They never thought they would see that in their life. This Tuesday, May 4, the cries of joy are at the height of the event. “Today and for a few hours, the modern high school in Abobo is the heart of the world! “, launches Mariam Dao Gabala in front of a crowd of excited students. The president of the standardization committee of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) is accompanied by world football experts, Gianni Infantino and Patrice Motsepe, respectively boss of the International Federation (FIFA) and the African Football Confederation (CAF), but also of the star Didier Drogba.
All came to present the Pan-African interschool tournament which begins this month in several countries of the continent. A ceremony still unthinkable not long ago for this popular town in the north of Abidjan more used to negative superlatives! It is the most densely populated (around 1.5 million inhabitants), but also the poorest and most dangerous of the Ivorian economic capital. Ten years after the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, which pitted the camp of the current president, Alassane Ouattara, against that of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, the authorities, but also artists, entrepreneurs and the associative world are working hard to demonize an area that has paid a heavy price for the conflict.
Symbols of this desire for rebirth, the colorful frescoes by artist Obou accompany the visitor, as do the city’s new slogans painted on its walls – “Abobo ê zo” (Abobo is beautiful), “Abobo the joy” -, to make people forget the labels of the past. Because nicknames, the town has known. In 1976, the tube Gbaka, by Daouda le Sentimental, sings the two poor communes of Abidjan: “Abobo-la-guerre, Yopougon-la-bagarre. “ Clashes between rival groups in the 1990s followed the partition of the country in the 2000s. Then, when the post-electoral crisis broke out, Abobo became “Abobo-Baghdad”, a battleground between the “invisible commando” led by rebel IB, favorable to Ouattara, and the loyalist army, pro-Gbagbo. The clashes claim hundreds of victims.
A brand new stadium, a museum, soon a metro …
Cherif Camara grew up there. With its association Les Enfants d’Abobo, Created in April 2020, the 26-year-old entrepreneur provides social and humanitarian support to the most disadvantaged families. On his Facebook page, followed by nearly 140,000 people, he puts a lot of energy into promoting the transformation of the town. “It feels like Cocody [une commune huppée d’Abidjan], it is really a beautiful city ”, he says in a video broadcast live from the PK 18 district. Here, modern housing is being built, alongside small villas. A new attraction driven by the Olympic stadium of Ebimpé (60,000 seats), inaugurated in 2020, and the metro line project which should see the light of day in a few years.
More in the center of the town, since March 2020 we find the Museum of Contemporary Cultures Adama-Toungara (MuCAT). A daring bet. “We want to bring culture to underprivileged populations, remove the stereotype that art is for the wealthy. When a saleswoman or a housewife comes in, we say to ourselves that we have reached the goal ”, argues Jean-Michel Gnaga, museum guide. In the two main rooms are exhibited the works of Ivorian artists or artists who passed through Abidjan from 1957 to today. Of the 200 daily visitors, mostly students, 60% come from Abobo, the rest from other municipalities from Abidjan. Sign that the city is becoming more accessible and therefore a little more frequent.
It is the result of political will. At the end of 2017, the State made the development of the municipality one of its priorities by releasing nearly 200 billion CFA francs (nearly 300 million euros) as part of the “ADO plan”, the initials of the president. We are here in a bastion of current power. In the markets, the saleswomen open their yellow or blue parasols distributed during the last presidential election and marked with the acronym “Adoland”.
The commune was headed by one of the head of state’s most loyal lieutenants, Hamed Bakayoko, who died on March 10. In October 2018, the man nicknamed “Hambak” succeeded Adama Toungara as mayor of Abobo and accelerated the major works. Along the main arteries, the roads have been renovated, the main roads enlarged and certain anarchic places evacuated of their occupants. In Sogefiha, a middle-class district of Abobo, the decor is that of small civil servant villas, far from the usual makeshift housing. “Hamed Bakayoko had his villa there, he came to pray at the mosque every Friday and distribute tickets to the population”, explains Lamine, a resident, with a smirk.
A town renowned for its “germ” gangs
Public lighting has been installed in the most precarious neighborhoods, to reduce crime. Because Abobo is famous for its gangs of “microbes”, these street children who rob passers-by under the threat of machetes. The State has worked for their reintegration, with very mixed success, recognizes the NGO Indigo, which participated in the process. “Under the influence of Hambak, certain microbes have been converted, of course, but in other criminal networks. They have become drug dealers or the armed wing of politicians ”, underlines a researcher who wishes to remain anonymous.
Since the death of the one who was also Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, thefts and violence have resumed. “They are no longer supervised”, Pointe Charlemagne Bleu, spokesperson for the Ivorian police: “The city needs a real authority so that they are taken back in hand. “
A delinquency linked to the precariousness which remains in most of the sub-districts of Abobo. A dormitory city, the town was structured around the train station on the Abidjan-Ouagadougou axis, where the inhabitants of northern Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso settled in the 1970s. Abobo is still today the northern gateway to Abidjan, but also its “Relegation zone, the place of evicted from other municipalities”, underlines Gilbert Yassi, geographer at the Ecole normale supérieure in Abidjan.
Despite the major works, the optimism displayed and a slightly dusted image, there is still a long way to go. “When you come out of the great arteries, when you scratch the varnish, the reality of Abobo remains. There have been efforts, but structurally it hasn’t changed much ”, notes our researcher. The Abobolese, for many unemployed or in the informal sector, impatiently await the name of the new city councilor, in the hope that he or she continues the work undertaken and brings more employment opportunities: “Shopping centers and a large industrial zone, like in Yopougon”, pleads Alassane, a friend of Lamine.