Fighting erupted following the November 2010 elections, in which the challenger Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim Northerner defeated President Gbagbo. However, the president refused to recognize his opponentes victory. The UN monitors and international community accepted that Outtara had won. Fighting broke out between the RDR. loyal to Outtara and government foprces, displacing millions of citizens. In early April 2011, as RDR forces moved on Abidjan, hunders of people were reported killed in what were described as massacres, in which both sides participated.
BACKGROUND
Since independence in 1960, Côte d'Ivoire has been a very diverse society with up to 60 ethnic groups living on its territory, generally divided into five principal groups: Akan (East and Center), Krou (Southwest), Southern Mande (West), Northern Mande (Northwest), and Senufo (North Center and East). The total population of approximately 16 million is also divided along religious lines, with approximately 30% Christian, 30% Muslim, and 30% indigenous. Approximately five million foreigners, 50% of whom are Burkinabes from Burkino Faso, live and work in Côte d'Ivoire, thus adding to the diversity and the difficulty of the situation.
Felix Houphouet-Boigny, President of Côte d'Ivoire from 1960 to 1993, wanted his country to be an open economy and crafted his policies and choices carefully to take into account the extreme ethnic and religious diversity of the country. He also strongly encouraged foreigners--especially from Burkina Faso--to migrate to Côte d'Ivoire to work; and until recent events, they did so. They worked mostly in the southern part of the country on coffee and cocoa plantations. Houphouet-Boigny was also very aware of the relative poverty of the North. He sought to equalize the economic predicaments of various parts of the country by investing heavily in the Muslim North in the mid-1970's, with, for example, the construction of sugar factories. His death in 1993 marked the end of an era for the West African country and the beginning of much more difficult times.
Henri Konan Bédié, President of the National Assembly, took over the presidency as specified by the constitution. He created the concept of "Ivoirité," which distinguishes between real Ivoirian citizens and the others, heightening ethnic tensions in the country. In December 1994, for instance, he added a clause to the constitution that Ivoirian presidential candidates must be Ivoirian citizens and have proof of their parents' Ivoirian citizenship. This was specifically aimed at keeping Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim Northerner, out of electoral contests in the country. This group felt seriously marginalized.
On December 24, 1999, Côte d'Ivoire experienced the first coup d'etat in its short history. The coup brought General Robert Guei to power, following unmet salary demands by the military. The military coup by General Guei pitted the Muslim North against the mostly Christian Center and South. Guei promised a new constitution and new elections. During the following ten months, there were a few violent skirmishes and two more attempted coups. Guei, who had originally promised not to run for president in the October 2000 elections, changed his position and participated in the elections.
The October 22, 2000 elections brought many of the underlying ethnic tensions into the streets. On October 24, when it was clear that he was not winning at the polls, Guei arbitrarily declared himself the winner. Laurent Gbagbo from the Front Populaire Ivoirien, Guei's only real competitor, denounced this victory on national television and encouraged his supporters to march in the streets. Gbagbo's followers took to the streets by the thousands throughout Côte d'Ivoire, and Gbagbo became president on October 25. On October 26, 2000, supporters of Ouattara and of the PDCI candidate, who felt slighted throughout the election process, took to the streets as well.
The events following the presidential election could have been a very positive development in the construction of Ivoirian democracy, with Ivoirian citizens taking to the streets and expressing their opinions openly. However, the mass demonstrations were accompanied by significant ethnic and political violence in the form of serious emotional and sexual abuse and killings. Approximately 150 people died during the three days of protests. The victims of the abuse were mostly Muslim Northerners associated with Ouattara's party as well as some foreign citizens from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea. Many of the perpetrators of the most serious abuses were members of the National Police Academy, and some were members of the Presidential Guard.
Although the violence was spread throughout the country, the developments in the Abidjan suburb of Yopougon epitomized the severity of the situation for both Ivoirians and the international community. On October 27, the bodies of fifty-seven men were found buried haphazardly in Yopougon. They were all supporters of the RDR political party and had been brutally killed a day earlier by the local gendarmes.
After assuming the presidency, Laurent Gbagbo should have condemned the killings and the violence and taken control of the national security forces. He also should have taken firm steps toward capturing the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. In part because he did not do this, the ethnic violence resumed shortly before the December 10, 2000 parliamentary elections.
The continuing ethnic violence has also had a definite impact on the Ivoirian economy. Foreigners working on Southern plantations, including 300,000 Burkinabes, fled the country in horror and thus were not available to harvest the coffee or cocoa crops. International aid agencies have been quite concerned about the situation and are holding back needed financial assistance. Ethnic tensions in Côte d'Ivoire are thus no longer just a passing phenomenon and need to be seriously addressed by the government and the country as a whole.
The massacre illustrated the bloody nature of Ivory Coast's conflict, now in its fifth month. Violence erupted after a disputed November 2010 election where both Gbagbo and his rival Ouattara claimed victory. The international community recognized Ouattara as the legitimate winner but Gbagbo refused to cede power and violence engulfed the nation. Ouattara's Republican Forces launched a major offensive and fierce fighting erupted. See-saw battles ensued for control of Abidja, Ivory Coast's largest city.
The violence has displaced 1 million of Abidjan's 4 million people and sent thousands fleeing across the border into countries like Liberia, which is trying to hold onto its own fragile peace.
In April 2011, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that 800 people had been killed in just three days time as Republican (RDR) forces moved toward Abiudjan.
Main Actors
Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI): political party founded and led by Laurent Gbagbo, a Bété, with most of its support in the southwestern part of the country.
Parti Démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI): political party created by Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the only party existing since the independence of the country, and associated with the Baule ethnic group. Henri Konan Bédié is still the leader of this party.
Rassemblement Démocratique Republicain (RDR): political party led by Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim Northerner. He has been excluded from running for office by the Electoral Commission on several occasions. In Nov. 2010, Outtarra was recognized as the winner of the presidential election.
Capital: Yamoussoukro
Area: 322,460 sq km
Population: 18,770,000
