Possible pre-Sept. 11 level for travel
With 30.6 million expected to hit the road before week’s end, and
6.6 million likely to travel by other means, this year may be the
busiest Thanksgiving for the transportation sector since 2000.
45 million u s travelers Total travelers: 37.2 million
Automobile travelers: 30.6 million I ....
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
$2 20 per gallon of gasoline* . Average price for week of
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80 _
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
* All grades, all formulations of retail gasoline prices
Average price for week of
Jan. 2, 1995: $1.12
S^dRCES: Department of Energy; AAA; Travel Industry Association
of Amenca
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'Tens of thousands' of jobs
lost in Africa's Ivory Coast
Millions of dollars in infrastructure and merchandise
have been lost war-tom nation, business leaders say
BY ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Burned,
looted shops dot the commercial cap
ital. European airlines have suspend
ed flights. And only a few ships re
main in what was one of West
Africa’s busiest ports.
The latest outburst of violence in
Ivory Coast has dealt a serious, and
some say irreparable, blow to the
world’s top cocoa producer and re
gional economic powerhouse, chasing
away many of the foreign business
owners and managers critical to its de
velopment and stability.
Business leaders were still adding
up the damage Monday, but said mil
lions of dollars worth of infrastructure
and merchandise were destroyed and
tens of thousands of jobs lost in clash
es unleashed by an unprecedented
showdown between France and its
former star colony.
Ivory Coast accounts for 40 percent
of economic production in French
speaking West Africa and is the site of
two key ports. Its cocoa and coffee
plantations provide employment to at
least 4 million workers from impover
ished neighboring countries; other
sectors employ as many as 4 million
more immigrants.
A week of looting in cities and
towns and the government’s resump
tion of hostilities in a 2-year-old civil
war have inflicted “incalculable
damage” to West Africa, said Ahme
dou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. special
representative for the region.
“How can we hope to attract for
eign investment, essential for creating
the jobs that so many millions of West
African youths desperately need, if
some of our leaders continue to pur
sue the logic of war and vendetta year
after year?” Ould-Abdallah asked.
The harm goes beyond Ivory
Coast’s borders.
Instability here and in Sudan is
having a “ripple effect” across Africa
— frightening investors away from
stable countries like Senegal and
Mali, Anne Miroux of the U.N. Con
ference on Tfade and Development
said Monday at a conference in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
President Laurent Gbagbo,
brought to power in 2000 after a
1999 coup, launched the latest cycle
of destruction Nov. 4 when his gov
ernment reopened attacks on rebels
after more than a year of peace. A
still-unexplained airstrike by Ivory
Coast warplanes on Nov. 6 killed
nine French peacekeepers and an
American aid worker.
France responded by destroying the
country’s air force and seizing control
of the international airport, sending
thousands of government Supporters
pouring into the streets.
Foreign-owned shops, restaurants,
bars and other businesses were ran
sacked and more than 9,000 French
and other foreigners fled the country.
Christophe Ndri, head of Peryssac,
a leading Abidjan department store,
told a conference of business leaders
Monday that his company suffered
damages totaling $3.9 million. Eleven
of its 14 expatriate employees, many
of them managers, were evacuated.
Bemabe hardware store in the west
ern port city of San Pedro estimated its
losses at $1.9 million. The store was
gutted, costing 20 people their jobs,
and the company is unsure whether it
will rebuild.
French-run schools educating expa
triate children were burned, leaving
many families no choice but to depart.
Gbagbo appeared unconcerned by
the departure of the foreigners, and
said last week: “They will be back.”
Few of the foreign business leaders
who remain share his optimism.
“There is no question of coming
back as long as (security) conditions
are not convincing,” said Michel
Tizon, head of the French chamber of
commerce in Ivory Coast.
With every departing foreigner, crit
ical Ivorian jobs are lost, he said. The
150 small and medium businesses his
organization represents account for
some 100,000 jobs, most of them Ivo
rian. Many of these businesses are
closed for good.
Many of those at Monday’s confer
ence accused Ivorian security forces of
participating in the looting — charges
government officials deny.
“We have been attacked by the very
people who are supposed to protect
us,” said Jean-Louis Billon, head of
the Ivorian chamber of commerce.
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