Ivory Coast Civil War 2002-2007
The Ivory Coast Civil War, which lasted from 2002 to 2007, was a significant conflict that emerged from an attempted military coup against President Laurent Gbagbo. Following the coup's failure, the country became divided between a government-controlled South, primarily Christian and affluent, and a rebel-held North, predominantly Muslim and economically disadvantaged. This division was complicated by underlying ethnic and economic disparities but did not present a clear ideological basis for the war. Despite various international mediation efforts, including interventions by France and the African Union, peace remained elusive for several years, with ongoing violence and political instability.
Rebel forces, initially organized as the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) and later united as the New Forces, engaged in a power struggle that saw repeated cycles of negotiation and conflict. Notable events included the involvement of foreign troops to protect citizens, failed ceasefires, and delays in scheduled elections. The conflict finally came to a tentative resolution with the Ouagadougou Political Agreement in April 2007, which appointed Guillaume Soro, the rebel leader, as prime minister while allowing Gbagbo to remain president. Although the agreement marked an end to hostilities, the power dynamics and control of the northern region were left unresolved, necessitating continued international oversight and peacekeeping efforts.
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Ivory Coast Civil War 2002-2007
Summary: The Ivory Coast, a former French colony in West Africa long admired as an exception to the chaos and turmoil of other states in the region, was plunged into civil war by an apparent attempted military coup in September 2002. Although the coup attempt was foiled by troops loyal to the government of President Laurent Gbagbo, it was the start of a five-year conflict that saw the northern part of the country--mostly Muslim, relatively poor and politically neglected--ruled by rebels while the government maintained control in the South--mostly Christian, relatively more affluent, and home of the country's leaders since independence. Attempts by outside powers, including France and leaders of the African Union, to mediate a settlement were repeatedly rebuffed, sometimes by riotous mobs in the streets protesting against published terms of a tentative sentiment. Although there were ethnic and economic differences between the two sides, the civil war lacked a clear ideological or economic driving force. It was partly reflective of ethnic differences between North and South, which also were divided between Muslims and Christians, but neither of these two issues seemed to be central to the power struggle between the incumbent government led by President Gbagbo and the rebel leader (and eventually prime minister) Guillaume Soro. The war was eventually settled by the Ouagadougou Settlement of April 2007, which saw Soro join the Gbagbo government as prime minister.
Introduction: In September 2002, rebellious exiled military personnel and co-conspirators launched attacks in three cities: the principal commercial hub of Abidjan, Bouake, and Korhogo, in what appeared to be an attempted military coup. Troops loyal to the government of President Laurent Gbagbo prevented the coup, although several ranking military officers were killed on the first day, including former President Robert Guei, who himself had launched a (bloodless) coup just three years earlier. The minister of the interior (police), Emile Boga Doudou, was also killed.
Although the coup attempt failed to overturn the government, the uprising evolved into a prolonged civil war that divided the country between a southern part, controlled by the government, and a northern part controlled by rebels. This division also represented a split between Muslims (predominant in the North) and Christians (predominant in the South), and between the more affluent South and the poorer North. The revolt and subsequent war also shattered the image of the Ivory Coast as the "miracle" of West Africa and caused the repeated postponement of democratic elections for president.
While loyal troops quickly proceeded to look for conspirators in the shantytowns on the outskirts of Abidjan, rebels quickly seized control of most of the northern part of the country. The rebels won immediate support from many civilians in regions they controlled.
The United States and France landed troops within days of the rebellion to rescue their citizens and other foreign nationals trapped by fighting -- the start of a prolonged presence of foreign troops, including a United Nations peacekeeping force.
A brief cease-fire in October 2002 was soon broken, even as another group of rebels calling themselves the Ivorian Popular Movement for the Greater West emerged in the western part of the country. The rebels in the North, calling themselves the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI), were led by Guillaume Soro. Eventually the rebels in both areas united under the common name, New Forces. In December 2002 French troops fired on rebels in order to prevent them from seizing the commercial capital on the southern coast, Abidjan.
In January 2003 President Gbagbo agreed to a peace deal proposed by France that included offering cabinet posts to the rebels, but government loyalists and the military rejected the terms, resulting in four days of fighting among ethnic groups. Over the next six months peace negotiations continued amid fighting and occasional rioting. In April 2003 the northern rebels took up some cabinet posts, even while accusing the government of violating the ceasefire. In May the United Nations Security Council agreed to send a peace-keeping force to Ivory Coast to enforce a cease-fire; the United States pledged an additional $4 million to help fund a multinational peacekeeping force on top of $5 million pledged earlier for the same purpose. In July 2003 Gbagbo declared the war was over, although rebel forces still held power in the North, but in September rebel leaders announced they were abandoning their cabinet posts and halting disarmament.
A new round of fighting began in March 2004 with clashes between security forces and protesters demonstrating against the government of President Gbagbo, after which both the rebels and the main opposition party, Rally of the Republicans led by Alassane Ouattara, withdrew from a power-sharing coalition government. (Ouattara had insisted he had no ties to the New Forces, although he was popular in the North.) A new round of peace negotiations began in July 2004 in Ghana; this process was interrupted by a government bombing raid in November against rebel targets. In retaliation, French warplanes destroyed the Ivorian air force, leading to mobs roaming Abidjan in search of French citizens and further clashes between French troops and government loyalists. The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo against the government.
April 2005 saw yet another set of talks, this time mediated by South Africa. In early April, both sides declared the civil war was over--prematurely as it turned out -- and agreed to a new round of peace talks. In August, South Africa said it was withdrawing as a mediator, declaring it would not consider new rebel demands even as scheduled elections in October 2005 were looming. In September, the elections were postponed, the first of many postponements.
In January 2006, violent street demonstrations by supporters of the government, protesting against foreign interference, caused the United Nations peacekeeping force to curtail operations, even as the incoming chairman of the African Union, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, met with the Ivory Coast prime minister in yet another attempt to restart peace negotiations. In October the postponed presidential election was set back by another yet in light of continued violence and the absence of a peace agreement.
The elusive peace agreement to end the civil war was reached in March 2007 when the government of President Gbagbo and the New Forces signed the Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA) that had been negotiated in neighboring Burkina-Faso. Under the agreement, the leader of the New Forces, Guillaume Soro, formally of the MPCI, was named prime minister with Laurent Gbagbo remaining as president. The two sides agreed to further talks on demilitarizing the rebels and reuniting the country; until then, the New Forces rebels would still control the northern half of the country, and both a United Nations arms embargo on Ivory Coast and the U.N. peacekeeping force remained in place.
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