VOA常速英语2007-Ivory Coast's Cocoa Allegedly Associated with Ab

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
30 October 2007

Cocoa has long been a cornerstone of Ivory Coast's economy, driving what was once one of Africa's most prosperous countries. Ivorian cocoa still accounts for about 40 percent of the world's production. But today, it is often associated with such negative issues as abusive child labor¹, corruption³ and the country's divisive civil war. Lisa Bryant was recently in the Western Ivorian village of Fangolo. She takes a look at the cocoa story.

Issa Wattara is a lucky man. In this poor farming village abutting⁴ the main north-south artery⁵ in western Ivory Coast, he is among the few to have tasted chocolate. And yet many of Fangolo's inhabitants, like Wattara, cultivate cocoa beans - the raw material for chocolate bars and confections.

Wattara shows a visitor some of the plants growing at the edge of the village. The cocoa beans hang down like fat, green cucumbers.

Ivory Coast remains⁶ the world's leading cocoa producer, thanks to beans harvested and shipped from Fangolo and other parts of the country's cocoa belt. The majority of the country's cocoa exports head to the European Union and the United States.

But Ivorian cocoa is not just associated with the sweet taste of chocolate. It is also linked to the country's 2002 civil war that divided the country into the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south.

A June report by the London-based anti-corruption watchdog group Global Witness accused both the government of President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebels of fattening⁷ their war chests with millions of Ivorian cocoa dollars, obtained through embezzlement⁸ and extortion.

Global Witness campaigner Maria Lopez:

"We calculated that over $118 million of the cocoa trade benefitted both sides of the armed conflict in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast]," Lopez said. "About $60 million was diverted by the government's war effort within a relatively⁹ short period of time - from the beginning of the war, in September 2002 to December 2003. And we calculated that about $60 million was made out of the cocoa trade in the Forces Nouvelles [rebel] area within a couple of years.

Lopez says both sides continue to profit from cocoa - despite a March peace agreement between the rebels and the government. Both sides have denied these allegations.

But Robert Rensi, an Ivory Coast specialist at the European Union, says the story of cocoa sums up the stakes in the country's fitful conflict.

"The whole Ivorian crisis can be translated into a struggle among different forces and the exclusion¹⁰ of part of the population in accessing these resources," Rensi said. "Cocoa has created a land tenure¹¹ problem, has created a false identity problem. But at the bottom of all this, there's a struggle for control of resources that traditionally have been managed in a non-transparent way.

Meanwhile, the London-based  International Cocoa Organization says Ivory Coast's $1.4-billion cocoa industry is coasting on a booming world demand for chocolate.  It says that demand is growing at about four percent a year.

But little of the windfall has trickled¹² back to Fangolo. Farmer Wattara says cocoa producers here earn a fraction of the government-set cocoa price.

Wattara said that before the war, farmers could afford to take their cocoa beans to the Ivorian economic hub of Abidjan where they could negotiate a better price. But now they can not afford the transportation costs. Instead, they wait for buyers to come to the village - and they take the price that is offered.

Fangolo has suffered from the war in other ways. When rebels took over the village in 2002, many villagers fled. It took years for some to return.

That is the case of 58-year-old William Bilo, who returned to Fangolo last year - only to find his cocoa, coffee and orange fields farmed by a rival ethnic¹³ group.

A father of 10, Bilo says he lost his means to earn a livelihood¹⁴. He has planted some rice, beans and maize¹⁵ on a patch of land to get by. But he dreams of the day he will get his fields back.

Controversy¹⁶ swirls¹⁷ around the question of who profits from Ivorian cocoa. The World Bank and the United Nations - with about 8,000 peacekeeping troops in the country - have both criticized the lack of transparency in the sector¹⁸.

But charges by the European Union are particularly pointed¹⁹, suggesting fraud in the cocoa sector. In a report released last May, the EU recommend shutting down two key cocoa institutions, including the Ivorian Cocoa and Coffee Marketing²⁰ Board.

In Abidjan, the board's director, Lucien Tape Doh, dismisses the allegations.

"Ivory Coast has been a country at war," Tape Doh said. And there is a certain way of managing during war times." But, he said, that does not mean the cocoa sector is corrupt².

President Laurent Gbagbo has called for an inquiry²¹ into allegations of fraud in the cocoa sector. Still, some critics doubt it will be exhaustive or make much difference.

Investigating the cocoa sector can also be dangerous business. Global Witness claims Ivorian journalists and human rights activists²² investigating the sector have been beaten and intimidated²³. In 2004, French-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer disappeared in Abidjan, where he was also investigating cocoa corruption allegations. He has not been heard of since.

EU diplomat²⁴ Rensi echoes the assessment²⁵ of many.

"It's obvious that the Franco-Canadian journalist Kieffer was kidnapped and most likely murdered because of his investigation²⁶ in the sector. So it's obviously a very dangerous sector because it fuels the crisis," Rensi said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed²⁷ to pursue Kieffer's case. In the meantime, Ivorian cocoa production remains a very controversial business.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 abutting   

adj.邻接的v.（与…）邻接( abut的现在分词 )；（与…）毗连；接触；倚靠

参考例句：

• He was born in 1768 in the house abutting our hotel. 他于1768年出生于我们旅馆旁边的一幢房子里。 来自辞典例句
• An earthquake hit the area abutting our province. 与我省邻接的地区遭受了一次地震。 来自辞典例句

5 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 fattening   

adj.（食物）要使人发胖的v.喂肥( fatten的现在分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值

参考例句：

• The doctor has advised him to keep off fattening food. 医生已建议他不要吃致肥食物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We substitute margarine for cream because cream is fattening. 我们用人造黄油代替奶油，因为奶油会使人发胖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 embezzlement   

n.盗用，贪污

参考例句：

• He was accused of graft and embezzlement and was chained and thrown into prison.他因被指控贪污盗窃而锒铛入狱。
• The judge sent him to prison for embezzlement of funds.法官因他盗用公款将其送入监牢。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

11 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

12 trickled   

v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

14 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

15 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

16 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

17 swirls   

n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Swirls of smoke rose through the trees. 树林中升起盘旋的青烟。 来自辞典例句
• On reaching the southeast corner of Himalaya-Tibet, It'swirls cyclonically across the Yunnan Plateau. 在到达喜马拉雅--西藏高原东南角处，它作气旋性转向越过云南高原。 来自辞典例句

18 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

19 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

20 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

21 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

22 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

25 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

26 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

27 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。