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ABIDJAN, Oct 9 (AFP): Handling some 90 per cent of Ivory Coast's trade, the Port of Abidjan is a good barometer of economic activity in the cocoa-rich but bitterly divided west African state.
Trade in 2005 is down 4.9 per cent compared to the first eight months of 2004, as the ongoing political and military crises take their toll on economic confidence and ports in neighbouring Ghana and Togo profit from lost business.
Between January and August this year the port handled some 11.388 million tonnes of cargo, as opposed to 11.974 million tonnes in the same period of 2004.
"This fall reflects the slugishness of our country's economy," observed the port's Director General Marcel Gossio, who worries that "political uncertainty is slowing our partners' desire to resume activity".
Ivory Coast has been in turmoil since a failed coup in September 2002 and subsequent armed uprising by the rebel New Forces (FN), who now control the north and some of the west of the country.
The indefinite postponement of presidential polls due for October 30 has escalated tensions, "paralysisng the weak will of investors, who are waiting for better days", according to one diplomat, who was equally pessimistic about the likelihood of a swift solution to the current crisis.
In 2003, the port saw a fall in trade of 4.8 per cent compared to 2002, with 15.5 million tonnes passing through the port, but it bounced back in 2004 recording a 14.5 per cent rise to 17.76 million tonnes, as a political solution seemed on the horizon.
However the "November crisis" -- which saw a failed southern offensive on rebel forces and violent anti-French demonstrations provoke the departure of some 8,000 mostly French Europeans -- put an abrupt halt to the recovery.
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