Ivory Coast 1999

In 1999, the population of Ivory Coast was estimated at approximately 16 million people. The economy of the country is based largely on agriculture, services and industry. Its main industries are cocoa, coffee, timber and petroleum. Ivory Coast has a long history of strong foreign relations with other countries in Africa and beyond. In terms of politics, Ivory Coast has had a republic system with Robert Gueï as President since 1999. His Democratic Party of Ivory Coast continued to hold a majority in Parliament after their victory in the 1999 elections. See ethnicityology for Ivory Coast in the year of 2018.

Yearbook 1999

Ivory Coast 1999

Ivory Coast. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Ivory Coast. The usually stable Ivory Coast was drawn into a rousing political conflict since the government denied opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the right to Ivorian citizenship. Ouattara, a former prime minister, left a high position at the International Monetary Fund and temporarily returned in July to be elected leader of the largest opposition party, the Republican Assembly (Rassemblement des republicans, RDR), and become its candidate in the 2000 presidential election. Ouattara is actually a citizen of Burkina Faso because his one parent comes from there, and they were accused of having forged identity papers. A court ordered that Ouattara be arrested as soon as he returned. Several of his party mates were sentenced to two years in prison for protest actions. The campaign against Ouattara was seen as an attempt to remove the only serious opponent in the presidential election. The government’s actions triggered widespread unrest in the Ivory Coast and also widened the gap between the Muslim northern part of the country, from where Ouattara comes, and the Christian south, which is the president’s home region. The crisis also illustrated the difficulty of building a nation-state in a formerly colonized region, where people for generations moved beyond the artificial borders.

  • Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of IC which stands for Ivory Coast and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

Map of Ivory Coast Yamoussoukro in English

Land area 322,463 km²
Total population 27,481,086
Population density (per km²) 85.2
Capital Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (seat of government)
Official language French
Income per capita 3,900 USD
Currency CFA Franc BCEAO
ISO 3166 code CI
Internet TLD .ci
License plate CI
Telephone code +225
Time zone UTC ± 0
Geographic coordinates 8 00 N, 5 00 W

The crisis was deepened by the government being forced to repay around SEK 240 million to the EU, which was cut off from aid projects. The scandal strengthened the public’s perception that the deep class divisions of the Ivory Coast are the result of widespread corruption.

In late December, President Bédié was overthrown in a military coup led by General Robert Guéi, an old arch enemy to the president. Guéi, who was named head of state by the military junta, presented the coup as a blow to democracy and the unification of the nation. The military junta promised to announce democratic elections at a later, unspecified, occasion. In anticipation of the election, General Guéi invited the other parties to participate in an interim unity government. The coup general also launched a campaign to get the new leaders internationally recognized as the country’s legal directors.

The downed President Bédié left with his family the country in a French army helicopter. He demanded to be re-installed as president and received support from Nigeria and South Africa.

  • Among the industries there are initiatives in the steel and chemical fields, and establishments active in the agri-food sectors (with oil mills, sugar refineries, coffee processing plants) and in the textile and wood sectors. The secondary sector suffered from the crisis much more severely than agricultural activities. A significant decrease in production was recorded in the conflict areas but also in the unoccupied areas, due to the difficulties of supply and circulation, the damage suffered by the plants, and the socio-political context which is not very favorable to investments. The textile and agri-food sectors were particularly affected, due to the difficulties in accessing the northern part of the country as well as traditional foreign markets (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger).
  • Land and rail transport have been disrupted by the division of the country and the closure of the northern borders, which have compromised the possibility of communication with neighboring states. To satisfy their customers in the Sahel countries, the Ivorian operators had to use the roads of Ghana, with a considerable increase in costs. The ports of Abidjan and San Pedro and the airport of Abidjan suffered a significant reduction in traffic.
  • The trade balance is clearly in surplus. About 50% of the total export value is made up of cocoa and coffee. Imports mainly consist of petroleum and derivatives, machinery and means of transport. The main suppliers are Nigeria (almost 20%) and France (15%), which is also the most important customer, absorbing more than 10% of the value of exports.

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