Ivory Coast Expels Adviser to Opposition Party Leader

(Bloomberg) --

An Ivory Coast opposition politician said the government expelled one of his close advisers for activities that were incompatible with the national interest, as campaigning for tense 2020 presidential elections is underway.

Swiss-Cameroonian national Nathalie Yamb, the executive adviser to Lider party leader Mamadou Koulibaly, was deported to Zurich on Monday night, Koulibaly said in a text message. The fact that she's a foreigner and a fierce critic of the government are among the reasons for her expulsion, he said.

In a typical Tweet, Yamb described Ivorians as “tribalistic sheep governed by robbing and manipulative wolves.” Earlier this year, a former minister received a one-year prison sentence for spreading false news on Twitter, raising concern that the government of President Alassane Ouattara is increasingly intolerant with its critics.

Koulibaly, a former national assembly speaker under ex-President Laurent Gbagbo, has been the first person to announce his candidacy for next year's vote in the world's top cocoa grower.

--With assistance from Baudelaire Mieu.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leanne de Bassompierre in Abidjan at ldebassompie@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, Pauline Bax

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