Ivory Coast Old History

By | January 2, 2023

Ivory Coast is an independent nation in Western Africa. With the capital city of Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast 2020 population is estimated at 26,378,285 according to countryaah. The Ivory Coast got its name from Europeans who in the 15th century dealt with elephant pastures and then with slaves. In the 19th century, France won the European battle for the area’s commodity wealth and in 1893 the Ivory Coast became a French colony. The French empire was challenged by the union leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who was elected to the French National Assembly in 1945 and in 1960 led the Ivory Coast to independence. He then ruled the country as a one-party state for three decades.

  • AbbreviationFinder.org: Comprehensive guide to and popular abbreviations of Ivory Coast, covering history, economy, and social conditions.

Little is known about the early history of the Ivory Coast. Ancestors of the Akan people immigrated sometime after 1200 AD. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Akan people established several kingdoms in the central and eastern part of the country, including the Baulé and Agni people. At the same time there was the Kingdom of Kong, populated by the Senufu people. For Ivory Coast political system, please check cancermatters.

Portuguese sailors arrived in the 15th century and discovered that there were good opportunities for trading elephant pastures. Thus the Ivory Coast got its name. However, as the elephants became rare, Europeans went into slave trading.

France eventually succeeded in rivalry with the British acquiring rights over coastal trading places and began to move further into the country. In 1893 the Ivory Coast became a French colony and was organized two years later in French West Africa.

Those who resisted were brutally punished by the French, including forced labor and taxes. Railways and ports were built and timber, palm oil and cocoa were exported.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny, educated in France, started a movement against the privileges of European growers. It became the country’s first modern political group in 1944. Houphouët-Boigny became popular when he succeeded in proposing a French bill that abolished forced labor in the colonies. His movement was converted in 1946 to the Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI). In August 1960, Houphouët-Boigny declared the country independent.

The new state experienced an economic upswing thanks to rising world market prices for the country’s export goods. The people had a comparatively high standard of living, but political freedom had strict limits.

For three decades, PDCI was the only allowed party of the Ivory Coast, but the real power lay with the president personally and with the state bureaucracy. Officially there was equality between the groups, but in practice the president’s own people, the baulé, were favored. Houphouët-Boigny’s birthplace of Yamoussoukro was made capital in 1983, but business and most of the administration remained in Abidjan.

In the 1980s, the economy deteriorated. The government’s savings sparked widespread protests. A commission led by economist Alassane Ouattara was commissioned in 1990 to propose less drastic cuts.

In May of that year, the President gave in to the demands of introducing multi-party systems. Opposition politician Laurent Gbagbo voted against Houphouët-Boigny in the October 1990 presidential election. The incumbent president won just over four-fifths of the vote. In the election to the National Assembly the following month, the ruling party PDCI received 163 of the 175 seats against nine seats for the Gbagbo Party of the Ivorian People’s Front (FPI).

After the election, a post was set up as Prime Minister who went to Ouattara. However, discontent against the government continued, and was severely beaten, leading to new protests. Many people, including several opposition politicians, were arrested and sentenced to prison.

2015

November

New promises from the president

All of Ouattara’s six counter-candidates in the presidential election participate in the ceremony held when the president begins his second term in office. In connection with this, he promises to ensure that economic growth in the country will benefit more. Among other things, this will be done through an expansion of industrial companies that process food. President Ouattara also promises to continue the work of reconciliation in the country.

October

Ouattara wins clear but low turnout

The presidential election will be held on October 25, under calm conditions. However, it is boycotted by parts of the opposition (three candidates, Charles Konan Banny, Amara Essy and Mamadou Koulibaly, retire). Some technical problems with new technologies are reported. Election observers, both domestic and international, approve the election. According to preliminary data, turnout is around 60 percent, while some domestic observers say their surveys indicate a lower figure.
Ouattara wins a landslide victory with 84 percent of the vote, but turnout is low, 55 percent. The incumbent president wins in all regions except one, and in the big cities of Abidjan and Yamoussoukro. Two will be Pascal Affi N’Guessan with just over 9 percent of the vote. Before the result is officially established, it must be approved by the Constitutional Court.

Strong support for the president

Ouattara says he intends to push the issue of abolishing the “nationality clause” in the constitution (see Political system and Modern history) if he wins the election. For this to be possible, he first needs to win support for it in Parliament, which is now dominated by Ouattara faithful parties, and then in a referendum. At the same time, figures that will strengthen the president come before the election. According to the IMFforecasts of the country’s economy will grow by just over 8 percent in both 2015 and 2016. However, his political opponents claim that he is hiding behind the good economic figures, while he says they have not succeeded in reconciling the country after all the violence. FPI leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan says that very little of the economic growth has benefited poorer Ivorians.

Code of conduct is adopted, but not by everyone

President Ouattara, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, Henriette Lago and Jacqueline-Claire Kouangoua sign a code of conduct before the election, but none of the CNC opposition politicians sign.

Threats about election boycott

Opposition politician Amara Essy, who is one of the presidential candidates, criticizes the electoral process, which he says has major shortcomings. Essy, who belongs to the CNC, says she will consider boycotting the election unless some of them are rectified. This concerns, among other things, the composition of the electoral commission and how the opposition must be given more space in state media.

Amnesty criticizes intervention against the opposition

Amnesty International calls on the government to stop harassing the opposition. According to the human rights organization, some sixty opposition supporters have been arrested on arbitrary grounds since mid-September. About half of them are still in jail on October 5. The government denies that there is anything in Amensty’s allegations.

