The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over the prolonged detention of the French freelance photojournalist Jean-Paul Ney who was arrested two weeks ago in Ivory Coast for allegedly endangering state security.

Starting antiretroviral therapy is associated with increased sexual risk taking, according to a study conducted in Cote d’Ivoire and published in the January 2008 edition of AIDS. Younger age and alcohol consumption were also associated with unprotected sex. Several studies in industrialised countries have noted increased levels of unprotected sex since effective antiretroviral therapy became available. The exact reasons for this are unclear and a meta-analysis found that levels of unprotected sex were not increased amongst HIV-positive individuals taking anti-HIV treatment.

The senior United Nations envoy to Côte d’Ivoire has held talks on elections planned for next year in the country, which has been divided since 2002 between the rebel-held north and Government-controlled south.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, met the President of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Robert Mambé, at the IEC office in Abidjan.

The United Nations is investigating allegations of widespread sexual abuse by hundreds of its peacekeepers serving in the Ivory Coast, Al Jazeera reports. A Moroccan battalion of 800 troops in Bouake, in the north of the country, were confined to their barracks on Friday and all of the contingent's activities suspended.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged the government of Côte d'Ivoire to take urgent actions to put an end to newsroom robberies after four media companies were raided in a period of two months by armed groups who stole office equipment and documents. "We condemn these attacks, which are creating an environment of fear and panic in the press," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office.

The UN mission in Cote d’Ivoire (ONUCI) said in a June report that corruption is so widespread in the Ivorian justice system that “people have come to believe, even though fortunately it’s not always the case, that it is impossible to get a favourable decision without handing over money.” The report said bribes are also given in the form of sexual favours.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Côte d’Ivoire’s Government to ensure that the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the divided West African country have the necessary means to make a safe and sustainable return to their home towns and villages.

Residents of northwest Cote d’Ivoire have enjoyed cheap motorbikes and TVs from neighbouring countries thanks to the absence of customs controls since rebels chased out the government in 2002. On balance, however, the unrest has dealt a heavy blow to the region’s economy. Unprecedented violent crime, shuttered banks and the absence of state workers and their purchasing power mean residents are eager to see the government return.

The peace agreement signed in Ouagadougou by Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro on 4 March 2007 is a major turning point in resolving Côte d’Ivoire’s armed conflict but is only a first step in the right direction. It is now essential that all Ivorians who want long-term peace work together to ensure the transitional government effectively delivers identity documents to all citizens, collects all weapons still held by militias, embarks on comprehensive security sector reform and provides a credible election process, says a new report by the International Crisis Group.

Concerns that Ivorian leaders might block the UN from helping to organise and supervise long-delayed elections were allayed on 19 June following a meeting between with a UN Security Council delegation and the country’s president and former rebel leader-turned-prime minister

In a report carried by Al Jazeera, Ivory Coast is to distribute millions of dollars in compensation to thousands of people exposed to toxic waste dumped in its economic capital, Abidjan, last year, the presidency says. The handouts scheduled for next week and announced on Friday, come months after the government received the compensation funds

Al Jazeera reports that former members of a pro-government militia in the west of the Ivory Coast have burnt piles of weaponry in a symbolic gesture to mark the completion of their disarmament. Attending the ceremonies on Saturday, the president of the Ivory Coast hailed the disarmament as an important step towards re-unifying the war-torn west African country.

For Katienéfoha Yéo, two decades of cotton farming that resulted in nothing but debt were enough to get him on the road, out of Tanikaha in northern Côte d'Ivoire to Sarala in the west. "At Tanikaha I worked the land for more than 20 years without ever managing to own the least thing. Almost all my agricultural seasons ended with significant (harvest) shortfalls because the soil was no longer good (fertile)," he told IPS.

Cote d’Ivoire’s nascent peace plan moved closer towards changing the situation on the ground on Wednesday as the government, rival armed groups and international peacekeepers agreed a schedule to dismantle the country's buffer zone.

Ousmane Sawadogo carefully tends a little plot of earth at a centre for displaced people in western Côte d’Ivoire, waiting for seasonal rains to begin and for the day he can return to his cocoa and coffee plantation northeast of here.

Cote d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday announced the formation of a new government which will be in charge of getting the country out of the crisis which it has been experienced for more than four years. The new government of Prime Minister Guillaume Soro consists of 33 ministerial portfolios, and the entry of six new ministers.

Five years ago a group of fighters marched into Alice Bébo's village, set it on fire and gave the women and girls a choice: submit to rape or die. "I was 14 years old at the time," Bébo told IRIN. Her story is among many that illustrate the sexual violence that has taken place during Côte d'Ivoire's protracted conflict, according to an international human rights group.

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Ivorian authorities to withdraw all charges against journalist Claude Dassé of the privately-owned daily "Soir Info", after he was held for five days at Abidjan investigative police headquarters on a contempt of court charge brought by the state prosecutor.

Ivory Coast's cocoa merchants risk their money and their lives on the road as highway robbers increasingly target their cars to seize cash destined to buy beans, a senior police officer said on Wednesday (31 January). Millions of CFA francs have been stolen from cocoa buyers so far in this 2006/07 season by thieves who stop buyers' cars either by holding up the drivers with guns or by mounting fake police checkpoints and dressing in military uniforms.

Anti-government protests in Cote d’Ivoire have intensified in recent days and the most recent left two people dead with no apparent end in sight to a political impasse that has pitted the president against his prime minister. The country was calm on Wednesday (6 December 2006) but police maintained street patrols.