First Ivorian Civil War - Context of The Conflict

Context of The Conflict

The civil war revolves around a number of issues, particularly:

• The end of the 30-year presidency of Félix Houphouët-Boigny forced the nation to grapple with the democratic process for the first time. Houphouët-Boigny had been president for the 33 years since independence, and so the nation's political system was bound tightly to his myth, charisma, and political and economic competence. The political system was forced to deal with open, competitive elections without Houphouët-Boigny for the first time in 1995.
• The large number of foreigners in Côte d'Ivoire, and Ivorians of somewhat recent foreign descent, created an important issue of voting rights. 26% of the population was of foreign origin, particularly from Burkina Faso, a poorer country to the north. Many of these had been Ivorian citizens for 2 generations or more, and some of them, of Mandinka heritage, can be considered native to the northern part of what is now known as Côte d'Ivoire. These ethnic tensions had been suppressed under the strong leadership of Houphouët-Boigny, but surfaced after his death. The term Ivoirity, originally coined by Henri Konan Bédié to denote the common cultural identity of all those living in Côte d'Ivoire came to be used by nationalist and xenophobic politics and press to represent solely the population of the southeastern portion of the country, particularly Abidjan.
• Discrimination toward people of Burkinabé origin made neighbor countries, particularly Burkina Faso, fear a massive migration of refugees.
• An economic downturn due to a deterioration of the terms of trade between Third World and developed countries worsened conditions, exacerbating the underlying cultural and political issues.
• Unemployment forced a part of the urban population to return to the fields, which they discovered had been exploited by immigrants.