Ivorian weavers pray for peace

By Kate Davenport
BBC Focus On Africa magazine

Villagers are having to make the best of what little is left of their industry

The outbreak of civil war in Ivory Coast has caused the market for the country's cotton - regarded by locals as "white gold" - to dramatically collapse, causing widespread hardship in many rural communities.

Great numbers of Ivorians in the north of the country have been brought up as weavers, but now have little income after the war cut them off from both the commercial capital, Abidjan, and the tourist trade.

Buyers who came from nearby Mali and Burkina Faso have also stopped coming, further damaging the trade.

Businessmen estimate that in total 32,000 tonnes of cotton - with a market value of over CFA25bn ($40m) - is blocked in the north.

"I have never known such a crisis," said Bafing Coulibaly, chief of Wara Gnere village in the rebel-controlled north of the country.

"Weaving is our only skill. It is passed from father to son - we don't know anything else."

Alternative income

Though Wara Gnere was once a bustling village, most of its looms are now silent, and the vast array of colourful cotton wall-hangings that used to line the roadsides have been replaced by military men and roadblocks.

"Before, tourists used to flock here," Mr Coulibaly added.

"Now, nobody comes and our sons are joining the rebellion."

Many of the villagers have been forced to try and find alternative means of income, but it is proving difficult.

"My husband is a tailor but since he no longer has any work, the women are obliged to go into the forest to gather faggots for firewood," one villager told Focus On Africa.

Many mothers are seeing their sons join the rebellion

"If we carry these into Korhogo to sell at the market, we will earn a few francs for our children."

However, there are signs of optimism.

Since the conflict erupted, the rebels and the government have attempted to resolve their differences in a series of meetings brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and France.

As a result of the ceasefire agreed, some transport routes are beginning to reopen.

But the process is proving painfully slow.

"Only God knows how much longer we can exist like this," Mr Coulibaly said.

"But then frankly, we didn't think we would last this far."

The full version of this article appears in the July-September 2003 issue of BBC Focus On Africa magazine