September

Opposition alliance protests against Ouattara’s candidacy

The opposition calls, under the name of the National Coalition for Change (CNC), protests against Ouattara’s approval as a candidate, citing that both his parents were not Ivorians. In many places, unrest erupts, with protesters clashing with police. The most serious violence occurs in the village of Logouata in the western part of the country when rival groups attack each other with knives and other attachments. An elderly man is killed and several houses are set on fire. Several opposition parties accuse the authorities of having dozens of their supporters arrested by police in connection with the protests. The police must have seized them in their home or on the street. A large demonstration that CNC planned to hold in Abidjan on September 26 is stopped by the police.

Ten presidential candidates are approved

On September 9, the Constitutional Court presents the ten candidates who have been given the go-ahead to stand in the October presidential election. In addition to Ouattara, FPI’s Affi N’Guessan, former Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and former President Mamadou Koulibaly are among the top candidates. The electoral movement officially begins on October 11.

The power struggles within the CPI continue

Party leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan is sticking to the plans to stand as presidential candidate while the hard core, led by former Foreign Minister Aboudramane Sangare, wants the party to boycott the election.

August

Milis Group forms political party

Young patriots (see Political system) who supported former President Laurent Gbagbo are converted to political party soh says they want to work for peace in the country. It takes the name of the Pan-African Congress of Justice and Equality, with the same abbreviation as before, Cojep.

Election date clear

The government announces that the date for presidential elections has been set for October 25. President Alassane Ouattara is next challenged by opposition party FPI candidate Pascal Affi N’Guessan. That the election was to take place in October has been known for a long time. One of Ouattara’s strongest cards in the election campaign is that the country’s economy is growing (GDP has increased by 9 percent a year from 2012 to 2014).

Demands that the ICC also investigate Ouattara’s camp

Human Rights Watch (HRW) requires the International Criminal Court (ICC) to begin investigating any crimes committed even by persons loyal to President Ouattara. The organization says that more and more residents feel let down that the abuses they have been exposed to are not taken seriously by the international community.

June July Old History

Ouattara supporters are being prosecuted

For the first time, charges against militia leaders are being brought against loyal to current President Alassane Ouattara for crimes they are suspected of having committed during the 2010–2011 civil war. In the past, only soldiers and politicians who were former President Laurent Gbagbo have come close to being accused of abuse.

Islamist trees worry

Ivory Coast strengthens guarding the border with Mali. This is after more border councils, which Islamist rebels are believed to be behind. At the end of June, they entered the city of Fakola for a short time.

March

New criticism of the reconciliation work

President Ouattara replaces the Reconciliation Commission (CDVR) formed in 2011 with a new group to be led by Catholic Archbishop Paul Siméon Ahouana. One of its tasks will be to find ways to pay damages to those affected by the political violence. CDVR has been criticized for having made a lot of money without reaching any major results.

Gbagbo and Blé are jointly prosecuted

The ICC decides to combine Laurent Gbagbo’s and Charles Blé Goudé’s lawsuits as the charges against them are similar.

Ex-military is facing trial

A military trial is being launched against 14 members of former President Laurent Gbagbo’s security forces for crimes committed during the 2011 violence. Among the defendants include Bruno Dogbo Blé, and Ansleme Seka Yapo. The latter is suspected, among other things, of having organized death squads.

Increased risk of new unrest

The judges appear to sharpen the contradictions within the FPI, between the two factions. This means that Ouattara’s chances of being re-elected as president increase, but at the same time, according to some political analysts, increases the risk of new violence. Pascal Affi N’Guessan has tried to lead the party toward the political center, while Sangare has refused to take part in any political elections or talks unless Gbagbo is allowed to return to the Ivory Coast. Although Affi N’Guessan is more cooperative than Sangare, he is considered to have significantly less support among the party people.

Long prison sentences for Gbagbo supporters

Simone Gbagbo is convicted (see October 2014) for undermining state security. The prosecutor had pleaded for ten years in prison, but the penalty will be double. Also, former Chief of the Republican Guard General Bruno Dogbo Blé and former Navy Chief Vagba Faussignau are sentenced to 20 years in prison. 15 of the 82 defendants are acquitted, the others are sentenced to prison. Among them is FPI leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who is sentenced to 18 months in prison. However, he is released because he has already been detained at that time. The leader of the party’s other large, and more hardened faction, Abdoudramane Sangare, is sentenced to a longer prison sentence, five years. Simone Gbagbo says she forgives the new rulers, because if she does not “the country will burn”.

January

Leadership struggles within PDCI strengthen Ouattara

The PDCI, which supported Ouattara in 2010, also suffers from internal contradictions, especially between an older guard and a younger generation. Political veterans like Charles Konan Banny and Amara Essy have shown their interest in running for the party’s presidential candidate, as well as Kouadio Konan Bertin, who belongs to the younger phalanx. None of the candidates are strong enough to challenge Ouattara who is running for RDR. Already the President of the Crown Prince seems to have been appointed: Hamed Bakayoko, today Minister of the Interior and Security. The president is having trouble handling the military and implementing the necessary reform of the defense forces. But the question is how he can do it without having problems with the former rebel leader Soro, who today is the leader of the National Assembly. At the same time, the economy is growing, partly due to good harvests of cocoa and cotton.

Split within Gbagbo’s party

FPI does not appear to be able to agree on who will be the party’s presidential candidate in the October 2015 elections, in Laurent Gbagbo’s absence. Party leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan fails one party the risk is great that FPI bursts.

Ivory Coast Old History