Global Policy Forum

By Ernest Harsch

Nearly a year after civil war erupted in Cí´te d'Ivoire, the country's contending political and military forces are taking tentative steps towards peace. Fighting has ceased in most of the country, except for a few parts along the western border with Liberia. In mid-June, for the first time, all ministers of the new government of national reconciliation participated in a cabinet meeting, to approve a "life-saver" budget.

Behind the scenes, technical commissions, established as part of a wide-ranging peace agreement negotiated in January in Marcoussis, France, are addressing the conflict's underlying political and social causes. Under the direction of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, they are reviewing legislation defining Ivorian nationality and the status of foreign immigrants, who make up about a quarter of the total population of 16 million. They also are looking at the electoral code, enforcement of human rights and contentious land tenure laws.

But this process remains fragile. "We're in a very delicate phase," says UN Special Representative for Cí´te d'Ivoire Albert Tévoédjrí¨. As the government-owned daily Fraternité Matin put it in June, Ivorians are living in an atmosphere of "neither war nor peace."

The country is still effectively partitioned, with the northern half and parts of the west under the control of rebel groups and the south in the hands of the regular army, loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo. The army and rebel groups have agreed to confine themselves to designated locations, but actual disarmament may not begin until the end of August, by the most optimistic projections.

Relations remain strained among the political forces comprising the coalition government: Mr. Gbagbo's party, the rebel alliance known as the Forces Nouvelles and the opposition parties. There is still no agreement on the nomination of a defence minister. In early June, the president of the National Assembly, who is a leader of Mr. Gbagbo's party, compounded the tensions by calling on Ivorians to respond with "civil disobedience" to the seven rebel ministers in the government.

From stability to turmoil

For decades, Cí´te d'Ivoire was one of Africa's most politically stable countries. Its productive industries and agriculture attracted large numbers of migrants from other West African countries. But following the death of the long-governing President Félix Houphouí«t-Boigny in 1993, power struggles erupted. These were heightened by new nationality laws and eligibility conditions for participation in national elections, which residents of foreign origin or from Cí´te d'Ivoire's northern region regarded as discriminatory. Immigrants, especially from neighbouring Burkina Faso, suffered attacks by groups seeking to evict them from land they had long inhabited and farmed.

In December 1999, General Robert Gueí¯ led a coup that overthrew Mr. Houphouí«t-Boigny's successor, President Henri Konan Bédié. A presidential election in October 2000 was marked by the exclusion of a major contender (former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, from the north) and by fighting between partisans of General Gueí¯ and Mr. Gbagbo, which claimed scores of lives. The Supreme Court ultimately declared Mr. Gbagbo the winner. Efforts over the next two years to reconcile the different parties failed to end the tensions.

On 19 September 2002, groups of soldiers launched simultaneous attacks in Abidjan, Bouaké and Korhogo. Loyalist forces regained control of Abidjan, as General Gueí¯ and members of his family were assassinated. But the rebels, calling themselves the Mouvement Patriotique de la Cí´te d'Ivoire (MPCI), held Bouaké and expanded control over the entire north. Later, two smaller rebel groups emerged in the west, the Mouvement Populaire du Grand-Ouest (MPIGO) and the Mouvement pour la Justice et la Paix (MJP).

Many people were killed in the fighting between rebels and loyalists and about 750,000 Ivorians were displaced. Government claims that the rebels were backed by Burkina Faso and Liberia contributed to further attacks against foreigners, prompting hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees to flee the country. In Abidjan, security forces burned down poor neighbourhoods largely inhabited by immigrants.

Regional and international action

Alarmed by the crisis, regional and international actors soon initiated mediation efforts. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) promoted talks among the Ivorian factions and authorized the dispatch of West African peacekeepers, which by June numbered some 1,300 troops, with several hundred more on the way. France, Cí´te d'Ivoire's former colonial ruler and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, dispatched some 3,900 troops and hosted the Marcoussis talks.

The UN has supported these initiatives and taken its own action. The Security Council condemned the use of force, urged the parties to seek consensus and expressed concern about reports of mass killings.

At a 25 January ceremony in Paris to ratify the Marcoussis accord, Secretary-General Kofi Annan encouraged Ivorians to "reconnect with the peaceful history of their country so that it may continue to be an engine of integration and progress in West Africa." Noting that the peace process "is still fragile," he urged Ivorians to work hard to ensure its consolidation and called on the international community to support Cí´te d'Ivoire's recovery.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other institutions have been assisting refugees, repatriates and displaced people within Cí´te d'Ivoire and in neighbouring countries. Mr. Tévoédjrí¨, the UN special representative, has sought to help reconcile the Ivorian contenders, in close coordination with the ECOWAS mediation efforts. The UN is working with Ivorian media to highlight journalists' rights and obligations in conflict situations.

Human rights is a high priority. In December, then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello warned all parties in Cí´te d'Ivoire that their conduct was under close scrutiny and that major rights violators will eventually be brought to justice. A fact-finding mission, headed by the then deputy - and now acting - high commissioner, Mr. Bertrand Ramcharan, visited Cí´te d'Ivoire later that month. The mission found evidence of death squads linked to individuals close to the authorities in Abidjan, reports of mass graves in parts of the country held by both rebels and loyalist forces and other rights violations.

On 13 May, the UN Security Council approved the creation of the UN Mission in Cí´te d'Ivoire (MINUCI) to help monitor and assist in implementing the peace accords. It includes a small military liaison group (26 officers, with the possibility of adding another 50) to help the ECOWAS and French forces monitor the ceasefire and disarmament process. It also will help Mr. Tévoédjrí¨'s work on political, legal, electoral, media, humanitarian and human rights issues.

In establishing MINUCI, the Security Council emphasized that peace is vital not only for Cí´te d'Ivoire. Action also is needed because of "the regional dimension of the conflict and its consequences for neighbouring states."