IRIN Web Special on Cote d’Ivoire crisis

Cote d'Ivoire 's economic capital, Abidjan

ABIDJAN, 21 November 2002 (IRIN) - Since 19 September, Cote d’Ivoire has been facing its worst crisis since independence from France in 1960. Long considered a haven of peace in troubled West Africa, it has joined the ranks of countries affected by insurgency less than three years after experiencing its first successful coup d’etat.

For the first time ever, the state no longer controls the entire territory. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. Many have fled to neighbouring countries.

National unity has been affected and there are fears that, if it continues, the crisis could develop into civil war. The spectre of a regionalised conflict, as occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has also been mentioned by some analysts.

The instability in Cote d’Ivoire has dealt a severe blow to economic activity in that country as well as neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso. Job losses have been reported. Abidjan’s position as the main access to the sea for its landlocked northern neighbours has been eroded.

The crisis erupts

The crisis erupted on 19 September, when armed men staged an unsuccessful attack on the headquarters of the paramilitary gendarmes in the commercial capital, Abidjan, and others took over hinterland towns such as Bouake and Korhogo, 350 km and 634 km north of Abidjan respectively.

The uprising was said to involve about 800 soldiers protesting against their impending demobilisation from the military. These were mainly soldiers who joined the armed forces during the military transition led by General Robert Guei that followed a December 1999 coup which toppled President Henri Konan Bedie.

Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou was killed in the mutiny. General Guei and his wife, along with some of his relatives and associates were also killed. Fearing for his life, the leader of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), Alassane Dramane Ouattara, sought refuge in the residence of the French ambassador - which he left in late November and travelled to Gabon. Guei and Ouattara were accused of being behind the uprising, described as a mutiny by some sources, and as an attempted coup by others, including the government and some diplomatic sources.

An attempt by loyalist troops to retake Bouake proved unsuccessful, while the insurgents extended their control to other parts of the north and centre. They also moved westward, taking the town of Vavoua and briefly occupying Daloa, 400 km northwest of Abidjan, which was quickly recaptured by loyalists.

A truce brokered by Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio was signed by the insurgents on 17 October, and accepted by the government. The ceasefire is being monitored by French troops pending the deployment of a buffer force by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which will initially comprise 1,254 men from Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The 17 October ceasefire paved the way for talks in Lome, Togo, between a governmental delegation and representatives of the insurgents.
By this time the rebels, known as the Mouvement Patriotique de Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI), included civilians such as the MPCI’s secretary-general Guillaume Soro, a former student leader.

Part II