(Ecofin Agency) - The French Justice issued a first verdict in the case opposing Ivorian diplomat Youssoufou Bamba (picture) to French magazine ‘’Jeune Afrique’’ which is accused of defamation. The complainant won the case.

Youssoufou Bamba asked the court to sentence Marwan Ben Yahmed, the weekly’s publishing director, to pay him the amount of X euros for damages to his person and honor. The complainant also asked that Sifija be declared civilly responsible in respect to its status as the editor of the weekly ‘’Jeune Afrique’’.

In fact, the French magazine was sued for defamation for remarks contained in an article entitled "Côte d’Ivoire-Maroc. On a frôlé la crise diplomatique" (Ivory Coast-Morocco, an inch away from diplomatic crisis). The text appeared on page 8 of the number 2825 dated March 1 to 7, 2015. Youssoufou Bamba protested against remarks attributed to him while he was Ambassador of Ivory Coast to the United Nations.

“Jeune Afrique” wrote: “Bilateral relations (...) have suffered a major diplomatic blunder from the sensitive issue of Sahara.” Further, the article states: “In October 2014 at the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, the Ivorian ambassador near this organization, called the Sahara" Africa's last colony, ‘a term that the Moroccan diplomacy had immediately interpreted as an implicit support to the separatist Polisario Front.” The newspaper also wrote: “Clearly, the ambassador spoke without consulting his superiors and was placed in cantilever with the official position of his country, which has never recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).”

After the opening of the case in March 2015, “Jeune Afrique” admitted that the comments attributed to the ambassador Youssoufou Bamba were instead held by an adviser of the Ivorian diplomatic mission of the UN, Francis Xavier Zabavy. This one represented his leader at a meeting of the 4th commission of UN. According to “Jeune Afrique”, François-Xavier Zabavy had qualified Western Sahara as the “last dependent territory in Africa”. This caused the protests of Morocco who eventually brought the incident to the presidency of Ivory Coast. However, “Jeune Afrique” contests the cause-effect relationship which is established between this case and the dismissal of Youssoufou Bamba.