Abidjan:

Along the Lagoon lies the chief port and capital of Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan. Abidjan is called the New York of West Africa. This city became the capital of the French colony in 1934, and remained the economic capital after independence in 1960. The important districts are Plateau, Cocody (site of the National University of Cote d'Ivoire), Treichville, Adjame, Koumassi, and Marcory. Today, Abidjan is the financial center of French-speaking West Africa. There are many wide, shady streets and plenty of gardened squares in the city; the university (built in 1958) lies on the eastern mainland. Abidjan holds a museum of traditional Ivorian art, a national library, and several agricultural and scientific research institutes. The city is a communications center and also has an international airport. Maquis - African style restaurants - are found everywhere, and are famous for their grilled chicken and fish. Popular local foods include aloco and attieke.

Economy:

For many years, Ivory Coast had a very strong economy based on coffee and cocoa. There are many large international companies based in Africa, which are having good success, where Africans are having great careers allowing them to progress in life and take care of their family; their sons are able to go to school and play soccer or follow computer courses; successful managers in these companies shows the world of the competent Africans. A good example is SDV in Abidjan or SLSA in Freetown. This shows that with proper education, Africans can be competent managers and that investment does pay off.

Côte d'Ivoire has the biggest population as well as the largest economy of the West African Economic Monetary Union. The economy is largely dependent on agriculture; cocoa and coffee are the two main export crops providing over 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the country. Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer and the 5th largest producer of coffee. In addition, the country has developed other industrial crops including palm oil, rubber, cotton, sugarcane, pineapple and soya. The main exports are coffee, cocoa, timber, bananas, pineapples, and manganese. Since early 1999, Côte d’Ivoire has not received budgetary support due to poor economic management performance and governance problems. This, and a sharp deterioration of commodity prices (particularly cocoa), have led to a significant slowdown in growth in 1999. In the year 2000, political uncertainty (following the military coup in December 1999), compounded by a fiscal crisis and continued low commodity prices have further reduced Côte d’Ivoire’s short-term economic prospects. Following a period of prudent macroeconomic policies after the 1994 devaluation, slippages began to emerge in mid-1998, and soon thereafter, the effects of lower commodity prices became noticeable.

History:

Cote d'Ivoire was one of the last countries of West Africa to be colonised, mostly because of the large swamps that form a barrier along the coast. Between 1887 and 1893 France managed to enter inland and Cote d’Ivoire became a French colony in 1899. Côte d'Ivoire became independent in 1960. The country's first President since independence, Houphouët-Boigny served as head of state for 33 years. He was succeeded after his death in 1993 by Mr. Henri Konan Bédié. Multi-party Presidential and Legislative elections were held in 1990, and were won by Houphouet-Boigny and his Parti Democratique de Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI). The opposition parties won only 10 seats out of 175 in the Ivorian parliament. Under President Houphouet-Boigny, Cote d'Ivoire had a reputation for moderate external policies, on good terms with all and particularly with France.

President Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993 and Henri Konan Bédié, became president. In the 1995 presidential and legislative elections, Henri Konan Bédié was elected President with 95.25% of the vote and his Party, the PDCI, won an overwhelming majority. M Ouattara, a rival to President Bedie, was not allowed to participate. In June 1998 the National Assembly passed fundamental changes to the 1960 Constitution to increase the power of the president to exclude the opposition. The Bédié Government was overthrown by a military coup d’état on December 24, 1999. In early January 2000, former army chief General Robert Guéi formed an interim coalition Government which was then reshuffled on May 18, replacing all ministers from the Republican party except one, who promptly resigned. The situation deteriorated in September 1999, when the leader of the opposition was banned, and his supporters were arrested. There were violent clashes with the police and armoured personnel carriers were deployed. Public demonstrations were banned.

On 24th December 1999 a mutiny broke out among the troops protesting for better pay. The situation turned into a military coup, ending forty years of civilian rule. A 'Government of National Unity' was formed. The international community quickly condemned the coup and called for a return to constitutional order. Following strong international pressure, General Guei announced that general elections would be completed by 31 October.

Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, has been the target of much criticism in the international media recently, with allegations that up to 90 percent of Ivorian cocoa supplies are produced by child slaves. At least 200,000 children annually fall victim to traffickers in the west and central African slave trade, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates.