Abidjan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday opens a week-long tour of Africa's west coast as he seeks to bolster U.S.-friendly democracies with security deteriorating in the Sahel.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias began his three-day tour in West Africa by meeting Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara in the city of Abidjan on Wednesday.

"A fruitful discussion on enhancing Greece-Ivory Coast relations, including in economy and investments, security issues in the region and the Russian invasion of Ukraine," was had by the two men noted Dendias in a tweet.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will visit three West African countries in a three-day tour, the Foreign Ministry has announced.

About 10 year-old child was found dead at a Paris airport in the landing gear of an Air France plane. The plane arrived from the city of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, a source close to the investigation said.

Air France's Boeing 777 took off from Abidjan on Tuesday night and landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport early in the morning.

Attending a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting in Brussels on Monday, Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Western Balkans, given the upward trend in their relationships with the EU.

Mutinous soldiers released Ivory Coast's Defense Minister Alain Richard Donwahi late Jan. 7 after detaining him for two hours in a tense standoff over pay.

Papa Wemba, one of Africa's greatest music stars, died on April 24 after collapsing on stage during a festival in the Ivory Coast, the event organisers said.

Pirates have attacked a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, kidnapping six crew members in a region increasingly hit by piracy in recent years, the Nigerian navy said on April 11.

Heavily armed gunmen opened fire March 13 at a hotel in the Ivory Coast beach resort of Grand-Bassam which is popular with Westerners, witnesses told AFP.

During his official visit to Ivory Coast, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said Turkey "will share our experience in urbanization with Ivory Coast." These words were reflected in pro-government newspaper headlines as "We will teach urbanism to Ivory Coast."