III. BACKGROUND Côte d’Ivoire was largely stable for thirty years following its independence from France in 1960. Under the leadership of President Felix Houphouët-Boigny, an ethnic Baoulé and Catholic, over sixty ethnic groups coexisted with over three million immigrants from the West African sub-region, if not in harmony, at least without overtly exposing the fragility of the Ivorian state. Ethnic tensions were certainly present and were occasionally violently checked during Houphouët-Boigny’s rule,1 but an open-door policy on immigration helped to build a thriving agricultural economy. Côte d’Ivoire’s special relationship with France, which backed Houphouët-Boigny throughout his rule and assured his regime’s security, also contributed to the country’s relative stability. Houphouët-Boigny’s Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (Parti Démocratique de la Côte d’Ivoire, PDCI) monopolized political activity in the single-party state, but his PDCI governments nominally reflected the ethnic and religious make-up of the country. Côte d’Ivoire was the economic motor of a region that, while rich in resources, remained poor in governance and accountability. The recent, apparently rapid unraveling of a country once known as the “Ivorian miracle” can be traced to factors stretching back several decades: political ambitions long checked under Houphouët-Boigny’s autocratic singleparty rule, an economic recession tied to dependence on coffee and cocoa exports, increasing competition for natural resources, an agricultural system heavily dependant on migrant labor, and weak state institutions. The conflict also has more immediate causes, specifically, a divisive political discourse based on ethnicity and the increasing impunity of state security forces in the face of clear-cut responsibility for violations of human rights. Regional factors including the proximity of the neighboring Liberian conflict, the easy circulation of arms and mercenaries, and the willingness of Burkina Faso to provide support to the nascent MPCI, have also served to draw Côte d’Ivoire into a complex regional quagmire. Economic recession and immigration By the 1990s, Côte d’Ivoire had become the world’s leading producer of cocoa and was among the top five producers of coffee, mainly built on the large-scale immigration of agricultural workers from neighboring countries—in particular, Burkina Faso.2 These statistics masked a troubled economic picture as Côte d’Ivoire struggled to emerge from serious economic recession in the 1980s. The impact of the economic recession and structural adjustment measures imposed by international financial institutions and donors affected not only the cocoa and coffee sector, where commodity prices dropped and subsidies to farmers were cut, but also general employment opportunities. Many educated urban youth returned to the villages seeking a future, but became unemployed villagers—“chômeurs villageois”—instead.3 The economic recession coincided with increasing competition for natural resources in several areas of the country: in the west and southwest—traditionally forest land—only 17 percent of the forest remained by 2000.4 In the north, tension over land in the cotton belt had became a source of pressure, while in the west, the heart of 1 Some observers make a case that the roots of the Ivorian debate over ethnicity and identity extend at least to the 1930s, if not beyond. The question of the place of foreigners within Ivorian society is certainly not new, although Houphouët-Boigny’s own liberal position on immigration and nationality dominated government policy for decades. There were several episodes of repression of “southern” Ivorians during his rule, notably in 1966 against the Agni and in 1970 against the Bété. See Tiemoko Coulibaly, “Lente décomposition au Côte d’Ivoire,” Le Monde Diplomatique, November 2002 and Jean-Pierre Dozon, “ La Côte d’Ivoire entre Démocratie, Nationalisme et Ethnonationalisme,” Politique Africaine: Côte d’Ivoire, la tentation ethnonationaliste, No. 78, June 2000, pp. 45-62. 2 Although Côte d’Ivoire has been the main recipient country for immigrants from all over the region, Burkinabé constitute the majority of the West African nationals in Côte d’Ivoire. This is partly based on the fact that southern Burkina Faso and northern Ivory Coast shared several ethnic groups as well as administrative unity under the French colonial administration. During Houphouët-Boigny’s era, immigration was encouraged and there were no legal obstacles to immigrant use of the land. His oft-cited policy was that “the land belonged to those who gave it value.” The immigrant Burkinabé contributed to the development of the Ivorian “plantation bourgeoisie,” which formed the backbone of Houphouët-Boigny’s support base. 3 Jean Pierre Chaveau, “Question Foncière et Construction Nationale en Côte d’Ivoire,” Politique Africaine: Côte d’Ivoire, la tentation ethnonationaliste, No. 78, June 2000, p. 112. 4 Country Information on Côte d’Ivoire, Food and Agriculture Organization website at www.fao.org/forestry/fo/country/index.jsp?geo_id=75&lang_id=1 (accessed June 25, 2003). Human Rights Watch 6 August 2003, Vol. 15, No. 14 (A)