Background

Close ties to France since independence in 1960, the development of cocoa production for export, and foreign investment made Côte d'Ivoire one of the most prosperous of the tropical African states, but did not protect it from political turmoil. In December 1999, a military coup - the first ever in Côte d'Ivoire's history - overthrew the government. Junta leader Robert Guei declared himself the winnerof the elections held in late 2000. Popular protest forced him to step aside and brought runner-up Laurent Gbagbo into power. Ivorian dissidents and disaffected members of the military launched a failed coup attempt in September 2002. Rebel forces claimed the northern half of the country, and in January 2003 were granted ministerial positions in a unity government under the auspices of the Linas-Marcoussis Peace Accord. President Gbagbo and rebel forces resumed implementation of the peace accord in December 2003 after a three-month stalemate, but issues that sparked the civil war, such as land reform and grounds for citizenship, remain unresolved. Several thousand French and West African troops remain in Côte d'Ivoire to maintain peace and facilitate the disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation process.

Reime Côte d’Ivoire was incorporated during Q1 in 2007 after Reime Ghana Ltd. was awarded a contract with Huawei Technologies to support them in rolling out the Comium network in Côte d’Ivoire. Their contract with Comium included a full turnkey GSM, GPRS, 3G and Intelligent Network in Côte d’Ivorie. In order to fulfil our obligations in this contract, and also based on a strategic analysis of the business potential in the country, Reime NIS management decided to initiate the process of incorporating a fully owned subsidiary in Côte d’Ivoire. This is our first Francophile footprint in Africa.

As Reime Ghana operates as a regional hub, this company will have a special obligation to support Reime Côte d’Ivoire during its first years of operation. During this period the company will be under the management of Reime Ghana, locally managed by a Country Manager.