(Arte, 9 août 2023) Delighted to be with you for this new episode of “Dessous des Cartes”. We start this show in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire. Abidjan, nicknamed “Baby”, is a booming, bustling, polluted, and chaotic city. A colossal metro project is underway after countless delays. Abidjan also has one of the most important ports on the continent and an airport that handled 2 million passengers in 2021. The Plateau district, known as the African Manhattan, the beaches, and the beautiful houses of Cocody. Côte d’Ivoire, or the land of elephants, the animal and its emblem, would, according to the Prosperity Index, be the country that increased its prosperity the most in the world between 2011 and 2021. According to another ranking, it is the happiest country in West Africa. Of course, without underestimating the structural problems that Ivorians are far from having all overcome—centralism and political clientelism, inequality, regional insecurity—we wanted to visit this Africa of possibilities. Let’s get out our maps, and here is Côte d’Ivoire, this West African country located on the western part of the Gulf of Guinea, bordered on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Côte d’Ivoire is surrounded by three Francophone countries: Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and on its flanks, two Anglophone countries: Liberia and Ghana. Covering an area of 322,500 km², the Ivorian territory resembles a quadrilateral split in two, with plateaus in the north and plains in the south, with a more mountainous terrain in the west.
### Climate and Geography
In terms of climate, Côte d’Ivoire is also divided into two. In the south, below the capital Yamoussoukro, the climate is equatorial and very humid, whereas the north has a dry tropical climate with generally higher temperatures. Consequently, the south is the territory of the forest, even though its surface area has significantly decreased. The primary forest has almost disappeared outside of national parks like Taï or Banco in the heart of Abidjan. The north, meanwhile, hosts a savannah landscape with vast expanses of grasslands and scattered trees. In this northern half of the country, you mainly find cereal fields such as millet, sorghum, and cotton. Over the past 20 years, cashew orchards have developed, making Côte d’Ivoire the world’s largest producer today. In the southern half, two major export crops dominate: coffee and, especially, cocoa. Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans, accounting for 45% of global production. This raw material alone accounts for 15% of the national GDP. In addition to these large-scale intensive crops, there are other crops such as bananas, pineapples, and palm oil. Côte d’Ivoire also benefits from a rich subsoil with gold mines, iron mines, some bauxite, diamonds, manganese, nickel, and since the 1980s, oil. Although the share of petroleum products in Ivorian exports has remained modest, the company ENI discovered a deep-water deposit in 2021 estimated at 2 billion barrels, equivalent to about a quarter of Angola’s oil reserves.
### Human Geography and Demographics
Côte d’Ivoire is also a country with a complex human geography. The official language of its 22 million inhabitants is French, but there are over 63 ethnic groups spread across four regional linguistic groups: the Akan, the Gour, the Mandé, and the Kru. The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire is also a multi-religious country, with 42% Muslims, 34% Christians, and a significant proportion of animists. The structure of Ivorian society has evolved considerably since the 19th century. In 1902, Côte d’Ivoire was integrated into French West Africa, marking the beginning of development based on the exploitation of coffee, forests, cotton, and especially cocoa, an economy that relied on labor from the entire region. In 1960, Côte d’Ivoire became independent, but this immigration policy continued under President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who had been a deputy and several times a minister of the French Republic, and who was himself a coffee and cocoa planter. In 1983, he even made his hometown of Yamoussoukro the new administrative capital of the country. Upon his death in 1993, he left behind a country weakened by years of personal power, the fall in commodity prices, and the structural adjustment plans of the IMF and the World Bank.
