Ivory Coast has announced that it has placed a ban on begging the capital city of Abidjan in a bid to combat “urban disorder”.
“In order to fight against urban disorder – itinerant trade on the main roads, begging in all its forms and the use of handcarts are now formally banned throughout the district,” said vice-governor Vincent N’cho Kouaoh in a statement seen by AFP on Thursday.
“This measure aims to improve people’s living conditions, to further ensure the safety of people and property, as well as better traffic fluidity,” he said.
A month ago, the governor of Abidjan, Ibrahim Cisse Bacongo, said he “abhorred certain things” like “itinerant traders” and “the beggars”, and wanted to “find an alternative” to handcarts used to transport goods.
In 2013, the-then interior minister, Hamed Bakayoko, banned begging on city junctions, but that failed to curb the menace.
The latest ban has come after mass evictions and demolitions of precarious districts and slums in Abidjan amid rampant urbanisation in the capital.
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