Posted on Saturday 8 August 2009
Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Reverend Jesse Jackson will be paying a four-day visit to the Ivory Coast on August 10. Although invited privately by a youth movement, COJEP, Jackson's visit will be assuming a national status due to the programme cut out for him.
Ivory coast map
According to organiser Blé Goude Charles, Jackson would be given a popular welcome at the airport by thousands of youths.

He would then participate beside President Laurent Gbagbo at the opening ceremony of COJEP’s convention, which has for theme: “Resolution of African Conflicts by Africans – The Ivorian Scenario”, according to state media, RTI

Next on his programme, Jackson would hold a meeting with the country’s religious leaders at Saint Paul Cathedral in Plateau before leaving for Krindjagbo, headquarters of a local tribal kingdom, few miles away from capital city Abidjan, where a traditional ruler would confer a chieftaincy title on him.

Michael Jackson, during his 1992 visit to the Ivory Coast, was also honoured with a similar title at Krindjagbo.

Closing his visit, Jackson is expected to address a stadium gathering at Yopougon, north of the city.

Mr Goude told reporters that Jesse Jackson was chosen by Ivorian youths because his personality is “a symbol of the long journey of Blacks towards freedom, which culminated in the election of Barack Obama as US 44th president.
africanews