Côte D'Ivoire: Global and Regional Responses to the Post-Election Violence
Côte D’Ivoire, a country in Western Africa with a population of 21 million, and the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans, has been troubled by political instability and civil war since 2002, when violence erupted between the government and rebels in the north of the country. The elections in November 2010 worsened the situation. The incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down after contested elections, even though his political opponent, Alassane Ouattara was internationally recognised as having won in the elections – the UN, the AU, and ECOWAS all accepted Ouattara as the winner of the elections. Meanwhile, the continued violence between the groups has resulted in over 30,000 refugees in Liberia and Guinea, and the conflict threatens not only to increase the ethnic strife within the country, but to affect the region as a whole through refugee flows to neighbouring states.
Many states, including the US, the UK, France, and many members of the AU and ECOWAS, especially those in close proximity to Côte D’Ivoire, like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, have a strong interest in seeing a swift resolution of the conflict. There is a broad range of instruments at their immediate disposal to tackle the crisis and prevent further escalation of violence and overall deterioration of the situation. These fall under two broad categories: measures targeting the state in question (mediation efforts, sanctions, or deployment of a preventive force); and measures targeting key individuals, such as government members (such as freezing assets or travel bans).
Several of these instruments have been employed so far. The African Union has been immensely involved in efforts to bring the crisis to an end through extensive mediation efforts, and has appointed a panel of experts to engage in discussions with the rival leaders. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga have all been involved in mediation efforts. The UN has a force of 9,000 currently deployed through UNOCI (United Nations Operation in Côte D’Ivoire) with a mandate that, amongst other tasks, includes the protection of civilians and the monitoring of armed groups. At the individual level, the US, Britain, and France have argued for UN sanctions targeting Gbagbo, his wife, and three top aides, with the aim of placing additional pressure on these individuals through freezing of assets and travel bans (the US has already unilaterally proclaimed a ban on trade).
In the long-term, outside actors need to re-think economic relationships with the country, to ensure fair relations that promote economic development rather than spur conflict by allowing warring factions to sustain the conflict through the export of cocoa, diamonds, or cotton. Addressing these issues, and strengthening regional conflict resolution mechanisms, must be part of any long-term, sustained effort at conflict prevention. Increased capacity of the African Union to deal with regional issues could become a forum for collective action in this regard.
How events in Côte D’Ivoire will unfold remains to be seen, but it seems that so far the immediate measures taken by the international community have been successful at quelling the escalation of violence into a full-blown ethnic conflict. The danger is, however, that if the international community fails to act decisively in the long-term and a peaceful resolution is not found, the problems in Côte D’Ivoire will become a consistent feature troubling the entire region, with prospects for peaceful transition towards more democratic and accountable governance seriously impaired.
