Two phones, a computer and an extensive network - the simple tools that Ivorian Alexis Douadi Gbansé needs to run an independent website with news about Ivory Coast, 5,000 km away, from his modest home in the Netherlands.

Alexis Gbansé spends most of his time on the phone with a handful of freelance journalist, browsing Ivorian media and social networks for news. "Anything news can contribute to the democratisation of Ivory Coast is a priority”, he says.

From a couple of readers a day back in 2007 his website Connectionivoirienne.net now boasts some 50,000 daily visitors looking for uncensored information.

In his years as a student activist, he built a large network of contacts at all levels – inside the army, the president’s office, the Ivorian newspapers and the French foreign ministry.

Wanting the truth
“My sources trust me because I have refused to be corrupted by either former President Gbagbo or presidential claimant Ouattara ”, he says. "Everyone wants the truth, since there are so many lies circulating out there."

The articles on the website don’t always carry bylines because journalists in Ivory Coast are often subject to beatings and death threats. His main correspondent has gone into hiding.

Threats from Gbagbo
Fortunately, it is relatively safe in Bolsward, the small historic town in the north of the Netherlands at about 100 kilometres from Amsterdam where Mr. Gbansé found refuge fifteen years ago. Even here, he says, he received "lots of threats”, some coming directly from the former President Gbagbo’s office. “I don’t sleep in the same place every day. I'm constantly on the lookout”, he says, adding that he’s sure that his phone is tapped. “But I was hardened by my student activism. So it won’t get to me that easily."

He steps out to have a cigarette in his back yard, and calls his chief correspondent to check reports that there is counterfeit money in circulation. He checks and double checks: In a country where virtually all media are allied to political parties and rumours abound, he wants to verify every piece of information before publishing.