Global Witness - Breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption
Côte d’Ivoire cocoa transparency move welcome
Press Release – 04/06/2008
Côte d'Ivoire cocoa transparency move welcome
The publication of financial data on the cocoa sector by the Ivorian government is a
welcome development, but it needs to take place regularly, Global Witness said today.
Côte d'Ivoire is the world's biggest producer of cocoa for the global chocolate industry.
Revenues from cocoa have played a key role in fuelling the country's conflict since 2002.
Last week, the Ivorian government published, for the first time, figures on the revenues
generated by levies on the cocoa sector and what they were spent on. The information was
for 2006-2008 and was released as a communication to the Council of Ministers. The
government also released data on the energy sector.
"This is a welcome, if overdue, major step towards transparency and accountability in the
Ivorian cocoa sector. But to be effective it should not be a one-off. Regular publication of
such data is needed," said Patrick Alley, director at Global Witness.
In 2007, Global Witness released a report, Hot Chocolate: how cocoa fuelled the conflict in
Côte d'Ivoire, which showed how more than US$118 million from the cocoa trade had
funded both sides of the recent armed conflict in the country. Hot Chocolate also
documented patterns of mismanagement of revenues, opacity of accounts, corruption and
political favoritism in the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire.
For the past year, Global Witness has called for increasing transparency and accountability
in the cocoa industry by the government and cocoa institutions, as well as by the chocolate
industry.
In the light of the government's latest move, Global Witness calls on companies buying
cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire not to delay further and publish what they pay to the cocoa
institutions and the government. "Increasing transparency within the government and
national cocoa institutions is just the first step. Companies have now to do the same for the
Ivorian people to get the full picture and be able to match payments and receipts to check
money isn't going missing," said Alley.
The full report, Hot Chocolate: how cocoa fuelled the conflict in Côte d'Ivoire, is available at
www.globalwitness.org
For further information, please contact:
Maria Lopez: +44 207 561 6389
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Global Witness is an independent non-governmental organisation which investigates and
campaigns on the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict and corruption.
All Global Witness's publications can be found at www.globalwitness.org
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