rising tensions in West Africa's second-biggest economy, ahead of the October general elections that many fear could lead to violence in a country with still-fresh memories of the 2011 election-related civil war. At stake is Ivory Coast's continued stability amid a regional security crisis, but a likely fourth-term bid by incumbent President Alassane Ouattara has concerned many voters and political rivals, alongside what critics say is the government's targeted ban on opponents. Ouattara's strongest challenger, Thiam, was struck from a final list of candidates on June 4 after the electoral commission said he was ineligible to run because he'd automatically lost Ivorian citizenship when he took French citizenship in the 1980s. Although Thiam gave up his French nationality to regain his Ivorian one in February, a court ruled in May that he was not technically Ivorian when he enrolled in the electoral register in 2022. Thiam's supporters accuse Ouattara, who has led since 2011, of clearing the way for a fourth term. The last elections in 2020 were boycotted by the opposition, which argued Ouattara had reached his term limits, handing him an easy victory. In the 2015 elections, Ouattara was a clear favourite. Former President Laurent Gbagbo and his old right-hand man Charles Ble Goude have been struck off too for convictions related to the 2011 civil war. Ex-Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who was convicted of fraud, was also removed. Ouattara will suffer illegitimacy if he runs without those four, Sylvain N'Guessan, a politics professor at the University of Bondoukou, told Al Jazeera. 'He will be seen as a candidate who had to exclude all other serious candidates to impose himself. What relationship will such a president have with the other parties, with the voters?' he said. Many Ivorians, particularly young voters, view businessman Thiam as a breath of fresh air and a departure from the divisive establishment politics that have seen power concentrated in the hands of a few. At 62, he is two decades younger than Ouattara and is related to Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the first Ivorian prime minister. Thiam was the first Ivorian student to land a place at Paris's prestigious Ecole Polytechnique in 1982, from where he was launched to top-flight firms like consulting giant McKinsey. In 1994, he returned home to take up a ministerial position that saw him launch several infrastructure projects. A military coup in 1999, however, cut short that career. In 2015, he became the first African head of Swiss bank Credit Suisse but stepped down in 2019 after an espionage scandal: a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him, although a court later cleared him of wrongdoing. In 2022, Thiam returned to the Ivory Coast and the once-ruling PDCI party. Thiam's party promises a return to the economic development that flourished under Houphouet-Boigny, who is credited with the 'Ivorian Miracle' or the rapid development that came after colonial rule. Thiam has also promised to include everyone, regardless of ethnicity or religion. 'He presents as a new leader, a new face who could lead Cote d'Ivoire differently,' N'Guessan said, adding that young Ivorians were tired of faces like Ouattara's and Gbagbo's, who are associated with turbulent politics. Critics say his international career means he's out of touch locally, but Thiam claims he is nonetheless well-loved. In an interview with the BBC in April, he accused the government of specifically targeting him with a colonial-era law he said was rarely used. Thiam pointed to Ivorian-French footballers who hold dual nationalities and play for French clubs and the Ivorian national team. 'I don't think anyone in Cote d'Ivoire believes that this is not a case of the government exploiting the legal system,' he said, referring to his removal based on nationality. 'This government has been in power for 15 years. Does it deserve five more? For me, that's what should be at the centre of the presidential campaign, not my passport,' Thiam said at the time. Al Jazeera reached out to the Ivorian government for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. A day after Thiam's supporters gathered in Abidjan, Ouattara's ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) members also rallied in Yopougon, the most populous suburb of Abidjan. Banners reading 'In Yopougon, our champion is ADO', a reference to the president's nickname, were stretched across a stage where senior party members extolled Ouattara. The gathering set the stage for the party's grand congress on June 21-22, where Ouattara is expected to officially announce his candidacy. 'There is only one road – the road of President Alassane Ouattara,' former prime minister Patrick Achi declared to the gathered crowd. Ouattara, 83, is rumoured to be half-Burkinabe. He was the target of inflammatory identity politics for years, with his rivals questioning his 'Ivoirite' and enforcing laws that disqualified him from running. When he finally won elections in 2011, Gbagbo refused to hand over power, resulting in a civil war that killed some 3,000 people. Ouattara has since amended the Ivorian constitution to allow presidential candidates with at least one Ivorian parent in a 2016 referendum. He has nurtured the country back from the brink into a flourishing economy, evident in the 7 percent average yearly growth recorded in the past decade. Then in 2020, Outtara ran in and won elections. Critics and boycotting opposition said his third-term bid was unconstitutional while Outtara argued his mandate was reset by the new constitution. Violence was reported in some areas. N'Guessan said Ivorians don't have the appetite for the immense suffering of 2011, and warned that reviving identity politics by preventing Thiam from running once again is 'dangerous'. 'We should learn the lessons to address the issue of nationality with a little more perspective,' he said. 'The same words produce the same effects, the same evils.'
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Thiam Party Forms Alliance With Ex-President Before Ivorian Vote
Parties led by former Credit Suisse AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo agreed to form at alliance after both men were excluded from competing in October elections. Thiam's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast and Gbagbo's African People's Party will unite to challenge the candidate of the ruling Rally of the Republicans, which meets this weekend to select its nominee for the race. President Alassane Ouattara, who's led the West African nation since 2011, hasn't ruled out plans to seek another term.
