Soro Solo, journalist

He was born Souleymane Coulibaly on 17 September 1950 into a Senufo family in Korhogo, in the northern part of the then French colony of Cote d'Ivoire. He was ten years old at the time of Independence. In 1974, he entered the studio school of TV & radio broadcaster RTI after a competitive examination. Ten years later, he presented his first daily programme, an hour devoted to Music Record Time, and was then entrusted with hosting the morning show from 6:00 am to 8:00 am. In 1989, he launched La chronique du grognon (Chronicle of the grumpy), on the failings of the Ivorian public services. Le Grognon became famous: everyone could relate to the daily struggles presented. The programme was so successful that it went from five minutes to two twenty-minute shows, but not everyone was happy with its critical tone.

Soro Solo was threatened by the different regimes that succeed one another in Côte d'Ivoire. In September 2002, when Laurent Gbagbo was president and the rebellion was occupying the north of the country, Soro Solo discovered his name among a list of people, most of whom were from the north like him, who were "banned from the air until the services have been restructured". Threatened and following the assassination of members of his family, he takes off for France in January 2003 and is recognised as a refugee.

With his refugee status obtained in November 2003, his French career began: he worked for Radio France International from 2004.  In August 2005, he was the author and narrator of the segment Je vous écris de France (I’m writing to you from France). In the summer of 2006, he produced and co-hosted L'Afrique Enchantée (Enchanted Africa), a daily programme on France-Inter radio with Vladimir Cagnolari, which became a weekly programme on the winter schedule in 2008. Touching on politics, colonisation and the great pan-African dream of the 1960s, shattered by bloodthirsty potentates and unscrupulous powers, the programme featured a novel, moving and humorous tone and was a great success.

A talent spotter, Soro Solo has helped open up Europe to African music. Since 1995, he has been a member of the general assembly of Afrique en Créations, a French-speaking organisation supporting African artists. He also writes for the specialised magazines Africultures and Rézo, the news magazine published by the French Association for Artistic Action (AFAA), funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.