Cote D'Ivoire cocoa export ban to end in days

Cote D'Ivoire cocoa export ban to end in days

UN ambassador to Cote D’Ivoire’s presidential claimant, Alassane Ouattara, Youssoufou Bamba has said that Quattara is expected to announce within days the end of a ban on exports of cocoa, of which the country is the world's leading producer.

Addressing a news conference, Bamba said that Cote D’Ivoire’s cocoa sector is close to a return to normalcy after turmoil created by a post-election conflict between Ouattara and incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo.

Engendering normalcy

Quattara,while addressing his people from the main city of Abidjan, said that he had asked for EU sanctions on the main ports and other businesses to be lifted as a first step to bring the country back to normal.

"These immediate priority decisions have an objective, to secure the population, the gradual recovery of economic activities and return to normalcy," Ouattara said in a speech broadcast on French television channel TCI.

He however said that a violent standoff caused by Gbagbo's defiance has plunged Abidjan into a humanitarian crisis.

Rival and incumbent Laurent Gbagbo is believed to be hiding in an underground bunker in the city, surrounded by Ouattara's troops.

Expected rebound

Shippers in Cote D’Ivoire had earlier said that cocoa exports will take a couple of weeks to resume once incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo steps down and the security in the world's top producer stabilises.

The head of commodity sales at Belgian shipping company, Safmarine, Didier Willemse said this on Thursday.

Willemse said that shippers are waiting for the evolution of the situation, for operations to recommence.

Crippled economy

The Ivorian cocoa industry has been brought to a standstill in recent months following EU sanctions, an export ban imposed by Ouattara and a crippled banking system.

Director of a unit of Danish shipping and oil group A.P Moller-Maersk, Sonny Dahl, said that the lead time to deploy ships could be anywhere from one to seven days for exports.

Dealers estimate that around five hundred thousand tonnes of cocoa is stuck in Ivory Coast.

REUTERS/Al Jazeera/Williams