Cote D'Ivoire, the Prequel!

On Sunday I will arrive in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. Ah! I will be interning here for two exciting months and I will use this blog to chronicle my adventures - I hope you’ll read along. I can’t wait to learn about the food, culture and politics of this country and I’ll try to pass on my thoughts and reactions in as engaging a way as possible. Let me know how I do!

Please (!) comment! I’m eager to hear your reactions as well as similar or conflicting experiences you might have had throughout the world or in the US. I love hearing different perspective, so share yours with the others who are reading along and me!

Before I arrive in Cote D’Ivoire, I figured I’d get a bit of background out of the way and pass on what I’ve learned working on a couple papers about Cote D’Ivoire. It’s a tad dry, (sorry!) but here’s the cliff notes version:

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Cote D’Ivoire was a rare development success story in African. Its economy was the envy of the African continent and its largest city, Abidjan, was the commercial and cultural hub of West Africa. However, since it suffered a coup in 1999 and witnessed the horrors of civil war from 2002-2003, it has undergone a disastrous decline. Negotiations over elections, the key to stopping this slide, have ground to a halt. While the this impasse continues to limit the country’s development, its leadership isn’t as hurt by the status quo and is hence less eager for elections to occur.

After receiving independence from the French in 1960, Cote D’Ivoire Felix Houphouet Boigny became the country’s first president. Booming cocoa and coffee trades and foreign investment create impressive declines in poverty and built a modern nation. Meanwhile, the strong economy overshadowed the fact that Boigny, who ruled the nation for an incredible 33 years, was committed to enriching himself and his allies and offered few outlets for political expression.

In the 1980s, resource prices faltered and Cote D’Ivoire’s growth and ethnic harmony began to unravel. When Boigny died in office in 1993 he was succeeded by a handpicked successor, Henri Bédié. Bédié introduced a concept that has played an important role in Cote D’Ivoire, “Ivoirité.” This sought to define who was - and who was not – Ivoirian, requiring someone to have at least one parent born in Cote D’Ivoire to be declared a citizen.

While Ivoirité was introduced under the guise of promoting national unity, it was mainly used to marginalize and scapegoat the immigrant populations and those of mixed origins. As such, Ivoirité targeted the nation’s most sensitive ethnic fissure, between those with deep roots in Cote D’Ivoire and the many immigrants from Mali and Burkina Faso that had settled to work the coffee and cocoa plantations in the north and south.

Disaffection with Bédié prompted a 1999 coup that brought General Robert Guei to power. While he promised free and fair elections the following year, as elections approached Guei used Ivoirité to prevent one of his strongest opponents, Alassane Ouattara, from participating. Just to be sure, Guei rigged the elections in his favor. Protests erupted and the runner-up in the rigged poll, Laurent Gbagbo, became the president.

Gbagbo continued the divisive path of Ivoirité and tensions came to a head in 2002, when an attempted coup against President Gbagbo escalated into a civil war. Rebel groups from the north coalesced under the umbrella of the Forces Nouvelles (FN) to fight against government-led.

The Ouagadougou Peace Agreement (OPA) finally brought violence to an end in 2007. President Gbagbo and FN rebel leader, Guillame Soro, signed an agreement that established a de-facto north-south division of the nation. President Gbagbo maintained his post until elections were held and Soro became the Prime Minister, though his powers were unspecified.

To date, however, the implementation of this agreement, notably the restoration of democracy to Cote D’Ivoire and disarmament, has not occurred. The north and south remain heavily armed and elections, originally scheduled for 2005, have been continually postponed.

There seems little momentum to break this deadlock. This undemocratic status quo seems to benefit the leaders in both the south and the north, even though the average Ivoirian is much harmed by this impasse. Gbagbo has access to massive cocoa revenues and doesn’t have to risk losing power through elections. The North is tax-free, minimally governed space nicknamed Soroland, where Guillame Soro has significant power, largely because he gives rebel FN members the space to solicit bribes in exchange for security guarantees. Meanwhile, the lack of democracy is preventing the nation from resuming the progress it saw in the 1960s and 1970s.

So, that’s my academic impression of the country. I’m looking forward to having this challenged as I jump into Cote D’Ivoire and talk to the full spectrum of actors who know a lot more about this situation!

With regards to the food, football (aka soccer...I guess I have to adapt!) and culture I will certainly be sharing those discoveries with you as well! I can't wait

Until Next time!