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Leaflets have appeared on the streets of Abidjan recruiting young men for military service under contract.

According to the information on the flyer, young people who decide to accept the offer will receive $3,000 for three months of work.

The authors of the advertisement do not specify the country of destination, but the fact that the flyers are made in the colours of Ukraine suggests that this is a recruitment to the Ukrainian army. This point of view is shared by social media users.

The citizens of Abidjan are outraged by such proposals. They are also concerned that the authorities have allowed such information to be disseminated.

“Ouattara is France's best pupil. He will send them”, notes one of the users on social networks, referring to the close co-operation between France and Côte d'Ivoire in matters of assistance to Ukraine.

“Criminal recruitment. A journey of no return. It is the naive who will agree to sign up. Because of his debts, he now wants to sell the soul of the youth of Côte d'Ivoire in exchange for money” another user was outraged.

The residents of Abidjan are openly protesting against the information disseminated in the leaflets. In their opinion, the Ivorians do not want to be drawn into an external conflict that does not directly affect their interests. Moreover, they do not want to blindly follow France's strategy of confronting Russia.

It should be recalled that the President of Côte d'Ivoire, supports Kiev in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while most African countries have adopted a neutral position and do not allow themselves to be manipulated. Nevertheless, Alassane Ouattara, who almost always supports France's strategy, recently travelled to Switzerland for a peace summit on the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

The event in Switzerland was initiated by such countries as the USA, France, Germany and others. African countries were poorly represented at the meeting, as they believe that the conflict cannot be resolved without the participation of Russia, which was not present at the summit.

Abidjan openly expresses its support for Kiev. On 11 April, a Ukrainian embassy opened in Côte d'Ivoire. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, plans to make of the country the basis for an anti-Russian bloc in Africa. After a telephone conversation between the presidents of the two states, information about the recruitment of volunteers from Cote d'Ivoire to participate in military operations on the territory of Ukraine appeared in the network. Despite the fact that the information was refuted by the embassy, it managed to cause a wave of indignation among local residents.