ABIDJAN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's Muslims are decrying the soaring price of sheep during the Tabaski festival, the name used in West African languages for Eid al-Adha, saying it has shot up "out of reach."

They condemned the excessive price hike on Thursday on the eve of a great Muslim festival. "The prices of sheep have doubled and in some instances, tripled. That one that I have asked for is costing 300,000 FCFA (457 euros) whereas I wanted an animal that costs 80,000 FCFA (122 euros) or 100,000 FCFA (152 euros)," complained Adama Sidibe, who was at a livestock market in Port Bouet.

As Ouattara Boureima, a teacher at a private school, he was surprised at the anarchy that reigns in the industry and which allows everyone to fix the price he wants. For him, it is not normal that sheep should have the same price as the beef cattle.

A sheep seller, Guindi Alidou, said he understood the anger of buyers, but that the fault was not theirs. "When the sheep leave Niger, Mauritania or Mali, there are so many taxes that we pay on the way. We also pay heavily to transport them to Abidjan. In order to recover our expenses, we are forced to increase the price," he explained.

However, faithful rich Muslims got themselves one or several sheep despite the high prices, estimating that this festival was symbolic and it deserved the expenditure, in any case, the expenditure was also a form of sacrifice.

In popular Abidjan residential areas like Abobo and Adjame, the less fortunate Muslims found a strategy to circumvent the price difficulties: they came together (two, four or more) to buy a sheep and then they shared the meat.

Just as others around the world, Cote d'Ivoire's Muslim community is celebrating on Friday the sheep sacrifice festival Tabaski.