Ivory Coast: evictions, KDS trial, waste… three contentious issues in Abidjan

Three key reports mark the Ivorian press this Thursday, June 4. The autonomous District of Abidjan launched an eviction operation on Tuesday, June 2, in the neighborhood known as “Zimbabwe” in Vridi 3, Port-Bouët municipality, displacing thousands of residents. The main trial of Koffo Doga Séverin, CEO of KDS Holding, accused of fraud involving 10.238 billion FCFA, also had a new hearing. Additionally, President Alassane Ouattara has been called to account for the management of household waste in Abidjan, following a 72-hour ultimatum issued by the Minister of Hygiene to the waste collection operators.

Vridi 3: Thousands Displaced, CNDH Denounces

Around ten days after the destruction of three informal neighborhoods in Cocody, the autonomous District of Abidjan launched a new urban order restoration operation in Vridi 3, a 28-hectare fishing village known as Zimbabwe, close to the autonomous port of Abidjan. Thousands of residents were evicted without mercy. Fofana, a baker who has been in the neighborhood for thirty years, testified to Allafrica: “We were not warned, the machine came and ruined everything.”

The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) has condemned these operations conducted by the autonomous District of Abidjan without coordination with municipal authorities or consultation with the affected populations. According to CNDH field teams, several businesses and homes as well as socio-community assets— including schools hosting over 2,500 students, places of worship, and health centers— were destroyed. Governor Ibrahim Cissé Bacongo had already conducted similar operations in 2024 and 2025 before a pause related to the electoral period. He did not seek input from the concerned municipalities, despite an interministerial committee chaired by the Prime Minister being established to manage these issues after the first evictions of 2024.

KDS: Main Trial Opens for 4,000 Subscribers

The main trial of Koffo Doga Séverin, CEO of KDS Holding, opened on Tuesday, June 2, before the Economic and Financial Penal Pole in Abidjan, in a case that has marked Ivorian opinion and left thousands of subscribers in uncertainty. Approximately 4,000 people reportedly invested in the investment scheme proposed by KDS, which promised its clients to acquire a taxi or VTC for an investment of 2 million FCFA, with the prospect of earning up to 5 million over a year.

The judicial information pertains to fraud by public offering for a provisional amount of 10,238,449,500 FCFA and money laundering charges. Koffo Doga Séverin has been held in detention since June 26, 2024, after the PPEF rejected his new request for provisional release during the first hearing of the trial on April 13, 2026, despite a bail proposal of 10 million FCFA and guarantees of representation. The presumption of innocence applies to all individuals involved in this case.

Ouattara Called to Account on Waste, Day After 72-Hour Ultimatum

The President’s questioning on household waste comes the day after a 72-hour ultimatum issued on Monday, June 1, by the Minister of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, Dr. Amédé Koffi Kouakou, to the operators ECO EBURNIE and ECOTI.SA to clean up the Abidjan metropolis. The operators had committed to comply within the set timeframe, which expired on Thursday, June 4.

This is not the first time Ouattara has intervened in this matter. In February 2024, following a Council of Ministers, government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly conveyed a message from the President calling for the District to show “solidarity and humanity” in sanitation operations to preserve social cohesion and peace. The accumulation of waste in the popular neighborhoods of Abidjan is an ongoing problem, exacerbated as the peak of the rainy season approaches.