Civil War in Ivory Coast
| date | September 19, 2002–4. March 2007 |
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| place | Ivory Coast |
| output | peace treaty |
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The civil war in Ivory Coast ( Ivorian Civil War ) began on September 19, 2002 with an uprising by sections of the army , which have since taken control of the northern half of the country. Causes are ethnic tensions between the north and south, locals and immigrants from neighboring countries as well as the struggle for natural resources in Ivory Coast . The situation calmed down after the signing of a peace agreement between the rebels and the government and the deployment of the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (ONUCI), but the division in the country, exacerbated by the open outbreak of conflict, persists. On July 30, 2007, President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro declared the civil war over.
Background and history
For a long time the Ivory Coast (Côte d 'Ivoire), which has been independent since 1960, was a comparatively stable and prosperous country in the middle of a poor and politically unstable region (see Liberian Civil War , Civil War in Sierra Leone ). The first president Félix Houphouët-Boigny pursued a pro-Western economic policy that initially brought the country relative prosperity. As a result, the Ivory Coast also attracted numerous immigrants - including environmental refugees as a result of the famine in the Sahel region - from poorer neighboring countries, particularly from Burkina Faso . They found work in agriculture and settled mainly in the north of the country, where some related ethnic groups live. In order to avoid ethnic conflicts and to unite the state, Houphouët-Boigny's policy under the motto of Ivoirité emphasized the common identity of all residents. In the Ivoirité the immigrants were originally included.
With the deterioration of the economic situation from the end of the 1970s as a result of falling coffee and cocoa prices, however, unemployment and dissatisfaction rose among the population, with which xenophobic nationalist forces also gained influence, which excluded the immigrants from their definition of Ivoirité and as competitors of the locals blamed for the economic problems.
In the 1995 and 2000 elections, the second president, Henri Konan Bédié , who has been in office since 1993, prevented his rival Alassane Ouattara from the north of the country from running by questioning the Ivorian citizenship of his parents and specifically introducing a clause that only people whose Both parents are Ivorian citizens and are allowed to run for president. Many North Ivorians, who traditionally have family ties to neighboring countries, perceived this law in particular as a sign of discrimination and marginalization.
Civil war
On September 19, 2002, sections of the Ivorian army, mainly soldiers from the north of the country, rebelled and carried out attacks in the cities of Abidjan , Korhogo and Bouaké . During this coup there were various attempts at murder of political figures, including Alassane Ouattara and Defense Minister Moïse Lida Kouassi; Interior Minister Émile Boga Doudou , the military leader Robert Guéï and their bodyguards were killed. Responsibility for these murders is controversial. The insurgents were repulsed in Abidjan with the help of French troops, but gained control in Korhogo in the north and Bouaké in the center of the country.
This was followed by fighting, especially around Bouaké, whose control kept changing between insurgents and the government. Arbitrary executions were carried out on both sides, and the army and militias also deliberately killed trade unionists, students, supporters of Ouattara's opposition party RDR and communist activists suspected of supporting the rebellion. Around 3,000 people were murdered in autumn 2002. Army soldiers and Liberian mercenaries also killed hundreds of foreigners, while the rebels, for their part, drove around a million so-called “misplaced” Ivorians south with similar massacres.
In October 2002 a ceasefire agreement between the government and the rebels of the Mouvement patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire / Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI / FNCI) was signed, but was soon broken. In November fell from Liberia of two new rebel organizations of Felix Doh , founded the Popular Mouvement du ivoirien Grand Ouest (MPIGO) - about 6,000 strong, and that of Guillaume Soro -run, 250-strong Mouvement pour la justice et la paix (MJP ), conquered the cities of Man and Danané in western Ivory Coast and killed thousands. These organizations consisted mainly of Liberian troops under the Sierra Leonean Sam Bockarie , but also from parts of the MPCI.
The former colonial power France campaigned for an understanding between the conflicting parties. On January 26, 2003, an agreement was signed in Linas - Marcoussis, France , according to which President Gbagbo should remain in office until new elections, the rebels in a transitional government should receive the Ministry of Interior and Defense, and French and ECOWAS troops between the spheres of power of the warring parties should be stationed to prevent the conflict from breaking out again. On April 4, 2004, the UN peacekeeping mission ONUCI was deployed to support the surveillance of the “zone of trust” between rebel and government areas.
In 2004 there were renewed outbreaks of violence. Over 120 people were killed in the suppression of an anti-Gbagbo demonstration in Abidjan in March. In March, the army launched air strikes against the rebels, killing nine peacekeepers . There were violent demonstrations against France and an arms embargo was imposed on the country.
In March 2007, the rebels and the government in Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso signed the Ouagadougou Agreement . According to the agreement, FN leader Guillaume Soro became prime minister. In April the “zone of trust” was dissolved, which initially led to an increase in violence. In May, the militia began to disarm, which had already been planned.
On July 30, Laurent Gbagbo traveled to the north of the country for the first time to the former rebel stronghold of Bouaké. At a gun-burning ceremony in the city's stadium, he and Soro declared the civil war over.
After the 2010 presidential elections , civil war flared up again in the wake of the 2010/2011 government crisis .
See also
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- Sources of the French version of the article
- BBC News: Ivory Coast leaders burn weapons
- BBC News: Q&A: Ivory Coast's crisis
- BBC News: Timeline: Ivory Coast
- Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. (pdf) In: International Relations and security network. Retrieved July 11, 2012 (text of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement).