Measurements of electric charges of raindrops, electric field, and Maxwell current were made at Abidjan (5¿N, 4¿W) from October 1988 to June 1990. The examination of the data obtained allows us to differentiate between storms and showers. The former are characterized by high global precipitation charge density (about 8 μC m-2) and by raindrops, 90% of which carry a positive charge of average value 86 pC, while the average negative charge is -22 pC only. The majority of positive raindrops are generally associated with the active phase of the storm and lead to strong precipitation currents of the order of -4.3 nA m-2, on average. These values, compared with those of the displacement current (JD), calculated from electric field records, and with those of the experimental Maxwell current (JM), show that the approximation of JM by the displacement current alone is not valid. In those cases, the precipitation current (JP) must be included. The showers are characterized by weaker global precipitation charge density (about 1.6 μC m-2) and weaker charges (about 25 pC), equally distributed between positive and negative ones. The precipitation currents associated with them are consequently weak, and in those cases the Maxwell current may be approximated by the displacement current alone. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996