Amid rumours of a coup d’etat and military takeover, President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday presided over a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Abidjan, the Ivorian capital.
The Ivorian presidency confirmed Ouattara’s attendance in a statement it issued, including pictures showing the president and cabinet members at the meeting.
False rumours of a military coup spread rapidly across social media platforms in Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d’Ivoire, whilst the government meeting took place.
Among other issues, officials addressed the diversification of electricity sources and adequate housing for citizens at the meeting.
An X user claimed that Ouattara may have been killed after military forces allegedly took over on Tuesday.
“Internet access in the country has been disrupted,” the user wrote.
Multiple accounts spread the allegations via various social media platforms, including X, Facebook, TikTok, and mainstream media platforms.
On Facebook alone, some 9,700 users discussed the alleged coup, the platform’s metric showed as of Wednesday.
The rumours also claimed that Lassina Doumbia, the chief of army staff, had d!ed.
The Cable spoke to journalists in the French-speaking West African country to confirm the development. They debunked the reports.
“There is no coup in Côte d’Ivoire. The country is stable,” Christelle Kouamé, an Ivorian journalist living in Abidjan, said.
Kouamé is also a member of the executive council of the National Union of Journalists of Côte d’Ivoire and a member of the organisation of Investigative Journalists in Côte d’Ivoire.
“The president was also recently at the opening of the Africa CEO Forum. It was last week. There was even a council of ministers today. And President Ouattara was there,” she added.
“It is fake news. People do what they want with the internet. But it is thanks to the internet that I speak to you,” she said, debunking rumours of disrupted internet access.
