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Ivory coast shuts down cocoa exports Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/10135824.htm http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/10135824.htm Posted on Tue, Nov. 09, 2004 Ivory Coast shuts down cocoa exports DANIEL BALINT-KURTI Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria - Deadly violence in Ivory Coast has shut down cocoa exports in the world's largest producer, closing ports that ship more than 40 percent of the world's raw material for chocolate, cocoa traders said Tuesday. Clashes that have pitted Ivory Coast's government and supporters against French forces come at the peak of Ivory Coast's main harvest, last year at a record of 1.4 million tons. Violence has closed the country's two main ports, in Abidjan and San Pedro, since Saturday afternoon, traders and other officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. Cocoa buyers are not venturing out into the bush to buy cocoa, they said. "Not at all," one trader in Abidjan said by telephone. "Even in the bush, you can't get the cocoa from the farmers" because of the turmoil. Cocoa workers in the cities, like most other residents of Ivory Coast's southern population centers, are staying inside of their homes for fear of street violence. Ivory Coast normally produces 80 percent of its cocoa between October and January. Cocoa production is centered in the southwest, the base of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo's ethnic group and in recent years scene of some of the worst political violence. The latest turmoil began Saturday, when Ivory Coast warplanes killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker in an airstrike on the rebel-held north. France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler, wiped out the nation's airforce on the tarmac in retaliation, sparking massive anti-French rampages by mobs of thousands in the fiercely nationalist south. Cocoa futures on the International Finance Futures and Options Exchange climbed sharply Monday over the unrest in Ivory Coast, but eased back early Tuesday, ahead of news of the export shutdown.

French fire disperse ivory coast marchers { November 8 2004 } French shoot down ivory coast warplanes French tanks move in on ivory coast { November 8 2004 } French tanks surround ivory coast president { November 8 2004 } Ivory coast forces Ivory coast french Ivory coast mobs burn french { November 7 2004 } Ivory coast rebels attack french Ivory coast shuts down cocoa exports Ivorycoast rages { December 2 2002 } Protests turn violent in ivory coast { December 2005 } Saudi ambassador killed ivory coast { March 28 2003 } United nations arms sanctions embargo on ivory coast Files Listed: 13

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