[Krindjabo, Ivory Coast; July 1. Image via Getty]

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CHRISTOPHE KOFFI —- A young girl holds a cd with 182 Michael Jackson titles on it on July 1, 2009 in Krindjabo. The people of Krindjabo, the capital of the Sanwi kingdom, want the body of Michael Jackson. 'He was our son, we are asking for his body' the citizens of Krindjabo are saying. Jackson visited Krindjabo in 1992 and was enthroned 'prince' there. AFP PHOTO/ KAMBOU SIA (Photo credit should read KAMBOU SIA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Abidjan, Ivory Coast; June 23. Image via Getty]

A woman talks on the phone infront in a market in Abidjan on June 23, 2009. The African market for mobile telephones has since 2002 shown the 'fastest growth rate in the world', according to a survey conducted by business consultancy Ernst Young and published Monday. 'Since 2002, the African market has seen a growth rate of 49.3 percent, where the French market has only seen 7.5 percent a year, compared with 28 percent in Brazil and 27.4 percent in Asia, said the report released in Abidjan. AFP PHOTO / ISSOUF SANOGO (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

[Koute, Ivory Coast. June 4. Image via Getty]

TO GO WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY CHRISTOPHE KOFFI —- The last survivor of her generation, Salomee Agoua Djoman (C), 107 years old and dean of the village of Koute is pictured near Abidjan on June 4, 2009. Djoman is an anomoly in a country where life expectancy in recent years is estimated at 51 years old. She has four children, 42 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, the most recent of whom was born just 45 days ago. AFP PHOTO/ISSOUF SANOGO (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

For the past five years, ever since winning a fashion contest in the town of Divo, the designer has catered to an ever-widening circle of celebrity clients drawn to her garments' muted colors and rough-hewn appeal. The designs, whose sophisticated lines attest to Mai's formal fashion school training, deliberately draw on the inescapable realities of her country's past; as a tailor, her father, whom she cites as a major influence, catered to a French colonial clientele, while the cowrie shells Mai incorporates as accessories were a form of currency in the days of the slave trade. When a motif or influence is explored in the mainstream fashion world, it is generally abstracted, and when a designer does attempt commentary (see: Donatella Versace) the results are often cringe-inducingly self-serving. It's exciting to see a franker response to an immediate influence: this is what fashion can do, at its best.
Cocoa Catwalk: Sacks Are Sweet For Ivorian Designer [Reuters]

Ivory Coast Fuel Hikes Seen Hurtint Cocoa Farmers [Reuters]

According to the BBC, 10 UN "peacekeepers" gang-raped Elizabeth in a field. "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing…I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding." When village elders tried to report the abuse, they were ignored.

Save the Children suggests that a global watchdog organization be formed to monitor these kinds of abuses, supplemented by local complaints mechanisms and public awareness campaigns. In the meantime, the UN says it has a zero tolerance policy when allegations of sexual abuse are at hand, and last year 100 Sri Lankan soldiers stationed in Haiti were sent home when it became evident that they were paying for sex.

Charity: Aid Workers Raping, Abusing Children [CNN]
Sexual Abuse Of Children By Aid Workers Too Often Unreported [Save the Children]
Peacekeepers 'Abusing Children' [BBC]

Earlier: If You Can't Afford Rice In Haiti, You Eat Dirt

There are worse risks in the Ivory Coast: Being female at all. Women are being gang-raped, abducted and forced into sexual slavery in the country — as well as Liberia and Sierra Leone. Amnesty International reports case after case of girls and women, ages "under 12" to 63, assaulted by armed men. Human Rights Watch records the rape of children as young as 3. Rapes are conducted by as many as 30 or 40 men, and, reports the L.A. Times, "Many women were raped so incessantly and so brutally — with sticks, knives, gun barrels, burning coals — that they died." (We suggest reading the entire article but with this caveat: Be prepared to scream or cry.) What sayeth "Bobaraba" hitmakers DJ Mix and DJ Eloh? "If a woman goes dancing and wants to take two or three treatments, no problem," DJ Mix says. "But we don't say to girls that they must take treatment to enhance your bottom, no."

'Bottom' Dance Inspires Rear Injections [UPI]
A War On Women [LA Times]