Critics: Chocolate financing Ivory Coast's Gbagbo

Source: Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG – Some of the cocoa in that Valentine's Day chocolate probably came from a West African country where the man in power for a decade is still clinging to office. And activists say consumers might also think twice if they knew unpaid 5-year-olds helped produce it.

This year human rights advocates are harnessing the political crisis in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, to add momentum to an ongoing campaign to force the world's chocolate makers to improve their labor practices.

Supporters of the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast's election also have pushed for a cocoa ban in an effort to financially strangle incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, who the U.N. says lost the November election.

"It's clear that the taxes that come from cocoa go directly to keeping Gbagbo in power. That's why we called for an export ban and it seems to be working," said Patrick Achi, spokesman for internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara, who is now trying to run the country from a hotel.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110214/ap_on_bi_ge/af_africa_bittersweet_chocolate

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