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Travel to Cote d'Ivoire — Unbiased reviews and great deals
from TripAdvisorCôte d'Ivoire
| Republic of Côte d'Ivoire National name: République de Côte
d'lvoire President: Laurent Gbagbo
(2000) Prime Minister: Charles
Konan Banny (transitional) (2005)
Current government officials
Land area: 122,780 sq mi (318,000 sq km);
total area: 124,502 sq mi (322,460 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 18,373,060 (growth
rate: 1.9%); birth rate: 34.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 85.7/1000;
life expectancy: 49.1; density per sq km: 57
Capital (2003 est.):
Yamoussoukro (official), 185,600; Largest
city and administrative center: Abidjan, 4,113,600 (metro. area),
3,427,500 (city proper) Monetary unit:
CFA Franc
Languages:
French (official) and African languages (Dioula
esp.)
Ethnicity/race:
Akan 42.1%, Voltaiques (Gur) 17.6%, Northern
Mandes 16.5%, Krous 11%, Southern Mandes 10%, other 2.8% (includes
130,000 Lebanese and 14,000 French) (1998)
National Holiday:
Independence Day, August 7
Religions:
indigenous 25%–40%, Islam 35%–40%, Christian
20%–30% (2001) Literacy rate: 51%
(2003 est.) Economic summary:
GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $32.18 billion; per capita $1,700. Real
growth rate: 1.6%. Inflation: 2.1%. Unemployment:
unemployment may have climbed to 40-50% as a result of the civil war.
Arable land: 10%. Agriculture: coffee, cocoa beans,
bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes,
sugar, cotton, rubber; timber. Labor force: 6.95 million.
Industries: foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining,
truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials,
electricity, ship construction and repair. Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt,
bauxite, copper, hydropower. Exports: $6.49 billion f.o.b.
(2005 est.): cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas,
pineapples, palm oil, fish. Imports: $4.759 billion f.o.b.
(2005 est.): fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs. Major trading
partners: France, Netherlands, U.S., Nigeria, Italy, Thailand
(2004). Communications: Telephones:
main lines in use: 328,000 (2003); mobile cellular: 1.236 million
(2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 8, shortwave 3
(1998). Television broadcast stations: 14 (1999). Internet
hosts: 3,795 (2004). Internet users: 90,000 (2002). Transportation: Railways: total: 660 km
(2004). Highways: total: 50,400 km; paved: 4,889 km; unpaved:
45,511 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 980 km (navigable rivers,
canals, and numerous coastal lagoons) (2003). Ports and
harbors: Abidjan, Aboisso, Dabou, San-Pedro. Airports: 37
(2004 est.). International disputes:
rebel and ethnic fighting against the central government in 2002 has
spilled into neighboring states, driven out foreign cocoa workers from
nearby countries, and, in 2004, resulted in 6,000 peacekeepers
deployed as part of UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) assisting
4,000 French troops already in-country; the Ivorian Government accuses
Burkina Faso and Liberia of supporting Ivorian rebels.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Côte d'Ivoire (also known as the Ivory Coast),
in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, is a little larger than New
Mexico. Its neighbors are Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.
The country consists of a coastal strip in the south, dense forests in the
interior, and savannas in the north.
Government
Republic.
History
Côte d'Ivoire was originally made up of numerous
isolated settlements; today it represents more than sixty distinct tribes,
including the Baoule, Bete, Senoufou, Agni, Malinke, Dan, and Lobi. Côte
d'Ivoire attracted both French and Portuguese merchants in the 15th
century who were in search of ivory and slaves. French traders set up
establishments early in the 19th century, and in 1842, the French obtained
territorial concessions from local tribes, gradually extending their
influence along the coast and inland. The area was organized as a
territory in 1893, became an autonomous republic in the French Union after
World War II, and achieved independence on Aug. 7, 1960. Côte d'Ivoire
formed a customs union in 1959 with Dahomey (Benin), Niger, and Burkina
Faso. The nation's economy is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan
Africa. It is the world's largest exporter of cocoa and one of the largest
exporters of coffee.
From independence until his death in 1993, Felix
Houphouët-Boigny served as president. Massive protests by students,
farmers, and professionals forced the president to legalize opposition
parties and hold the first contested presidential election in Oct. 1990,
which Houphouët-Boigny won with 81% of the vote.
Beginning in Sept. 1998, thousands of
demonstrators protested a constitutional revision that granted President
Henri Konan Bédié greatly enhanced powers. Bédié also promoted the concept
of ivoirité, which, roughly translated, means “pure Ivoirian
pride.” Although its defenders describe ivoirité as a term of
positive national pride, it has led to a dangerous xenophobia, with
numerous ethnic Malians and Burkinans driven out of the country in
1999.
President Bédié was overthrown in the country's
first military coup in Dec. 1999, and Gen. Robert Guei assumed control of
the country. As a result, the majority of foreign aid to the country
ceased.
In what were seen as the first steps toward
reasserting democracy, voters overwhelmingly approved a draft constitution
in July 2000. However, the document permitted only those of “pure
Ivoirian” stock to run for president, thereby excluding nearly 40% of the
population. Guei, who had promised to stay in power only to “sweep the
house clean,” instead decided to run for president in Oct. 2000 elections.
Gen. Guei ran against a civilian opposition candidate, Laurent Gbagbo.
Each declared victory in an election most believe to have been rife with
fraud. Popular outcry against Guei soon turned violent, forcing him to
leave the country, and Gbagbo assumed the presidency. Many observers
questioned his mandate, however, since the popular opposition leader
Alassane Ouattara had been excluded from the election on the specious
grounds that he was not a pure-blooded Ivoirian. It was not until June
2002 that Ouattara was finally granted full Ivoirian citizenship, allowing
him to run for president. Hundreds have died in violence sparked by the
dispute.
Mutineering soldiers attempted a coup on Sept.
19, 2002. Guei and Interior Minister Doudou were killed in fighting
between government soldiers and the rebels. President Gbagbo accused Guei
of staging the coup. Fighting continued, even after a French-brokered
peace accord was signed on Jan. 25, 2003, calling for the government to
share power with the rebels. President Gbagbo's supporters found such a
plan unacceptable, and there was rioting in the capital. The war was
finally declared officially over in July. The peace, supported by 4,000
UN-sponsored French peacekeeping troops, was fragile, however.
Pro-government and rebel militias remained armed, and in 2004, Northern
and Muslim rebels still controlled half the country.
In Nov. 2004, the civil war again erupted; in
May 2005, another peace deal was signed, but no militias disarmed.
Elections were scheduled for October 2005, but the UN declared this
impossible under the continued fighting. To avert a constitutional crisis,
the UN Security Council recommended the president remain in office another
year, but that he turn over most of his power to a new transitional prime
minister. African mediators selected Charles Konan Banny, governor of West
Africa's central bank, as a candidate acceptable to all sides of the
conflict.
In August 2006, an oil tanker chartered by the
Netherlands company, Trafigura Beheer BV, dumped tons of toxic sludge in
Abidjan. The tanker had found no other country willing to take the
hazardous waste until a local contractor in Abidjan accepted it and then
dumped it at 18 open-air sites across the city. More than 80,000 people
complained of health problems caused by the fumes and sought medical
help.
Another peace accord between the government and
the rebels was signed in March 2007. The two sides agreed to set up a
power-sharing government and establish a joint army. Observers were
cautiously optimistic that this deal would finally end the civil war. In
April, rebel leader Guillaume Soro—President Gbagbo's bitter rival—was
sworn in as prime minister, and a new government was formed.
See also Encyclopedia: Côte d'Ivoire.
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Cote d'Ivoire
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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