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 ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - Years of war and economic decline are taking their toll on Ivory Coast, pushing crime up and living standards down in a country that once stood as a beacon of stability in war-ravaged West Africa.
At first, waiter Sylvain N'Guessan Kouassi thought the two men knocking on the restaurant's glass door were looking for a bite to eat. But the pistol and automatic rifle they brandished told another story: They were here to rob Kouassi and the seven foreign diners.
"It's unbelievable. There's no security here anymore," the shaken waiter told an Associated Press reporter who arrived for dinner Tuesday minutes after the gunmen fled. "This kind of crime happens every day now. It scares us, and scares away our customers."
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