Cote d’Ivoire’s hosting of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will further accelerate the country’s impressive rebound since its civil war ended in 2011, the Ivorian government hopes. By its own admission, the government has invested at least $1 billion (Sh159bn on hosting the tournament, which kicks off on Saturday, having built four new stadia while renovating two. “Cote d’Ivoire is a poor country,” Prao Yao Seraphin, an Ivorian economics professor, told BBC Sport Africa. “As a result, President Ouattara has had to take out loans to finance this project, so we have to ensure the loans actually benefit Cote d’Ivoire. So will Cote d’Ivoire, once home to one of Africa’s largest population of elephants and which takes its name from their tusks, suffer such a plight?

Source: Daily Nation January 12, 2024 21:13 UTC