Akhir 04, 1432, March 09, 2011, SPA -- The U.S. State Department condemned Tuesday a plan by Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo to take control of the country's cocoa purchases and exports. Spokesman P.J. Crowley said the announcement by Gbagbo was "another desperate act in his campaign to cling to power." Ivory Coast accounts for 40 percent of global cocoa supplies, valued at $4.5 billion a year at current prices.
