Ivory Coast (Cote D Ivoire) Information Guide & Facts

Official name: Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Area: 322,463 sq km; 133,425 sq miles
Population: 16,409,950 (2001)
Capital City: Yamoussoukro (110,000)
Economic Capital: Abidjan (over 3 million)
People: 60 ethnic groups make up the indigenous population. The Akan (42%) with its Baoulé sub-group in the South, is the largest. Other groups are the Sénoufou (18%) and the Mandé (29% with the Dioula sub-group) in the North, and the Krou in the West (11% with the Bété sub-group).
Languages: The official language is French, but Dioula is the principal vernacular in the north. Baoulé and other local languages are widely used.
Religion(s): Muslim (approx. 40%), Christian (approx. 35%); indigenous beliefs (approx. 25%)
Currency: CFA Franc (FCFA). Pegged at FCFA 655.957 = euro 1.00

GEOGRAPHY

Côte d'Ivoire is situated on the West Coast of Africa and borders Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. The country can broadly be divided into two areas with beaches and forests along the coast, and a drier savannah region with a sub-saharan climate in the North.

HISTORY

Recent History

Côte d'Ivoire gained independence from France in 1960, with Felix Houphouët-Boigny as President and chairman of the single ruling party, the Parti Démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI). Houphouët-Boigny saw himself very much as the father of the nation, and it was only in 1990 that a multi-party system was established. In the first contested presidential election, Houphouët-Boigny easily defeated Laurent Gbagbo (Front Populaire Ivoirien, FPI); another leading politician, Alassane Ouattara, was appointed Prime Minister. Houphouët-Boigny died in December 1993, and was succeeded constitutionally by the President of the National Assembly, Henri Bédié, also of the PDCI. Ouattara resigned and went abroad to join the International Monetary Fund.

In 1994 Bédié introduced a new electoral code, requiring presidential candidates to have two Ivorian parents and to have resided in the country for five years before the election. Both amendments were aimed at preventing Ouattara from standing in the 1995 presidential election when Henri Bédié, and the PDCI, won an overwhelming victory. Subsequently, the government did little to deal with growing student and industrial unrest or with problems over pay and conditions in the military. Bédié encouraged the concept of 'Ivoirité'. This was initially intended to emphasise cultural values, but one effect was increased ethnic divisions between the largely Muslim north and more Christian south of the country, and with over 25% of the population coming from outside the country, 'Ivoirité' proved highly divisive, particularly during a time of economic decline.

Bédié's popularity plummeted further in 1998 when he introduced constitutional amendments to lengthen the presidential term of office, raised the residence qualification for presidential candidates to 10 years, and failed to address widespread corruption and rising crime levels. Ouattara returned in August 1999 and obtained a nationality certificate. However, its cancelation in October led to unrest, with dozens of members of his party, the Rassemblement des républicains (RDR), arrested. In December 1999, an army mutiny over pay and conditions rapidly turned into a coup led by former Chief of Staff, General Robert Gueï, who had been dismissed from the army in 1997 for serious disciplinary offences. Bédié took refuge in the French embassy.

Gueï promised a rapid return to democracy, and drafted a new constitution, again with tough nationality restrictions on presidential candidates. In a referendum, 86% of voters endorsed the constitution. General Gueï himself decided to stand in the elections of October 2000, from which both Ouattara and Bédié were banned. When preliminary results indicated Laurent Gbagbo was winning, Gueï suspended the electoral commission and declared himself the winner. Gbagbo supporters staged mass demonstrations, supported by units of the army, and Gueï fled. Gbagbo was declared the winner by a reinstated electoral commission, but after he refused to accept a suggestion by Ouattara to re-run the election, there were several weeks of violence, largely between northerners and southerners. Churches and mosques were destroyed, and dozens of people died including 57 Ouattara supporters whose bodies were later found in a mass grave at Yopougon, a suburb of Abidjan.

Legislative elections in December 2000 and municipal elections in March 2001 went relatively smoothly, but the strong support for the PCDI and the RDR (the latter participating in 2001 only), prompted President Gbagbo (FPI) to hold a National Reconciliation Forum in October 2001. Gbagbo, Bédié, Ouattara and Gueï all attended to agree a series of recommendations including acceptance of the October 2000 election results. Tensions rose after eight gendarmes were acquitted in July 2001 of charges of killing those buried in Yopougon, after witnesses refused to testify. Gbagbo, Bedie, Ouattara and Guei met again in January 2002, when it became clear that Gueï had decided to support Ouattara's case for Ivorian nationality. Ouattara was again granted a certificate of nationality, but would still have been barred from contesting the presidency because of claims that he had held Burkinabé citizenship. In July 2002, there was inter-ethnic violence between RDR and FPI supporters in the local elections.

ECONOMY

Basic Economic Facts

GDP per head: US$ 587 (projected 2002)
Annual Growth: -1.7% (2002)
Inflation (consumer prices): +3.2% (2002)
Major Sectors: Agriculture: 29%, Industry: 21.6%, Services: 49%
Agricultural Products include coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber, timber.
Industries include foodstuffs, beverages, wood products, oil refining, truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity.
Major Trading Partners: France (13%), US (8%), Netherlands (7%), Germany (7%), Italy (6%) (1999) Exchange rate: Euro 1 = 655.957 FCFA