their pre-1998 transactions had been for land ownership, yet the law appeared to bar such a claim. Natives, particularly youth, saw the law as a license to take back land their elders had sold or ceded to immigrants in prior decades. Politicians, particularly Gbagbo’s political party, promoted this belief, as described by a scholar on Ivorian land issues: During the 1990 and 1995 elections, politicians’ speeches encouraged indigenous people from the forest regions to believe that the rise to power of the opposition leader Gbagbo would lead to the expropriation of land from non-native and non-indigenous peoples and its subsequent reallocation. By taking up the ‘land for indigenous people’ slogan incorporated in the Land Act on the eve of the 2000 presidential, legislative and municipal elections, politicians aimed to attract voters while reinforcing the principle of reclaiming land….29 A cocoa farmer spreads cocoa beans that will dry under the sun in the village of Cantondougou, 360 kilometers west of Abidjan, April 23, 2009. © 2009 AFP Photo/Kambou Sia 29 Ibid. 19 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2013