Abidjan, June 2000

So I'm getting into my next project now and mostly that just means research. We've been reading about development and about our destination country (am I allowed to tell you all about this? whatever.) I'm sure I can at least tell you that I'm heading to Africa and it should be in the next 8 weeks or so.
Of course, all this Africa homework is making me think a lot about the time that I've spent there already. Especially about my time in Abidjan.
I just found out today that they've signed a tentative peace agreement there. I hope this one lasts longer than the last one... It's just sad to read things like this about a place that was once your home.

So I'll leave you with this picture. Taken when I thought things were at their worst.
This was back in 2000 and the protesters are calling for the then-president General Guei to resign from the military before running as a candidate in the elections. Never mind that just months before this, he swore he had no interest at all in running the counrty any longer than he had to (he had seized power six months before in a military coup to oust Henri Konan Bedie). So anyway, after this picture, Guei stayed in the military, ran for president and when it looked like things weren't going to go his way, he hijacked the election, declaring himself the winner. So then HE was chased out of town and things just few apart and now the country is trying to end it's three-year civil war.

Looking back, this picture was taken in the good-old days.