I. Background [Land] tensions, exploited and exaggerated into a form of xenophobic hatred by politicians at the highest level, hold the key both to the country’s destruction and, if properly addressed, its possible reconstruction. —Global IDP Project, November 20052 Land, politics, and violence have been closely linked in Côte d’Ivoire for the last two decades, culminating in a rebellion launched in 2002 and an armed conflict in 2010-2011 following contested presidential elections. Many of the worst crimes during both armed conflicts occurred in western Côte d’Ivoire, where tension and land conflict between “native” and “non-native” populations are particularly acute. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced during the conflicts, and many returned to find that their land had been illegally seized by someone from another community. President Alassane Ouattara has said that resolving the problems around land tenure is one of his highest priorities. To put an end to the land conflict in western Côte d’Ivoire that has helped fuel massive human rights abuses, the Ouattara government will have to ensure the restitution of land seized from people displaced by conflict and address the problems that have encouraged fraudulent land sales and confusion over land ownership. Law and Politics of Land in Côte d’Ivoire From the country’s independence in 1960 to the early 1980s, Côte d’Ivoire prospered economically, becoming a world leader in cocoa and coffee production. Félix HouphouëtBoigny, president from 1960 to his death in 1993, oversaw an open-door immigration policy, which, coupled with the rapid growth of the Ivorian economy, attracted migrant workers from neighboring countries, who grew to about one-quarter of the population.3 The country’s western part, with land ideal for cocoa and coffee production, was a popular 2 Global IDP Project and the Norwegian Refugee Council, “Internal displacement in Côte d’Ivoire: a protection crisis,” November 7, 2005, p. 4, http://www.internaldisplacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/(httpInfoFiles)/5A52907CED1EE83D802570B900651D30/$file/CDI_indepth_report7N ov05.pdf (accessed August 28, 2013). 3 Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, “The Roots of the Military-Political Crises in Côte d’Ivoire,” report no. 128, 2004, p. 10 (noting also that just over 50 percent of immigrants came from Burkina Faso). “THAT LAND IS MY FAMILY’S WEALTH” 14