The pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique drew up the list of the presidents of the continent who carried out the most foreign trips in 2016. The Ivorian number 1, Alassane Ouattara is in the top ten of this atypical ranking.
In search of “funding”, “donors” or “to improve” the image of his country in the concert of nations, the Ivorian president has made many trips since taking office in 2011.
An attitude that earned him the nickname “Magellan” in memory of the navigator and Portuguese explorer Fernand de Magellan “who has traveled around the world”.
Official and private trips are therefore multiplying for Alassane Ouattara. He, he travels the world not to discover it but for the ‘great rendezvous’.
Meetings at the summit, visits of friendship and cooperation … places the Ivorian president in ninth place on 23 Heads of State who have traveled the most in the last twelve months.
Between 1 January and 8 December 2016, Mr. Ouattara will have made 20 trips out of Côte d’Ivoire. A figure that concerns only official travel. Private travel is excluded from the account.
At the top of the “best travelers 2016” ranking, President Idriss Déby Itno, 37 trips. Followed by South African Jacob Zuma (30 trips), Paul Kagame of Rwanda (28), Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (25), Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (22 trips). President Alpha Condé is in 12th place.
With this ranking, the function of President of the Republic seems to be tailor-made for lovers of travels abroad.
