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Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara arrives at the opening session of the 19th Summit of the Francophonie at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, on Oct. 5, 2024.
France fades in Africa as Ivory Coast cuts ties
The Ivory Coast has ordered French forces to leave the country by August 2025. In a New Year’s Eve address, President Alassane Ouattara exhorted Ivorians to “be proud of our army, whose modernization is now effective.”
While Ivory Coast achieved independence in 1960, it is still home to 600 French troops, the biggest remaining contingent in West Africa. It also hosts a French military base in Abidjan, which will be turned over in January and renamed after Gen. Ouattara Thomas d'Aquin, the first chief of staff of the Ivorian Army.
The announcement from Abidjan follows Chad’s decision last month to remove French troops, the latest in a wave of expulsions from former colonies in recent years. France withdrew from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger after a series of coups, and will be leaving Senegal by 2025. Anti-colonial sentiment and protests against a lack of benefits from the former colonial power have seen over 70% of African countries cut military ties with Paris, leaving only Djibouti and Gabon, with 1,500 and 350 troops, respectively.
France out, who’s in? France’s exit leaves a vacuum that other powers, including Russia, China, and Turkey have sought to fill as African nations battle Islamic insurgents. However, Russia’s Wagner Group had been accused of human rights abuses and violence in the Sahel has reportedly worsened since France withdrew.A farmer opens a cocoa pod at a cocoa farm in Azaguie, Ivory Coast, October 22, 2019. Picture taken October 22, 2019.
Why Easter chocolate cost so much this year
The Easter Bunny is sweating over his chocolate bill this year thanks to rising prices. A ton of cocoa runs you a cool $10,000 today, double what it cost a month ago and triple what it cost this time last year. Still, the West African farmers who grow the world’s favorite treat have yet to see a windfall.
The culprit? Three straight years of bad harvests have led one manufacturer to estimate the supply of cocoa will fall some 500,000 tons short of demand in 2024. That’s about a 10% deficit – and part of the reason cocoa is growing in value faster than bitcoin.
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana grow more than half of the world’s cocoa, mostly on small family farms. A combination of changing weather patterns and a growing problem with diseases are yielding fewer and fewer beans from each tree.
Farmers usually don’t benefit from higher prices on commodity exchanges in New York and London, since the governments in Accra and Yamoussoukro set fixed prices ahead of each growing season. This year, that was roughly $1,600 a ton. The practice has long left farmers underpaid and leads to underinvestment in their farms, which compounds dwindling productivity.
Long term, analysts say chocolate prices for consumers could double. With no easy way to boost production, this means the Easter Bunny may face an even bigger hop into next year’s baskets.