Elubo (Western Region) 26 Nov. '98 Traders from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Nigeria have appealed to the Ivorian authorities to respect the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol which allows for a 90-day stay in member-countries.

The traders said they are arrested even with ''genuine ECOWAS permit in Abidjan or other parts of that country.''

Making the appeal at the Elubo border through the Ghana News Agency, their spokesman who pleaded anonymity, said Cote d'Ivoire gendarmes force visiting traders to pay between 500 and 1,500 CFA francs without issuing receipts.

Mr Francis Kpobi, controller in charge of the Elubo Immigration Service, told newsmen that his office has received such reports from some Ghanaian and other traders.