### Political History and Economic Development
In 1995, Henri Konan Bédié, supported by France, was elected but implemented a xenophobic doctrine called “Ivoirité” to exclude his opponents, feeding discontent in a country where foreigners and descendants of foreigners are numerous. As a result, Côte d’Ivoire gradually plunged into civil war. In 2002, a coup attempt against then-President Laurent Gbagbo divided the country in two: the rebellion supported by Burkina Faso controlled the north, and the presidential camp controlled the south. It wasn’t until March 2007 that President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro signed an agreement leading to the country’s reunification and the organization of elections. In 2010, Alassane Ouattara won these elections, but Laurent Gbagbo refused to relinquish power. In 2011, after violent clashes and the intervention of French forces and UN peacekeepers, Gbagbo was arrested and charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. However, in 2021, Laurent Gbagbo returned to Ivorian soil after his acquittal by the ICC.
Despite the civil war and persistent North-South inequalities and a precarious security context in the region, Côte d’Ivoire’s macroeconomic indicators have been favorable, with an average GDP growth of 8.2% between 2012 and 2019. After the civil war, Côte d’Ivoire returned to strong growth, even maintaining positive growth at 2% despite the COVID-19 pandemic, rising to 7% in 2021. These performances were made possible by a policy of major works throughout the country. Signs of these changes include the renovation of the University of Abidjan and the inauguration of a third bridge over the Ébrié Lagoon, the Henri Konan Bédié Bridge, in the economic capital in December 2014. In the north, the city of Bouaké, which was the rebels’ capital during the civil war, has been transformed with the reconstruction of economic infrastructure like its grand market and the redevelopment of its surroundings. The ports of San Pedro and Abidjan, essential to the country’s economy, have also undergone extension and modernization projects. The main downside is an inflation rate that reached an average of 5% in January 2023, mainly due to rising food prices. More importantly, Côte d’Ivoire remains marked by significant disparities geographically, always between the North and the South, with the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire concentrating 80% of economic activity and 21.7% of the Ivorian population. Socio-economically, the country ranked 159th out of 191 in the 2021 Human Development Index defined by the United Nations Development Programme.
### Security Concerns and Foreign Influence
In this context, Côte d’Ivoire has not escaped the geographic expansion of the jihadist threat in the Sahel, particularly in southern Mali and southwestern Burkina Faso. In 2015, a cell linked to the Ansardine group operating on its northern border was dismantled following joint operations between Mali and Côte d’Ivoire. However, a year later, in March 2016, the resort town of Grand-Bassam in the south was hit by a commando from Mali, resulting in the deaths of 19 people. On the night of June 10-11, 2020, Ivorian security forces were directly attacked in Kafolo. The attackers were repelled, but Abidjan was shocked. Other attacks using improvised explosive devices were also carried out by jihadist groups in northern Côte d’Ivoire between 2020 and 2021. In response, authorities have increased investments in the north of the country, particularly in the Comoé National Park. Militarily, France remains a key military partner of Côte d’Ivoire in 2023, with 900 soldiers stationed at Port-Bouët camp in the suburbs of Abidjan. However, instability in neighboring Burkina Faso undermines essential security cooperation in the north of the country. In 2020, the Ivorian and Burkinabe armies conducted joint Operation Comoé to dismantle terrorist bases attempting to establish themselves in the border area between the two states. But in early 2023, the Burkinabe army demanded the departure of the 400 French soldiers based in Ouagadougou as part of its search for new partners. Its security priority remains the north and east of the country, where the terrorist threat is concentrated. In Mali, the arrest in July 2022 of 49 Ivorian soldiers of the UN mission in Mali at Bamako airport by Malian authorities confirmed the persistence of degraded relations. These Ivorian soldiers, labeled as mercenaries, were sentenced before being pardoned in January 2023.
This concludes our journey in Côte d’Ivoire, the Africa of possibilities despite persistent problems—centralism and political clientelism, North-South division, significant inequalities, and a challenging security context. Côte d’Ivoire is courted by various influences, notably Russian. For example, cartoons identified as coming from the Prigozhin universe, the head of the Wagner militia, depicted triumphant African armies against the French invader thanks to Wagner soldiers. Countries cited in the cartoon include Mali, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire. To go further, check out “.
NB: IvoryCoast.ci does not necessarily share the view of Arte. They were published to show another perspective of the country. The discussion is open and you are invited to share your opinion with our readers
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