APRNEWS - Researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop “Ebola” a viral disease that could wreck the region’s staple food and condemn millions to hunger.

APRNEWS - The world’s top cocoa producer Ivory Coast said Monday it would invest nearly one billion euros over 10 years to replace forests that were razed to grow the bean.

The West African country supplies two million tonnes of cocoa to the world market annually and the commodity is a mainstay of the economy.

APRNEWS - Fifteen people died in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital, during flooding caused by torrential rain overnight, Interior Minister Sidiki Diakite said on Tuesday.

AFRICANEWS - Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he is free to stand for a third term in the 2020 presidential election under the country’s new constitution, according to an interview in this week’s edition of French magazine Jeune Afrique.