Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Wednesday 16th March 2016 reiterated that the attack claimed by Al-Qaeda on a beach resort that left 19 people killed will not derail the country’s post-war revival.
Terrorist raided Grand Bassam beach resort on Sunday 13th Match 2016 located some 40 kilometers 925 miles) from the country’s capital Abjidan killing revelers swimming and sunbathing. The militants proceded and attacked several other hotels.
The attack was huge blow to the West African nation that has recovered from years of political turmoil in as well a civil war in 2011.
Ivory Coast had recovered from all those ills to become one of the world’s best performing economies with annual growth averaging at 9 percent.
President Alassane Ouattara won re-election by a landslide in October 2015, pledging to bring more foreign investment to the largest economy in French-speaking West Africa. Ivory Coast is also the world's top cocoa producer.
Citing the Sunday terrorist attack, President Alassane Ouattara told the cabinet that the country’s march towards economic emergence is irreversible.
Grand Bassam is a popular weekend retreat only a short drive from Abidjan, a cosmopolitan regional economic hub with a population of around five million.
The Attack was claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the group's North African branch saying it was retaliation for French offensives against the Islamist militants in the Sahel region.
President Alassane Ouattara visited the beach in Grand Bassam and laying a wreath, Ouattara sought to reassure the local tourism.
"We must not be intimidated, discouraged by the terrorist and I am sure that this weekend the hotel business will return to normal." Ouattara said.
