Country Information

The population of Cote d'Ivoire is about 16 million. Cote d'Ivoire's population is about 42% Akan, 18% Voltaiques or Gur, 16% Northern Mandes, 11% Krous, 10% Southern Mandes, and 3% other. Cote d'Ivoire is 20-30% Christian, 35-40% Muslim, and 25-40% indigenous beliefs. Cote d'Ivoire is a multiparty republic.

Political and Economic Environment
In a region where many political systems are unstable, Cote d'Ivoire, under Felix Houphouet-Boigny, president from the country's independence in 1960 until his death in December 1993, showed remarkable political steadiness. In December1999, General Robert Guei seized power from President Henri Konan Bedie in a bloodless coup. General Guei formed a government of national unity and promised open elections. A new constitution was drafted and ratified by the population in the summer of 2000. It retained clauses that underscored national divisions between north and south, Christian and Muslim that had been growing since Houphouet's death. Elections scheduled for fall 2000 did not materialize because Guei had allegedly try to temper with the elections. Despite Guei's attempt to prevent the leader of the opposition, Laurent Gbagbo was declared president.

On September 19, 2002, rebellious exiled military personnel and co-conspirators in Abidjan simultaneously attacked government ministers and government and military/security facilities. Government forces stopped the coup attempt within hours, but the attacks resulted in the deaths of Minister of Interior and several high-ranking military officers. General Guei was killed under circumstances that remain unclear.

In January 2003, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) placed 1,200 peacekeeping troops from five countries in the sub-region to buttress 3,000 French peacekeepers. The troops maintained the east-west cease-fire line dividing the country. In late January 2003, the country's major political parties and the new forces signed the French-brokered Linas-Marcoussis Accord, agreeing to a power-sharing national reconciliation government.

Security remains a problem, largely because plans to disarm rebels are running behind schedule. Diplomats said disarmament is only likely to go ahead in mid-2004 if the United Nations agrees to send a peacekeeping force to Cote d'Ivoire. Although the UN has recommended the dispatch of 6,000 UN Peacekeepers to Cote d'Ivoire, the U.S. remains unconvinced of the need to deploy such a force.

Cote d'Ivoire, once a bastion of stability, now suffers from the social and economic consequences of conflict. Tens of thousands of foreigners who worked on the cocoa, coffee and palm oil plantations, have fled the country. Neighboring countries have also been negatively affected by the conflict because of the loss of remittances and the decrease in exports and imports from Abidjan. Although Cote d'Ivoire is known as the world's top cocoa producer, the political instability has seriously shaken the economy and the confidence of investors, including the thousands of French business owners who returned home. To rebuild the economy, the government must not only pursue political reconciliation, but must also rebuild relationships with foreign workers and investors in order to regain its status as a one of the most prosperous African nations.

Humanitarian Situation
About one million of Cote d'Ivoire's 16 million inhabitants have been displaced from their homes by the fighting, which erupted in September 2002. But since most are living with relatives, either within Cote d'Ivoire or neighboring countries, and very few of them are gathered in formal camps, they remain a largely invisible problem. International relief agencies have therefore done very little to help these people or the communities which are hosting them.

The violence has also led to thousands of settlers being chased or scared off their land in recent months, and this exodus is still continuing. Hundreds of people, mainly settlers from Burkina Faso, have fled their cocoa plantations in the Bangolo area and have turned up at camps in the nearby town of Guiglo seeking shelter and in many cases repatriation. Those that do decide to abandon Cote d'Ivoire will join 350,000 Burkinabe immigrants who have already fled home since the start of the civil war. About 100,000 Guineans and 50,000 Malians have also trekked home since the outbreak of conflict unleashed a wave of government persecution against immigrants from other West African countries.

Updated January 2004